Sanctuary AI, a company on a mission to create the world’s first human-like intelligence in general purpose robots, has announced a strategic investment from BDC Capital’s Thrive Venture Fund and InBC Investment Corp. (InBC). This brings the total investment in Sanctuary to over $140 million to date. BDC is Canada’s most active venture capital investor, and InBC is a strategic investment fund created by the Province of British Columbia (BC) to benefit BC. The additional funds will be used to further accelerate Sanctuary’s progress towards bringing AI into the physical world.

Sanctuary’s existing investors include Accenture, Bell, Export Development Canada, Evok Innovations, Magna, SE Health, Verizon Ventures, and Workday Ventures. It also received a $30 million Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) contribution from the Government of Canada in November 2022.

“Following the incredible impact of pre-trained transformers on the digital world over the last seven years, with acceleration in the last few, we see AI in the physical world as being the next major frontier for impacting the way we work and live.” Said Olivia Norton, Co-founder, Chief Technology and Product Officer of Sanctuary AI. “With aging populations, plummeting birth rates, and a changing view on work, intelligent embodied systems, or general purpose robots will play an important role in provincial and national productivity. We believe that Canada has an opportunity to be a world leader in this space. It is great to work with organizations like BDC and InBC who understand and share this vision.”

“At BDC capital, we’re proud to invest in Canada’s most innovative women-led businesses, like Sanctuary AI, that are disrupting today’s market. We’re thrilled to support Sanctuary AI’s team as they realize their next groundbreaking achievements.” Said Michelle Scarborough, Managing Partner at BDC Capital’s Thrive Venture Fund.  

“We have invested in Sanctuary whose mission is helping to build a new growth industry in British Columbia.” Finished Leah Nguyen, Chief Investment Officer (CIO) at InBC. “Sanctuary is a great example of the creative and innovative spirit in BC, and by investing in leading innovators like Sanctuary we will continue to grow our technology sector, creating new jobs and anchoring IP in the province for a stronger, more sustainable economy that works for everyone.”

Olivia Norton will be interviewed by Leah Nguyen on the theme of ”Solving hard problems” at BDC’s 5^th anniversary edition of the Women in Tech Bootcamp at StartupFest on July 10^th in Montreal.

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Today Mythic named veteran semiconductor executive Dr. Taner Ozcelik, the founder and former VP & GM of NVIDIA’s automotive division, as its new CEO. Ozcelik will lead Mythic as the AI processor company leverages its ultra-efficient analog compute-in-memory technology to fuel new markets for AI inference, which is currently restricted to high-cost applications because of the severe memory and energy limitations of digital computing.

Mythic’s next-generation product is poised to bring order-of-magnitude improvements in power and cost efficiency while providing previously unseen levels of performance scalability. Drawing from the experience of the first generation, Mythic’s next-generation processor has a brand new software toolkit and a streamlined architecture making analog computing easier to use than ever. This combination of performance, scalability, and ease of use will transform the economics and power consumption of AI in products ranging from low-cost consumer devices at the edge to high-performance computing in data centers.

Ozcelik is a pioneer in the commercialization of autonomous technologies, having spent 10 years with NVIDIA, where he founded and built the company’s automotive chip division into several hundred million dollars in revenues and accumulated billions of dollars of business. Dr. Ozcelik developed the first NVIDIA-based systems in autonomous driving and built the world’s first Jetson systems, which later became the foundation of DrivePX and DriveCX systems as well as many robotics systems that are used by customers worldwide.

Following NVIDIA, Dr. Ozcelik was the SVP & GM of the Intelligent Sensing Group at ON Semiconductor for 7 years, where he built a series of divisions spanning numerous edge industries with approximately $1 billion in group revenues, and achieved global leadership positions in robotics, machine vision, advanced driver systems, and automotive cameras. Most recently, Ozcelik served as EVP & GM for Luminar Technologies, where he led semiconductor companies and R&D, developing a next-generation product with 50x better performance, cost, size and power, and winning new business from major OEMs for several billion dollars.

“I have followed Mythic’s progress for years, and I’m joining now because the technology has reached a pivotal point. Mythic is poised to transform the industry, particularly with their next-generation product,” said Ozcelik. “Energy consumption and cost are the biggest problems facing AI as its rapid expansion fuels a dramatic surge in the demand for memory and power. Analog computing is the only way to bring affordable and orders-of-magnitude more energy-efficient inference AI to every level of the economy, and Mythic is uniquely positioned to lead the charge with their brand new analog computing platform.”

