Ava Robotics Inc. has raised $2.9 million, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Cambridge, Mass.-based company is a spinoff of iRobot Corp. and has developed telepresence robots.
As reportedin SEC Form D,Ava Roboticshas sold $2.9 million out of a total $4 million securities and equity sale. Thus, $1.1 million remains to be raised. Ava Robotics emerged from “stealth mode”last spring.
Unlike other telepresence providers, which rely on remote operation, Ava Robotics has been working to add autonomous navigation to its robots. This would enable users to simply direct the Ava robot where to go, and it could find its own way to a destination.
The Ava robot builds on the iRobot experiences of some of its engineers by mapping its surroundings for easier autonomous movement. iRobot’sRoomba i7+ robotic vacuumincludes the Imprint smart maps function for directed or scheduled cleaning that works with Amazon Alexa or Google Home.
Ava enables ‘teleportation’
The company claims that Ava “enables teleporting, allowing users to freely move around a remote location while having a physical presence and a high-definition video collaboration session.”
The telepresence robot is intended to facilitate remote communications in offices, conference halls, and manufacturing floors. In addition, Ava has multiple HD cameras and works with Web browsers and iOS devices.
Ava is integrated with the Cisco Spark cloud-based app for videoconferencing and file sharing. It can also “sit,” lowering its monitor and cameras to the height of people around a conference room table, and it can autonomously return to a charging dock.
The Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council (MassTLC) in February named Ava Robotics as one of fivewinners of the 5G Robotics Challenge, sponsored by Veirizon and Ericsson. Each winner received $30,000 to develop products and use cases for 5G networks in industrial automation, collaborative robots, and warehouse automation.
Ava Robotics at 5G Robotics Challenge. Source: MassTLC
Telepresence demand to grow
The telepresence robot market will grow, but different analyst firms disagree on how fast it will grow. The market could experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.7%, growing from about $150 million in 2018 to $481 million in 2026,predicted Data Bridge Market Research. It attributed this growth to rising demand in healthcare and home care and improving capabilities.
Research and Marketsestimatedthat the global market will grow from $341 million in 2018 to $856 million in 2024, at a CAGR of 16.58%. Ava Robotics was one of 10 companies that it listed as telepresence robot makers.
However, Data Bridge also noted that the high unit price for telepresence robots could slow adoption. Developers and users should also be aware of instances where suchmobile robotsare not appropriate, such asinforming a patient that he is dying.
Telepresence robots can and should expand opportunities for people to participate in activities, such as helping Levi Suttles, a 6-year-old student with leukemia,to attend classes with a robotsupplied by Ohio State University.
In the meantime, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and startupGITAIare working ontele-operated robots for Earth orbit.
Learn more about Ava
Marcio Macedo, co-founder and vice president of product and marketing at Ava Robotics, will be speaking at theRobotics Summit & Expo2019. He was previously director of product management for commercial robots at iRobot.
Macedo’s session in the “Manufacturability, Production, and Distribution” track will describehow artificial intelligenceand the cloud are helping service robots more intelligently perform tasks, expand beyond factories and warehouses, and gain acceptance from human co-workers.
机器人技术峰会&博览会将于6月4 - 6Boston’s Seaport World Trade Center.Register nowto attend.
Filed Under:AI • machine learning,The Robot Report,Wireless,机器人•机器人触手•结束了ctors
I see another immense potential application for worldwide robotic telepresence, I would’t mind discussing it with Marcio Maceo.
Best wishes,
Giovanni