Market trends and business perspectives
SoftBank is planning to invest more than $2 billion into General Motors’ self-driving vehicle technology unit, Cruise Automation.
Cruise Automation is a startup company acquired by General Motors two years ago.
In some ways, this is a surprise move by SoftBank. The Japanese telecommunications giant has previously invested in other sectors of the robotics market. [Read more…] about SoftBank to invest more than $2 billion into General Motors’ self-driving cars unit Cruise Automation
SoftBank Robotics Europe has appointed Jacky’s Business Solutions as its first reseller in the UAE for its Pepper robot.
Pepper is the first humanoid robot created to interact with humans. It is equipped with features and a high-level interface for proactively communicating with those around it, using the latest advances in voice and face recognition.
To support the relationship, Jacky’s will invest in expanding its team of software and support engineers to include programmers who can code Pepper to suit the diverse applications across industries and departments. [Read more…] about SoftBank appoints new partner to resell Pepper humanoid robots
SoftBank Robotics America (SBRA) and Simbe Robotics have announced a global partnership on retail inventory handling. Simbe Robotics, creator of Tally, the world’s first autonomous shelf auditing and analytics robot, will use SBR’s international reach and operational efficiencies to increase its business globally.
SBR and Simbe aim to expand the use of Tally in Japan, North America and Europe in the near future and more broadly over the coming years.
Tally is claimed to give retailers visibility and insight into the state of store merchandise, with alerts for out-of-stock, low stock, and misplaced items; audited product price tags and promotional execution; autonomous inventory audits; and continuous in-store performance insights for brand and retail service partners.
[Read more…] about Softbank and Simbe partner to promote retail robot
Haier and Soft Bank Robotics Group Corp. (SBRG) have launched a strategic partnership for the service robot market in China’s smart store and smart home fields, starting with SBRG’s humanoid robot ‘Pepper’.
The two companies will jointly develop a special version of Pepper, which is based on U+OS, an open system developed by Haier.
‘Pepper’, SBRG’s humanoid robot, is the first robot to be integrated into Haier smart home platform. Possessing a human-like appearance, it can be linked with a variety of smart appliances and equipment.
[Read more…] about Haier partners with SoftBank Robotics to develop service robots
SoftBank is highly likely to go ahead with its plan to invest $10 billion in Uber, the ride-hailing app company, according to a report on CNet.com.
An Uber representative quoted by CNet says: “We’ve entered into an agreement with a consortium led by SoftBank and Dragoneer on a potential investment.
“We believe this agreement is a strong vote of confidence in Uber’s long-term potential. Upon closing, it will help fuel our investments in technology and our continued expansion at home and abroad, while strengthening our corporate governance.” [Read more…] about SoftBank to invest $10 billion in Uber
SoftBank Robotics and Zora Bots have signed what they describe as “a major partnership” aimed at reaching a wider audience for the humanoid robot Nao.
Zora Bots, which has already deployed its software designed for robots in the health sector, is now the world’s leading distributor of Nao and is poised to expand its solution in many areas including retail, hospitality, education and personal services.
This strategic rapprochement in the international arena will bring humanoid robotics into a new dimension and make Nao available to a wider audience. [Read more…] about SoftBank has sold 10,000 Nao robots. Now the tiny humanoid wants to ‘conquer new markets’ with Zora
A company called Plenty claims it has attracted the “largest-ever agriculture technology investment”.
The company says the investment will drive its development of its global, large-scale indoor farm network to deliver “radically fresher, affordable food to local communities everywhere”.
Plenty describes itself as a “field-scale indoor farming company remaking the global food system”. [Read more…] about Plenty attracts ‘largest-ever agriculture technology investment’ led by SoftBank to develop indoor farms in city centres
The chief executive of telecommunications giant SoftBank says the effects of artificial intelligence will take the world much further and have a more profound effect than even the industrial revolution.
In an article accompanying a special edition of the CBS news magazine 60 Minutes, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son was quoted as saying the new “information revolution” is being partly driven by data collected through billions of sensors.
SoftBank has been buying up a variety of AI and robotics startups, most recently a company called Nauto, which is developing systems for driverless cars.
At the root of the technology, Son says, are microprocessors and microcontrollers. “Those who rule chips will rule the entire world,” he said. “Those who rule data will rule the entire world. That’s what people of the future will say.”
SoftBank, the maker of the Pepper and Nao humanoid robots, has reached a deal to buy Boston Dynamics, the robotics business owned by Alphabet, the parent company of Google.
Some of the robots Boston Dynamics has been building a wide range of robots, some of which are humanoid, others canine and one or two wheeled – or a hybrid of these structures.
But whatever robots the company has made, they’ve been widely acclaimed as having some of the most realistic movements and best balance of any robots made anywhere – watching them move can be quite unnerving because they move almost exactly like humans or canines. [Read more…] about SoftBank to buy Boston Dynamics, the maker of those unnervingly realistic humanoid and canine robots
Japanese communications giant SoftBank is to acquire ARM Holdings for £24.3 billion, according to a report on the Financial Times website.
SoftBank has been on something of a spending spree in recent years and is looking to raise its profile in markets outside of Asia, where it is already well-known.
The company is particularly interested in computer technology –including artificial intelligence, robotics and automation — and the proposed takeover of ARM would seem to fit into this plan. [Read more…] about SoftBank to buy ARM
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