“In terms of energy efficiency, Mythic’s architecture is closest to the human brain in neural network performance and decision making, with unprecedented, femtojoule level consumption per unit of operation, which is a game changer in the new world of AI,” added Ozcelik.

Mythic co-founder and current CEO Dave Fick will move to CTO. “Taner is one of the most respected operators in semiconductors,” said Fick. “I’ve admired his leadership for years, and I’m thrilled to work together to satisfy the AI revolution’s voracious appetite for memory and performance.”

The AI industry sits at a pivotal point when demand for computing is far outpacing supply. Energy efficiency is crucial because AI models have billions to trillions of parameters, all of which must be stored in memory and bussed to and from processing in digital chips, creating latency. By contrast, Mythic’s analog architecture features compute-in-memory without bussing, sidestepping memory, power, and price bottlenecks.

“The industry has spent the last decade developing powerful AI models that we can’t even run at a profit with today’s digital computing technology,” said Matt Ocko, Mythic board member and co-founder and Managing Partner of DCVC, a Palo Alto–based deep tech venture capital firm that has backed Mythic since 2016. “The next decade will be focused on new AI inference markets – actually implementing these models in everyday life and business. Taner is the ideal leader to bring this transformative level of speed and performance to a huge range of new edge devices at dramatically lower price points and power levels.”

Ozcelik will lead Mythic as the company works to make inroads with mission-critical application system builders like Lockheed Martin Ventures, a Mythic partner and investor. Robotics, smart cities, security, and defense applications that are currently limited by digital computing power and cost will be possible with Mythic’s technology.

“The true benchmark of progress for AI semiconductors is performance per milliwatt: the amount of computing performance we can generate given energy constraints,” said Ozcelik. “Performance per milliwatt will determine how far AI can go in the next decade, and thanks to Dave Fick and his team’s engineering, it’s how Mythic differentiates itself from every other AI chipmaker. With superior performance at far lower costs and power, we’re going to open the floodgates for edge AI.”

Dr. Ozcelik holds a Ph.D. from Northwestern University and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Ozcelik’s appointment as Mythic CEO is effective immediately.

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Currently, most retailers manually track thousands of SKUs across their stores, searching for issues such as out-of-stocks, incorrect price labels, misplaced products, and more. The Dane AIR robot assists associates by efficiently monitoring stores, ensuring the right product is on the right shelf at the right price. With Dane AIR providing more frequent and accurate store insights, associates can engage more with customers, and retailers can uncover critical issues that help improve on-shelf availability, verify compliance with pricing and promotions, and ensure the correct placement of items for efficient order fulfillment.

“To be named Best Sensing Solution of 2024 by the AI Breakthrough Awards is an honorable recognition of the value and innovation we can bring to the retail space,” said David Pinn, Chief Executive Officer, Brain Corp. “Sales are won or lost at the shelf, and we know that managing inventory is a critical and costly challenge for retailers today. With over 35,000 robots already deployed, we are uniquely positioned to solve these challenges with automation, driving significant improvements in store execution and ROI.”

The Dane AIR autonomous inventory robot was developed in partnership between Dane Technologies and Brain Corp. Integrated with BrainOS® InventoryAI, Brain Corp’s AI-powered inventory analytics solution, these technologies are part of Brain Corp’s powerful, end-to-end solution to autonomously track and action inventory, the BrainOS® Sense Suite.

The AI Breakthrough Awards are an industry honor, as they come from a well-regarded third-party validation. The awards help guide technology buyers through a crowded AI marketplace to select the products and solutions that have the best performance and drive results. To learn more about Brain Corp and Dane AIR, visit braincorp.com.

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Formic, a provider of Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) automation for U.S. manufacturers, today announced it has raised another $27.4 million in Series A financing led by Blackhorn Ventures with participation from Mitsubishi HC Capital America, NEC, Translink Capital, Alumni Ventures, FJ Labs, Lux Capital, Initialized Capital and Lorimer Ventures. This new funding brings the total Series A round to more than $52 million since January 2022.

