Innorobo announced 5 finalists for the robotic start-ups. 59 exciting venture projects from 21 countries around the world reviewed by a jury of experts to select the 5 winners, who will pitch to investors at a plenary conference and exhibit free of charge at Innorobo, the international robotics summit in Europe.
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Reach Robotics
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Empire Robotics
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OptoForce
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MagnebotiX
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ex aequo : RobotBase and Flyability
Reach Robotics (UK)
Reach Robotics is the developer of gaming robot. Imagine a game where the real world is the playing field and you can control and evolve your personal gaming robot to compete against others. Reach Robotics is combing gaming and robotics to make this a reality. Reach Robotics gaming robot, Mecha Monster is controlled via smartphones and respond to their physical environment. Their appearance and performance can be customized with physical and virtual add-ons. This will be the play-able, code-able, evolving toy for the new generation.
Reach Robotics has a core team of 2 mechanical and manufacturing engineers with more than 30 years of combined industry experience, a robotics PHD specialising in AI and machine vision and its 23 year old founder has a 1st class degree in robotics and 4 years of experience in working with our target market.
Empire Robotics (USA)
Empire Robotics is a Cornell University technology spinout. The company is commercializing a range of flexible robotic tools for the industrial automation market based on jamming granular gripping. The first product offering, the VERSABALL gripper, reliably and adaptively grips and manipulates inconsistent and randomly oriented objects, with applications in automotive, natural food handling, consumer goods, and bin picking. Some of the advantages of this technology include: Faster tool up when a product design changes; High error tolerance; Grip oddly shaped objects and inconsistent objects such as molded parts and natural foods; and eliminate the need for custom tooling – especially for short runs. Empire Robotics has the potential to exceed $50 million in sales within the $2 Billion+ industrial handling components market. Backed by a Seed angel investment and research contracts from NSF, NIH, and NASA, the company is leading the evolution from fixed custom robotic grippers to highly agile, safe, and flexible plug and play robot grippers.
OptoForce (Hungary)
OptoForce is determined to revolutionise the tactile sensing of machines and haptic interaction between people and machines. The traditional approach in multi-axis force sensing has been to use a number of strain-gauges carefully glued to as metallic structure. Due to the construction, these sensors are expensive to manufacture and so cost several thousand euros. They are also very heavy and can be easily broken, if they are hit. OptoForce sensors measure the deformation of a silicone structure with light inside the structure. As the sensing elements are not deforming themselves, only the silicone above, the sensors are very robust. Since OptoForce is using inexpensive manufacturing techniques (SMT, silicone moulding), its sensors are cost effective.
MagnebotiX (Switzerland)
MagnebotiX was formed in Q2 2014 and is headquartered in Zurich. MagnebotiX team of world class researchers and engineers is passionate about the development and production of magnetic manipulation systems, including magnetic field generators and micromagnetic agents. With years of expertise in the field, our products support both fundamental and applied scientific and engineering research. Taking advantage of the transmission of both power and guidance through applied magnetic fields, its systems provide wireless tools to accomplish challenging micromanipulation tasks. They are also used as untethered mechanical probes in otherwise inaccessible places and for targeted cargo delivery in minimally invasive biological studies.
Robotbase (USA)
Robotbase is building a software + hardware platform powering the next generation of machines and apps. Personal computer technology is outdated, how you’re using computer today is not much different from 10 years ago. It is true that machines are cheaper and faster now, but they are not smarter. Robotbase is making the next generation machines by creating software + hardware platform that are much more autonomous and intelligent.
Flyability (Switzerland)
Mobile robots are offering an amazing cost and time saving opportunity for routine work and may spare human lives in dangerous tasks. However, current solutions are not robust enough to be reliably and safely used indoors or in environments cluttered with obstacles: ground robots tend to get stuck by the clutter and flying robots crash easily upon contact and are dangerous to operate close to humans. Flyability is developing Gimball, the world’s first collision-tolerant flying robot capable of remaining stable after contacts and safe to fly close to people. It is allowing for the first time a robust, safe and easy access to places out of reach of current technologies.