I’ve been trying to guide AI discussion toward useful applications rather than overly hyped general visions. Let the people dealing in billions of dollars promote themselves. For those who have real work to do, look into the details of AI news to discern real benefits. Perhaps this news from ABB fits that model. This news also follows the trend of larger companies investing in specialist companies in order to drive additional benefits for their products and solutions.
In this case, ABB (robotics) has invested in LandingAI in order to improve the company’s robotic applications for customers. Oh, and we get a new TLA (three-letter acronym). Note the specific examples.
In brief:
- Strategic investment secures ABB’s use of LandingAI’s vision AI capabilities, such as LandingLens, for robot AI vision applications
- Pre-trained models, smart data workflows and no-code tools reduce training time by 80% and accelerate deployment in fast-moving sectors including logistics, healthcare, and food & beverage
- First of its kind collaboration marks a major step towards ABB Robotics’ vision for Autonomous Versatile Robotics – AVR
This first of its kind collaboration will integrate LandingAI’s vision AI capabilities, like LandingLens, into ABB Robotics’ own software suite, marking another milestone in ABB’s journey towards truly autonomous and versatile robots.
“This announcement is the latest in our decade-long journey to innovate and commercialize AI, benefitting our customers by enhancing robot versatility and autonomy to expand the use of robots beyond traditional manufacturing,” said Sami Atiya, President of ABB Robotics & Discrete Automation. “The demand for AI in robotics is driven by the need for greater flexibility, faster commissioning cycles and a shortage of the specialist skills needed to program and operate robots. Our collaboration with LandingAI will mean installation and deployment time is done in hours instead of weeks, allowing more businesses to automate smarter, faster and more efficiently.”
As part of the collaboration ABB has made a venture capital investment through ABB Robotics Ventures, the strategic venture capital unit of ABB Robotics, driving collaboration and investment in innovative early-stage companies that are shaping the future of robotics and automation. Financial details of the investment were not disclosed.
LandingAI’s LandingLens is a vision AI platform that enables the rapid training of vision AI systems to recognize and respond to objects, patterns or defects with no complex programming or AI expertise required.
Through this collaboration, ABB Robotics will reduce robot vision AI training & deployment time by up to 80 percent. Once deployed, system integrators and end users can retrain the AI for new scenarios on their own, unlocking a new level of versatility. This is a critical step in scaling robot adoption in dynamic environments, beyond traditional manufacturing, especially in fast-moving sectors such as logistics, healthcare and food and beverage. ABB is already piloting LandingAI’s technology and actively working to integrate it into existing vision AI applications, including item-picking, sorting, depalletizing and quality inspection.
More information about RobotStudio with generative AI assistant:
- RobotStudio Al Assistant provides real-time, step-by-step guidance for robot programming
- More intelligent and easy-to-use generative Al interface creates faster, easier commissioning and boosts productivity
- Another step in enhancing robot accessibility and versatility beyond traditional manufacturing
Powered by a Large Language Model (LLM) that understands and interprets human language, RobotStudio AI Assistant draws from ABB’s comprehensive library of manuals and documentation to deliver high-quality, context-rich responses to questions, enabling users to set up faster and find rapid answers to questions and technical challenges.
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