Formic delivers fully supported robotic automation at a low hourly rate, including deploying the system and providing continuous monitoring and maintenance throughout the engagement to ensure success. In 2.5 years, Formic’s growing fleet of robotic equipment has completed 100,000 production hours at more than 99% uptime, with another 100,000 hours expected in the next 170 days (See more milestones below). With the new financing, Formic plans to:

• Expand its fleet of standardized equipment to provide more automation to more manufacturers, offering rapid deployment and shorter lead times (75% of Formic customers are automating their material handling processes for the first time)
• Increase its network of support experts across the U.S., enabling even faster customer response while continuing to uphold industry-leading maintenance service level agreements (SLAs)
• Enhance its equipment-agnostic robotic automation software that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) for motion planning, predictive maintenance and system design, as well as more intuitive customer interfaces and dashboards

“Manufacturers continue to struggle with labor challenges, yet robotic solutions that can automate these difficult-to-fill jobs are traditionally capital intensive and even intimidating for those without a specialist on hand to manage the project long term,” said Saman Farid, co-founder and CEO, Formic. “With this additional financing, we can take on the heavy lifting for even more manufacturers, handling financing, deployment, management and support throughout the entire lifecycle. It’s all about simplicity and standardization that enables better productivity outcomes for customers.”

An MIT report shows only 10% of U.S. manufacturers leverage automation in their production facilities. With U.S. manufacturing needing as many as 3.8 million new employees by 2033, and 1.9 million of these jobs could go unfilled, automation becomes a must-have for manufacturers to thrive.

“We continue to invest in businesses and technology that will rapidly unlock manufacturing capacity and create resiliency in the US supply chain,” said Melissa Cheong, partner, Blackhorn Ventures. “Working with Formic to augment front-line labor by democratizing access to automation is an actionable way for us to strengthen our industrial economy in real time.”

Joint Commercial Agreement with Mitsubishi HC Capital America

Formic today also announced a joint commercial agreement with Mitsubishi HC Capital and U.S.-based Group Company Mitsubishi HC Capital America. The two companies will collaborate to source and finance the entire lifecycle of Formic’s RaaS model, an all-encompassing managed solution for manufacturing automation.

“Automation can help small- and mid-size manufacturers address labor shortages, control costs, improve safety and drive growth. However, financing is often a barrier to adoption,” said Jim Freund, President of Vendor Solutions, Mitsubishi HC Capital America. “With Formic’s innovative solution and our ability to finance it, businesses can rethink their entire manufacturing model, from their human capital needs to equipment requirements.”

Formic Milestones: 2022 to 2023

• 7x growth in total robot production hours for U.S. manufacturers
• 3x growth in deployed systems
• 2x growth in customer base (number of customers)
• 80% increase in existing business (number of repeat customers), resulting in 65% of Formic customers who have already signed a second contract or are currently negotiating
• 4x faster time to deploy (from signed contract)
• 97% renewal rate (after contract expires, all customers re-signed)

Learn more about how Formic can help manufacturers increase productivity, grow their business and experience a three-month trial of the RaaS solution in their facility by visiting http://www.formic.co

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Trained on thousands of hours of diverse driving footage, Helm.ai’s generative AI video model leverages innovative deep neural network (DNN) architectures combined with Deep Teaching —a highly efficient unsupervised training technology—to create realistic video sequences of driving scenes. The videos, produced at a resolution of 384 x 640, variable frame rates up to 30 frames per second, and up to minutes in length, can be generated at random without an input prompt or can be prompted with a single image or input video.

VidGen-1 is able to generate videos of driving scenes in different geographies and for multiple types of cameras and vehicle perspectives. The model not only produces highly realistic appearances and temporally consistent object motion but also learns and reproduces human-like driving behaviors, generating motions of the ego-vehicle and surrounding agents acting according to traffic rules. The model simulates realistic video footage of various scenarios across multiple cities internationally, encompassing urban and suburban environments, a variety of vehicles, pedestrians, bicyclists, intersections, turns, weather conditions (e.g., rain, fog), illumination effects (e.g., glare, night driving), and even accurate reflections on wet road surfaces, reflective building walls and the hood of the ego-vehicle.

Video data is the most information-rich sensory modality in autonomous driving and comes from the most cost-effective sensor—the camera. However, the high dimensionality of video data makes AI video generation a challenging task. Achieving a high level of image quality while accurately modeling the dynamics of a moving scene, hence video realism, is a well-known difficulty in video generation applications.

