ABB invests in generative AI for robotic vision

LandingAI’s vision AI has seen has seen an investment from ABB Robotics, designed to make it faster, more intuitive and accessible to a broader range of users. This collaboration will integrate LandingAI’s vision AI capabilities, like LandingLens, into ABB Robotics’ software suite, with the intent of advancing progress toward autonomous and versatile robots.

“This announcement is the latest in our decade-long journey to innovate and commercialize AI, benefitting our customers by enhancing robot versatility and autonomy to expand the use of robots beyond traditional manufacturing,” said Sami Atiya, president of ABB Robotics & Discrete Automation. “The demand for AI in robotics is driven by the need for greater flexibility, faster commissioning cycles and a shortage of the specialist skills needed to program and operate robots. Our collaboration with LandingAI will mean installation and deployment time is done in hours instead of weeks, allowing more businesses to automate smarter, faster and more efficiently.”

As part of the collaboration ABB has made a venture capital investment through ABB Robotics Ventures, the strategic venture capital unit of ABB Robotics. Financial details of the investment were not disclosed.

LandingAI’s LandingLens is a vision AI platform designed to enable the rapid training of vision AI systems to recognize and respond to objects, patterns or defects (Figure 1).

“AI is advancing quickly, creating many opportunities, but also requiring us to keep learning and adapting new skills,” said Dan Maloney, chief executive officer of LandingAI. “By combining LandingAI’s vision AI capabilities with ABB’s robots and software, we can make automation more accessible. This makes it easier for businesses to deploy and scale intelligent robotic systems that are practical and useful.”