Wandelbots raises $30m for no-code robotics technology

Industrial robotics programming startup Wandelbots has raised $30m in a Series B funding round which was led by 83North with participation from Siemens Next47, Microsoft’s M12 venture funding division, and Haniel.

Dresden, Germany-based industrial robotics programming startup said it will use the funding to speed up the development and launch of its TracePen and supporting platform software to the German market initially and then into the international markets.

Christian Piechnick, CEO of Wandelbots spoke with The AI Journal and said: “We’re super excited to be working with our investors 83North, Microsoft M12, Siemens Next47, and Haniel. Microsoft and Siemens currently make up roughly 95% of the digitization of manufacturing in Germany. Currently, robots can only be used on low-mix, high-volume productions and we plan to change that with our innovative solution. For the past two years, we have been testing the TracePen at companies such as BMW and VW to ensure it meets market requirements. To support our growth, we are going to be using the funding to expand the development team, improve our suite of features, and broaden the capabilities of the software.”

Wandelbots was founded off the back of a successful presentation to at the Innovation Award of the robotic manufacturer KUKA in 2016. Since Wandelbots founding in 2018, they’ve grown from the 2 founders to a team of 76 within two years and now have their first international team member in Japan.

Wandelbots provide a platform and products that make it possible to train, reprogram, and provide data for any robot in the shortest possible time with their product and service suite including The Wandelbots App and The TracePen which can support a variety of robots such as the KUKA LBR iiwa and the Universal Robots CB Series and E Series.

The company claims that their business’s optimal training of robots is ten times cheaper than classical programming and a robot can be programmed ‘within minutes’.

An example of how the technology worked was presented in October 2019 to Microsoft’s Management Board in the companies headquarters city of Seattle following an invite by Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella. Satya went on to teach a robot based in Dresden, Germany how to glue a component from a distance of 8000km.

Piechnick mentioned that Wandelbots want to help smaller and medium-sized businesses by saying: “We’re building something like Windows for robots with the goal of becoming the company that provides the software for industrial robots. Part of our company mission at Wandelbots is to make small and medium-sized businesses to stay competitive in the current global economy.”

The TracePen is a new product in which users can set specific points or move along surfaces that can enable a quick switch for robots to work on one application to the next and has been in development for over a year with the goal to make robot teaching possible for everyone.

The German industrial robotics programming startup’s technology aims to save businesses who make use of industrial robot’s months of programming time and the associated costs with learning the technology and programming languages for robots.

Wandelbots has an impressive client roster including the likes of industry titans such as Volkswagen, BMW, and Infineon who will be among the first to have access to their TracePen and supporting platform for the new technology.

The no-code robotics programming startup has partnerships ranging from large robot manufacturers such as Denso to component manufacturers such as Schunk to large tech companies such as Microsoft and SAP.

However, it’s not only the big companies that can benefit from this technology as due to the reduced costs it makes it practical for smaller niche companies to use this technology that might have been out of reach or budget before.

Piechnick added: “With the TracePen you can show a robot what to do by example and our software learns the task based on it‘s AI capabilities. In the past, the programming of robots was only accessible by highly-skilled programmers and our technology makes robotics available for everyone. Our TracePen and supporting technology will allow for smaller companies to implement innovative robotic solutions that were previously out of reach while also creating new jobs for not only companies but entire industries that were at risk of losing their job to robots,”

The TracePen can currently be used and programmed for five applications which includes glueing, deburring, inspection, welding, and pick and place.

The TracePen works by going through a five step process which includes:

1) Setup – installing hardware components such as open-source automated tools like Lighthouse, TracePen, and tablet and then connecting the Wandelbots platform to the robot controller which can also be done through the cloud.

2) Calibration – Lighthouse stations are used to calibrate the TracePen and determine its exact position which uses infrared light patterns.

3) Teaching skills – operator selects the appropriate attachment for the TracePen and starts the app which has been specially optimised for intuitive operation by non-programmers.

4) Finishing process – getting the selected skill in the previous step further optimised and processed by setting keyframes which allow for a recorded path to be adjusted in detail through three dimension.

5) Generating code – the last step for getting the programming language such as Karel or UR-Script to become fully automated within seconds so that the robot can perform the task. This can also be transferred to other robots independently of the robot manufacturer and the current robots programming language.

Piechnick gave insight for what we can expect to see in the robotics industry by saying: “Currently, collaborative robots in industrial use cases you still have to programme robots and there haven’t been any major improvements in the industry but that is changing quickly. Five years from now we will have a completely different market space which will enable small and medium robots to be competitive on a global scale and we can expect to see robots being increasingly used in the consumer space.”

The official public launch of the TracePen is taking place via a series of webinars from 17-19 June 2020.