“We’ve made a technical breakthrough in generative AI for video to develop VidGen-1, setting a new bar in the autonomous driving domain. Combining our Deep Teaching technology, which we’ve been developing for years, with additional in-house innovation on generative DNN architectures results in a highly effective and scalable method for producing realistic AI-generated videos. Our technology is general and can be applied equally effectively to autonomous driving, robotics, and any other domain of video generation without change,” said Helm.ai’s CEO and Co-Founder, Vladislav Voroninski.

VidGen-1 offers automakers significant scalability advantages compared to traditional non-AI simulations, by enabling rapid asset generation and imbuing the agents in the simulation with sophisticated real-life behaviors. Helm.ai’s approach not only reduces development time and cost but also effectively closes the “sim-to-real” gap, providing a highly realistic and efficient solution that greatly widens the applicability of simulation-based training and validation.

“Predicting the next frame in a video is similar to predicting the next word in a sentence but much more high dimensional,” added Voroninski. “Generating realistic video sequences of a driving scene represents the most advanced form of prediction for autonomous driving, as it entails accurately modeling the appearance of the real world and includes both intent prediction and path planning as implicit sub-tasks at the highest level of the stack. This capability is crucial for autonomous driving because, fundamentally, driving is about predicting what will happen next.”

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GrayMatter Robotics, an AI-powered robotics leader empowering humans with intelligent automation, today announced $45 million in Series B funding. Wellington Management led the round, which also included NGP Capital, Euclidean Capital, Advance Venture Partners, SQN Venture Partners, and other existing investors 3M Ventures, B Capital, Bow Capital, Calibrate Ventures, OCA Ventures, and Swift Ventures.

The $2.5 trillion U.S. manufacturing industry is grappling with a growing backlog of unfilled orders due to a severe labor shortage. Many of these roles are hazardous and demand extensive training, leading to a critical gap of 3.8 million unfilled jobs. With nearly half of these manufacturers’ orders on hold waiting to be fulfilled, GrayMatter’s solutions are crucial in addressing these challenges.

GrayMatter’s smart robotic cells are future-proofing high-mix, high-variability manufacturers’ businesses by increasing productivity, enhancing quality consistency, and reducing costs. They autonomously handle complex tasks such as sanding, polishing, grinding, coating, and finishing—traditionally labor-intensive and ergonomically challenging jobs—allowing businesses to meet global demand while significantly improving the quality of life for shop-floor workers.

“We founded GrayMatter to enhance productivity while prioritizing workforce well-being,” said Ariyan Kabir, co-founder and CEO. “With our physics-based AI-powered systems, we are fulfilling our mission while unlocking new levels of efficiency and productivity. With our investors’ support, we are making a real difference for shop workers and addressing the critical labor shortages in manufacturing today.”

With the new capital, GrayMatter, founded in 2020 by SK Gupta, Ariyan Kabir, and Brual Shah, is actively hiring for a wide range of roles to meet customer demands, expanding its Los Angeles headquarters, and accelerating the development and deployment of its next-generation AI-powered robotic solutions.

“GrayMatter is driving a pivotal transformation in manufacturing with their advanced AI solutions,” said Sean Petersen, sector lead for private climate investing, Wellington Management. “Their ability to enhance productivity, energy efficiency and safety while managing costs, positions them uniquely in the market. We are excited to support their journey towards scaling these innovative technologies across various industries.”

GrayMatter’s technological advancements continue to set new industry standards. Its proprietary GMR-AI technology enables robots to self-program and adapt to high-mix manufacturing environments, providing consistent quality and reducing cycle times. Over the past two years, GrayMatter Robotics has deployed robots across North America in aerospace, defense, specialty vehicles, marine, recreation, and general manufacturing industries, processed over 7.5 million square feet of product surface area, and holds ten patents.

“The combination of AI-driven technology and depth of domain expertise in the GrayMatter solution blew us away”, said Debjit Mukerji, Partner at NGP Capital. “It is incredibly challenging to develop high-performance and ultra-reliable robots for such difficult manufacturing conditions. We are thrilled to help the company execute on its impressive commercial trajectory.”

“We are excited to partner with GrayMatter Robotics, as their AI-driven robotic solutions have enabled us to more efficiently address major demand growth in our operations stemming from increased football participation and market share gains, ensuring consistent quality and throughput despite workforce staffing challenges,” said Drew Dixon, Director Of Distribution and Strategy at Riddell. “Collaborating with GrayMatter Robotics underscores Riddell’s ongoing commitment to innovation and excellence in both its manufacturing operations as well as the protective equipment it delivers to the field.”

