Velodyne Lidar, Inc. and MOV.AI have partnered to provide robot manufacturers with enterprise-grade automation solutions, including mapping, navigation, obstacle, and risk avoidance. The partnership will combine Velodyne’s LiDAR sensors with MOV.AI’s Robotics Engine platform to address growing demand for automation in e-commerce, logistics, manufacturing and even hospitals.

Offers Safe Mobility, Handling

Powered by Velodyne’s Puck LiDAR sensors, the MOV.AI Robotics Engine Platform delivers advanced tools for autonomous mobile robots (AMR) manufacturers and integrators to address the challenges of safe mobility and handling. The platform helps AMR manufacturers quickly develop and deploy robots that can operate in dynamic environments in which humans, manual machines, and robots work side by side. It leverages the performance and reliability of the Puck sensor to allow mobile robots to traverse outside controlled situations and safely function in unfamiliar settings.

Because of Puck’s compact form factor, AMR makers can embed them easily into robots. The sensor delivers high accuracy in complex indoor and outdoor environments.

The MOV.AI Robotics Engine Platform provides AMR manufacturers and automation integrators with the tools they need for advanced automation. It includes a visual Integrated Development Environment (IDE), off-the-shelf algorithms and integrations, fleet management, among others. The solution provides ±2cm accuracy for a 65 percent dynamic environment.

Presents Enormous Potentials

Fernando Freitas, Chief Executive Officer at RoboSavvy said, “Adding MOV.AI and Velodyne technologies to TUGBOT.ai provided our robot with an off-the-shelf, high-accuracy navigation and localization solution for the high and dynamic environments where we are deploying our AMRs.” RoboSavvy is the manufacturer of the AMR TUGBOT.ai. “Using LiDAR-based SLAM enables TUGBOT.ai to navigate safely among people and other vehicles with accurate and consistent performance.”

“MOV.AI’s mission is to simplify collaborative robot development and to provide AMR manufacturers and integrators with everything they need to develop and operate great robots,” said Motti Kushnir, MOV.AI’s Chief Executive Officer. Kushnir added the collaboration enabled them to offer their customers advanced navigation, describing Velodyne’s Puck LiDARs as one of the leading sensors in the industry.

Erich Smidt, Executive Director of Europe at Velodyne said the growing demand for automation has also increased demand of the company’s sensors into collaborative robots and noted the potential in this space is extensive.  Smidt, quoting a report from Fortune Business Insights, said the global AMR market may reach US$8.70 billion in 2028 for a compound annual growth rate of 23.7 percent from 2021.

“We are very excited about the collaboration with MOV.AI and integration of our LiDAR sensors into the Robotics Engine Platform, including future expansion to our solid state Velarray and Velabit products,” said Smidt.