Brad Porter, CEO of Collaborative Robotics, “Cobot”, announced today a $100M, Series B Funding led by General Catalyst and joined by Bison Ventures, Industry Ventures, and Lux Capital. Existing investors include Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, Mayo Clinic, Neo, 1984 Ventures, MVP Ventures, and Calibrate Ventures, bringing the total funding raised to over $140 million in less than two years.
A cobot, or collaborative robot, is intended for direct human-robot interaction within a shared space, or where humans and robots are near. According to Markets and Markets Research, the global collaborative market is valued at USD 1.9B and is estimated to reach USD 11.8B by 2030, with a 35.2% CAGR.
At Amazon, Brad became a robotics industry leader by deploying thousands of robots as Vice President and Distinguished Engineer at Amazon and envisioned a future of robots working in symphony with humans.
“At Cobot, we put our first robots in the field in January with a global logistics partner, and anticipate launching early customer trials with a hospital customer, a biotech manufacturing customer, and another logistics customer by the end of the year,” stated Brad.
Other leading single-purpose or assist robots include a growing list of market players single-purpose leading pick-assist robots include Locus, 6 Rivers, and Fetch.
According to the Robot Report, cobot growth is very promising as illustrated with Locus, “We’re still growing significantly, and our picks have increased exponentially to more than 2.6 billion,” says Rick Faulk, CEO of Locus, “We’re growing the number of robots deployed significantly year over year, both in volume and in fleets.” Over the recent peak shopping season, the company’s warehouse automation picked a record 331 million units, averaging nearly 7 million units per day.
Leading humanoid robots include Agility, AppTronik, and Boston Dynamics. For example Boston Dynamics, cobot named Spot provide 360° perception, and athletic intelligence to solve tough robotics challenges.
The segment that Cobot operates in is developing human-capable cobots without needing to be humanoid and this market remains very open for innovative companies.
Collaborative robots are poised to revolutionize industrial automation by enhancing efficiency, safety, and ROI in many diverse sectors, with manufacturing and automotive industries out front. However, this is rapidly changing as cobots offer broad utility at an affordable cost compared to more complex robots like humanoids.
Hewlett Packard Enterprises (HPE) is building humanoid cobot capabilities in cooperation with German AI startup Aleph, Alpha, that can speak and answer questions. Samsung recently announced Ballie to be released in 2024, as a smart home robot assistant.
These machines can easily work alongside humans to improve productivity and reduce operational costs. Cobots combine the power of automation with human problem-solving, streamlining workflows, alleviating employee strain, and reducing errors. The results are better product quality, safer workplaces, and optimized processes. As businesses strive for efficiency, cobots offer scalability and cost savings and are essential in modern industry for maintaining competitiveness and driving innovation.
Cobot manufacturers must ensure safety is paramount as evolving cobots develop more human-like characteristics and ensure humans remain in control.
Watching Collaborative Robots growth and proving its use cases will help us understand customer demands for cobots.
As a former venture capitalist, investors will also need to be patient to ensure ethical and safe guardrails are in place as the new AI regulatory laws will unfold over the next twelve months.
What is clear is cobots working side by side with humans is no longer science fiction.
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