GrayMatter Robotics’ solutions work 2-4x faster than manual operation, and training that usually takes six months for humans now only takes less than a day. The robot helps businesses address sustainability goals, resulting in a 30% or more reduction in consumable waste and reduced energy consumption than traditional methods. Manufacturers have nearly uninterrupted operations with a system availability of 95~98%, and most of the contingencies can be resolved in under five minutes. Representative products includes Scan&Sand, Scan&Polish, Scan&Buff, and Scan&Grind.

“GrayMatter helps us replace some of our more taxing manual labor. We are proud to partner with GrayMatter in an effort to provide longevity in the workforce. We’re constantly working toward a healthier work-life balance, with a focus on working to live rather than living to work,” said Melanie Protti-Lawrence, President of Lawrence Brothers Inc. “Their robots are not just tools but enablers of growth. They allow our workers to engage in more meaningful and less physically taxing tasks, contributing to a healthier and more productive work environment.”

“Going to market with GrayMatter Robotics aligns with our mission to foster innovative solutions that drive efficiency and sustainability in manufacturing,” said Adi Leviatan, President, 3M Abrasives Division. “This technology addresses critical industry challenges and delivers significant value to our customers.”

GrayMatter Robotics’ solutions are used by a diverse range of industries, including aerospace & defense, specialty vehicles, maritime, metal fabrication, and consumer products. By providing turnkey solutions in a Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) format, GrayMatter Robotics helps manufacturers improve productivity, enhance production capacity, and reduce costs associated with scrap, repair, and rework.

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Apkudo, the leader in supply chain robotics, AI, and software for connected devices, today announced the launch of a new brand identity embracing the company’s commitment to revolutionizing the connected device industry with new levels of sophistication. This visual identity refresh is the culmination of several changes the company has undergone in the last twelve months, including updates to mission, vision, and core values, acquisition activity, and international customer expansion.

“Apkudo is experiencing customer expansion and inorganic growth following the acquisition announcement of Mobile reCell,” said Josh Matthews, Co-Founder and CEO of Apkudo. “Change is happening. Our product portfolio disrupts the conventional linear supply chain processes with new levels of sophistication. It was time to elevate and advance the brand to evolve with the business.”

The logo retains the existing brand equity of the Apkudo wordmark and adds a new, modern logomark that brings meaning to who we are and how we show up for customers. The three arcs represent a unique letter, ‘a’. The three arcs also represent the three simplified stages of a connected device—pre-use, in-use, and post-use for secondary devices. The new logo colors bring meaning and connection to the role of our groundbreaking Circular Industry Platform.

• Electric Indigo represents insights and idealism.
• Picton Blue represents intelligence and innovation.
• Emerald represents productivity and rebirth.

“We are changing the connected device industry. We help customers move their business forward by connecting data and processes in new ways, offering a gateway to the future,” commented Kristen Barry, SVP of Marketing and Communications at Apkudo. “Our new brand identity brings dimension and movement to match our work for customers.”

The brand refresh is live with a new website and being debuted at the Mobile Disrupt conference in Las Vegas. Customers will continue to see the refresh applied during a phased rollout through the end of 2024.

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Headquartered in Rovigo, Italy, with operations throughout the country, Fibermind has more than 20 years of experience serving public and private sector clients, a strong partner ecosystem and long-standing relationships with national authorities and municipalities. Fibermind also has well-established client relationships with Italy’s major mobile and fiber network operators.

“The acquisition of Fibermind reaffirms Accenture’s commitment to continuously invest in strategic acquisitions that support and accelerate our clients’ transformations across key industry sectors in Italy,” said Mauro Macchi, president and CEO of Accenture in Italy. “As a result of the acquisition, we will expand our capabilities to offer end-to-end network engineering services, delivering higher quality, greater innovation, and more rigorous cost management to our clients.”

Fibermind will bring more than 400 highly qualified professionals to Accenture Operations, with expertise spanning network design, permits management, technical office and local directive project management office (PMO) work, network acceptance testing, network documentation and home connection.

“This acquisition will significantly strengthen our expertise in the telecommunications network engineering services, boosting our growth in a strategic sector for the country,” said Roberto Pagella, who leads Accenture Operations in Italy. “The synergies with Fibermind will allow us to create a center of excellence in engineering services where technology and data enhance and amplify human skills and knowledge.”

