Whether mobile robots from multiple vendors have enough common characteristics to be commoditized is open to debate, but the growing importance of software as a differentiator is apparent. Cogniteam today announced that it has closed a Series A round of $5.6 million. The Petach Tikva, Israel-based startup said it plans to use the funding to boost product development and sales of its new Nimbus robot operating platform.
“We reimagined what is possible to accelerate and future-proof robotic development with the Nimbus platform,” said Dr. Yehuda Elmaliach, co-founder and CEO of Cogniteam. “Nimbus’ low-code approach is changing the programming landscape by offering a simulated environment where software developers can thoroughly test their capabilities before the prototype physical robot build-out has been completed.”
Nimbus offers robot designers prebuilt packages
Developing a modern robotics system is traditionally a time-consuming process in which software engineers yield their development to hardware engineers until they complete the build-out of physical systems needed to meet project specifications, noted Cogniteam.
This process, from robot concept to deployment, can take up to six years, said the company. During that time, technological development moves forward, making hardware, software, and control systems obsolete by the time new robots are deployed commercially.
With the Nimbus virtual testing environment, developers can select prebuilt software packages from the Robot Operating System (ROS), NVIDIA’s Isaac SDK GEMs toolset, and field-tested algorithms that Cogniteam developed in-house.
Once mobilized, developers can keep Nimbus-operated robots up to date throughout their lives with the latest software and artificial intelligence developments through regular cloud updates and lesson sharing, said Cogniteam.
This decade-old company said it has already developed robots in cooperation with companies such as NVIDIA, Intel, Mitsubishi, and others.
Investment to grow sales, marketing teams
Participants in Cogniteam's Series A round included previous investors Seabarn Management, Andrew Owens, and U.K.-based Panthera family office members.
“We seized the opportunity to increase our investment in Cogniteam following the successful launch of Nimbus and the team’s demonstrated ability to surpass critical milestones,” said lead investor Owens. “Cogniteam’s proven capabilities have generated exciting demand from the market, which the investors are excited to facilitate.”
Cogniteam said it will use the investment to address growing commercial and consumer demand for robotics. The company said it will expand its sales and support teams to bring aboard more companies that want to enable their robots with field-tested features.
Cogniteam to co-lead HRI Consortium
In addition to last year's release of Nimbus, Cogniteam claimed that it has accomplished the following:
- Demonstrated meaningful market penetration
- Allowed companies to incorporate ROS and NVIDIA Isaac SDK GEMs into their new projects
- Given robots powered by NVIDIA’s technology cloud-based, over-the-air (OTA) updates
- Allowed companies to reach the market 80% faster
The company added that it has been handpicked to co-lead a $20 million Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) consortium, funded by the Israeli Innovation Authority. Together with other leading Israeli private and academic institutions, it is working on verbal and non-verbal communication gestures that robots can use to engage with society as they execute tasks.
In line with its mission of easy adoption of advanced capabilities, Cogniteam said it will open the consortium’s capabilities to the Nimbus platform for companies to use.
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