SoftBank Robotics America (SBRA), the North American arm of the global leader in collaborative robotics (collaborative robotics), has formed a strategic development and equity partnership with Autonomous Solutions Inc (ASI), a leader in industrial ground vehicle automation.
The partnership will expedite the development and deployment of a wide range of autonomous commercial service vehicles. As part of the agreement, SBRA has acquired a minority stake in ASI.
With a focus on outdoor automation, the partnership will accelerate the development of practical landscaping care solutions and logistics solutions (i.e. warehouse terminals and shipping ports).
As labor shortages continue in the landscaping and logistics industries in the wake of the pandemic, SBRA’s expansion into the outdoor automation market is an extension of the indoor automated solutions that the company has successfully commercialized across multiple industries.
With over 21 years of data and customer feedback from deployed solutions, ASI has developed a highly scalable hardware and software platform that is helping partners in markets like Mining and Automotive Testing exceed human performance.
Automation and optimization of adjacent vehicle applications is fast, thanks to the ability to retrofit new and existing vehicle fleets and the ability to control them from anywhere in the world.
Brady Watkins, general manager of SoftBank Robotics America, says: “We are very excited to work with ASI. With decades of cross industry data and customer interaction and feedback, their technology platform Mobius is uniquely positioned for immediate scalable commercialization.
“This partnership enables SBRA to expand our focus on automation by addressing the same labor concerns for outdoor work that we have answered with our indoor solutions.”
Mel Torrie, CEO of Autonomous Solutions Inc, says: “SoftBank Robotics America is leading the way in the scaling of robot commercialization and we are thrilled with the complementary strengths we are now fusing together to solve the crippling labor and efficiency challenges facing industry.”