Together, Accenture and Fibermind will offer clients network engineering capabilities, deep industry knowledge, and technology assets powered by automation, robotics, data and AI.

“We welcome the opportunity to grow by joining Accenture and become part of its global network. The combination of our expertise and capabilities represents an important opportunity for us to strengthen our leadership in Italy and to expand outside the country,” said Andrea Targa, general manager, Fibermind. “Four years ago, we started on a path with our parent company, Maticmind, to excel at ICT and to focus on enabling digital transformation for our clients. Accenture shares this commitment to clients and innovation, so together we’ll enable speed and quality in delivering engineering services.”

The acquisition complements previous Accenture acquisitions in Europe, including Arca, AFD.TECH and umlaut, aimed at building the company’s infrastructure engineering scale and capability for 5G and fiber in the region.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Completion of the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including required antitrust clearances.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for the historical information and discussions contained herein, statements in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “likely,” “anticipates,” “aspires,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “projects,” “believes,” “estimates,” “positioned,” “outlook,” “goal,” “target” and similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance nor promises that goals or targets will be met, and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that are difficult to predict and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. These risks include, without limitation, risks that: Accenture and Fibermind will not be able to close the transaction in the time period anticipated, or at all, which is dependent on the parties’ ability to satisfy certain closing conditions; the transaction might not achieve the anticipated benefits for Accenture; Accenture’s results of operations have been, and may in the future be, adversely affected by volatile, negative or uncertain economic and political conditions and the effects of these conditions on the company’s clients’ businesses and levels of business activity; Accenture’s business depends on generating and maintaining client demand for the company’s services and solutions including through the adaptation and expansion of its services and solutions in response to ongoing changes in technology and offerings, and a significant reduction in such demand or an inability to respond to the evolving technological environment could materially affect the company’s results of operations; if Accenture is unable to match people and their skills with client demand around the world and attract and retain professionals with strong leadership skills, the company’s business, the utilization rate of the company’s professionals and the company’s results of operations may be materially adversely affected; Accenture faces legal, reputational and financial risks from any failure to protect client and/or company data from security incidents or cyberattacks; the markets in which Accenture operates are highly competitive, and Accenture might not be able to compete effectively; Accenture’s ability to attract and retain business and employees may depend on its reputation in the marketplace; if Accenture does not successfully manage and develop its relationships with key ecosystem partners or fails to anticipate and establish new alliances in new technologies, the company’s results of operations could be adversely affected; Accenture’s profitability could materially suffer if the company is unable to obtain favorable pricing for its services and solutions, if the company is unable to remain competitive, if its cost-management strategies are unsuccessful or if it experiences delivery inefficiencies or fail to satisfy certain agreed-upon targets or specific service levels; changes in Accenture’s level of taxes, as well as audits, investigations and tax proceedings, or changes in tax laws or in their interpretation or enforcement, could have a material adverse effect on the company’s effective tax rate, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition; Accenture’s results of operations could be materially adversely affected by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; changes to accounting standards or in the estimates and assumptions Accenture makes in connection with the preparation of its consolidated financial statements could adversely affect its financial results; as a result of Accenture’s geographically diverse operations and strategy to continue to grow in key markets around the world, the company is more susceptible to certain risks; if Accenture is unable to manage the organizational challenges associated with its size, the company might be unable to achieve its business objectives; Accenture might not be successful at acquiring, investing in or integrating businesses, entering into joint ventures or divesting businesses; Accenture’s business could be materially adversely affected if the company incurs legal liability; Accenture’s global operations expose the company to numerous and sometimes conflicting legal and regulatory requirements; Accenture’s work with government clients exposes the company to additional risks inherent in the government contracting environment; if Accenture is unable to protect or enforce its intellectual property rights or if Accenture’s services or solutions infringe upon the intellectual property rights of others or the company loses its ability to utilize the intellectual property of others, its business could be adversely affected; Accenture may be subject to criticism and negative publicity related to its incorporation in Ireland; as well as the risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed under the “Risk Factors” heading in Accenture plc’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and other documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements in this news release speak only as of the date they were made, and Accenture undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements made in this news release or to conform such statements to actual results or changes in Accenture’s expectations.

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Collaborative Robotics (Cobot), a leader in the development of practical collaborative robots (cobots), today announced an advancement in its AI research capabilities with the establishment of a new Foundation Models AI team. The initiative marks a significant milestone in Cobot’s strategic expansion and is led by Michael Vogelsong, a founder of Amazon’s Deep Learning Tech team, who recently joined Cobot. Cobot also announced it has opened a new Seattle office, which will be the base for the AI team, and a research grant to Professor Sidd Srinivasa at the University of Washington to support advanced AI research. The announcements follow the company’s recent $100 million Series B financing round led by General Catalyst.

“Our cobots are already doing meaningful work in production on behalf of our customers. Our investment in building a dedicated foundation models AI team for robotics represents a significant step forward as we continue to increase the collaborative potential of our cobots,” said Brad Porter, CEO of Cobot. “The foundation models AI team will explore the cutting-edge possibilities of AI in enhancing robotic capabilities, particularly in the area of bimanual manipulation and low-latency multimodal models. We aim to achieve a new level of comprehension and control in our robots, enabling them to understand and respond effectively to complex tasks and environments. I am looking forward to seeing the innovations this talented team creates.”

The new Foundation Models AI team will concentrate on integrating advanced machine learning techniques into Cobot’s production robots. By combining existing foundation models, novel research, and strategic partnerships with the practical experience from running cobots live in production environments, the team aims to improve the adaptability and precision of robotic tasks. Building on Cobot’s earlier work in developing an Auditable Control and Planning Framework (ACoP), this research will explore how models that process text, vision, and actions can interact and create a real-time feedback loop for adaptive control.

As part of its commitment to advancing AI research, Cobot is also funding PhD work at the University of Washington through a significant gift. This gift will sponsor the research of Professor Sidd Srinivasa, an academic leader in AI and robotics, who also serves as an advisor to Cobot.

“The collaboration with Cobot supports our ongoing research at the University of Washington,” said Professor Sidd Srinivasa. “Cobot’s commitment to advancing AI and robotics aligns well with our research goals and will help us advance robotic capabilities across multiple dimensions and particularly in the area of bimanual manipulation. “

Cobot’s new Seattle office, opening this month, will serve as a hub for these advanced research activities. Seattle’s thriving tech ecosystem and rich talent pool provide an ideal environment for Cobot’s expanding team and research goals.

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COMPUTEX — NVIDIA today announced that the world’s leaders in robot development are adopting the NVIDIA Isaac robotics platform for the research, development and production of the next generation of AI-enabled autonomous machines and robots.

BYD Electronics, Siemens, Teradyne Robotics and Intrinsic, an Alphabet company, are among more than a dozen robotics industry leaders globally that are integrating NVIDIA Isaac accelerated libraries, physically based simulation and AI models into their software frameworks and robot models to make factories, warehouses and distribution centers highly efficient and safer for their human coworkers, and act as intelligent assistants for repetitive or ultra-precise tasks.

“The era of robotics has arrived. Everything that moves will one day be autonomous,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “We are working to accelerate generative physical AI by advancing the NVIDIA robotics stack, including Omniverse for simulation applications, Project GR00T humanoid foundation models and the Jetson Thor robotics computer.”

The Isaac platform features a suite of NVIDIA-accelerated libraries, AI foundation models and simulation technologies that are available today to robot makers to integrate into their technology stacks.

• NVIDIA Isaac ROS — a collection of modular ROS 2 packages that brings NVIDIA-acceleration and AI models to ROS community developers.
• NVIDIA Isaac Perceptor — a reference workflow built on Isaac ROS that provides multi-camera, 3D surround-vision capabilities for AI-based autonomous mobile robots.
• NVIDIA Isaac Manipulator — a reference workflow built on Isaac ROS that simplifies development of AI-enabled robot arms, or manipulators, that can seamlessly perceive, understand and interact with their environments.
• NVIDIA Isaac Sim — a reference application for simulating, testing and validating robots in physically based environments, and for generating synthetic data, based on the NVIDIA Omniverse platform.
• NVIDIA Isaac Lab — a reference application in Isaac Sim optimized for reinforcement, imitation and transfer learning for AI robot foundation model training.

Isaac Ecosystem Rapidly Expands
NVIDIA Isaac’s early adopters are leaders in robotics and autonomous machine development across Asia, Europe and North America.

Siemens, global leader in industrial automation software and systems, is using NVIDIA Isaac Sim for its powerful software-in-the-loop capabilities. The Isaac technologies accelerate Siemens development and testing of advanced robotics skills such as SIMATIC Robot PickAI (PRO) and SIMATIC Robot Pack AI. The AI vision software provides cognitive AI-driven capabilities and enables industrial robot systems to autonomously and reliably pick-and-pack arbitrary items without any prior training of the AI by the user. The companies plan to expand their partnership and announce new capabilities later this year at the SPS Expo.

Siemens delivers industrial-grade AI and is pushing it to the forefront of robotics by seamlessly integrating with automation solutions and making it easy to use when deployed on a NVIDIA-powered Siemens industrial PC foundation, bringing vision AI to the ecosystem of industrial robots.

“AI-powered robots will accelerate the digital transformation of industry and take over repetitive tasks that were previously impossible to automate so we can unlock human potential for more creative and valuable work,” said Roland Busch, president and CEO at Siemens AG. “Together with NVIDIA, Siemens is empowering our customers and partners to use AI to create new innovations, incorporate them as part of their industrial automation solutions and drive efficiency and competitive advantage.”

Intrinsic, a software and AI robotics subsidiary of Alphabet that acquired the Open Source Robotics Corporation in late 2022, has successfully tested Isaac Manipulator in its robot-agnostic software platform. Intrinsic has demonstrated, using Manipulator, the potential for a scalable, universally applicable robotic-grasping skill to work across grippers, environments and objects.

“We couldn’t have found a better collaborator in NVIDIA, who are helping to pave the way for foundation models to have a profound impact on industrial robotics,” said Wendy Tan White, CEO of Intrinsic. “As our teams work together on integrating NVIDIA Isaac and Intrinsic’s platform, the potential value we can unlock for millions of developers and businesses is immense.”

BYD Group has a strong manufacturing footprint across four major industries, including electronics, automotive, new energy and rail transportation worldwide. Its one subsidiary, BYD Electronics (BYDE), a global leading provider of high-tech and innovative products, is developing a full range of autonomous mobile robots that provide factories with complete logistics solutions using NVIDIA Isaac Sim and Isaac Perceptor.

“BYDE has a strong focus on helping customers accelerate deployment of logistics applications,” said Chris Yotive, senior business development director of BYD Electronics. “In collaboration with NVIDIA, we have developed advanced autonomous mobile robots powered by NVIDIA Isaac that will improve worker safety, reduce production costs and enhance production intelligence for our customers.”

Universal Robots (UR) and Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR), Teradyne Robotics companies, are using NVIDIA Isaac to integrate AI into automation. UR is integrating Isaac Manipulator into its PolyScope X software platform to unlock new cobot solutions. MiR is leveraging Isaac Sim to generate synthetic data and simulate its MiR1200 Pallet Jack for real-world deployments.

“The key to tackling our customers’ challenges in robotics lies in the industry’s ability to work together, in one collective effort,” said Ujjwal Kumar, group president of Teradyne Robotics. “With NVIDIA Isaac’s advanced AI and simulation capabilities plugged into our large installed base of autonomous mobile robots and cobots, we will push the envelope of innovation to achieve swift solutions for multiple industries.”

The NVIDIA Isaac platform is modular, enabling companies to adopt individual or several technologies together.

Companies leveraging Isaac Perceptor for development of advanced perception-based autonomous mobile robots include: ArcBest, BYD Electronics, Gideon, idealworks and RGo Robotics.

Companies leveraging Isaac Manipulator for building AI-based robotic arms include: Solomon, Techman Robot, Vention and Yaskawa.

Over 100 companies are adopting Isaac Sim to simulate, test and validate robotic applications, including Hexagon, Husqvarna Group and MathWorks. Isaac Lab is being adopted by Agility, Boston Dynamics, Figure AI, Fourier Intelligence and Sanctuary AI.

Robotics Innovation in Action at Computex
In his COMPUTEX keynote, Huang demonstrated robots used in transportation, healthcare and industrial manufacturing. In one demonstration, Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics manufacturer, showcases a fully simulated autonomous factory in NVIDIA Omniverse, featuring fleets of AI robots developed by NVIDIA robotics partners, based on NVIDIA Isaac.

Watch Huang’s COMPUTEX keynote to get the latest on AI and more. Read more about the updates available now to the NVIDIA Isaac platform.

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