RoboPro Business

JOHNSON & JOHNSON BUYS AURIS HEALTH’S ROBOTIC PLATFORM FOR $3.4BN CASH

Pharma giant Johnson & Johnson has acquired Auris Health’s Robotic Platform for $3.4bn in cash.

A further $2.35bn will be payable if Auris hits certain milestones.

The deal expands Johnson & Johnson’sDigital Surgery Portfolio.

Auris Health is a privately held developer of robotic technologies, initially focused in lung cancer, with an FDA-cleared platform currently used in bronchoscopic diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.

A statement from Johnson & Johnson said that this acquisition will accelerate its entry into robotics with potential for growth and expansion into other interventional applications.

“In this new era of health care, we’re aiming to simplify surgery, drive efficiency, reduce complications and improve outcomes for patients, ultimately making surgery safer,” said Ashley McEvoy, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Chairman, Medical Devices, Johnson & Johnson. “We believe the combination of best-in-class robotics, advanced instrumentation and unparalleled end-to-end connectivity will make a meaningful difference in patient outcomes.”

With this acquisition, Frederic Moll, MD, CEO and Founder of Auris Health and regarded by Johnson & Johnson as

a visionary in the field of surgical robotics, will be joining Johnson & Johnson upon completion of this transaction.

“We’re thrilled to be joining Johnson & Johnson to help push the boundaries of what is possible in medical robotics and improve the lives of patients across the globe. Together, we will be able to dramatically accelerate our collective product innovation to develop new interventional solutions that redefine optimal patient outcomes,” said Dr Moll. “This combination is a testament to the incredible work of the Auris Health team and the innovation engine behind the Monarch Platform, which represents a huge step forward in endoluminal technology. We look forward to continuing to shape the future of intervention with the added expertise and resources of the world’s largest healthcare organization.”

The company statement went on to say: “Johnson & Johnson is continuously working to disrupt medical innovation. With Auris Health’s current focus on lung cancer, the Monarch Platform robotic technology will play an important role within the Lung Cancer Initiative at Johnson & Johnson (LCI), enabling the development of a differentiated digital solution that addresses key steps in the lung cancer care journey, from diagnosis to early stage intervention, that are central to the company’s commitment to develop solutions that prevent, intercept and cure this deadly disease.”

ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION SECTORS EXPECT FURTHER GROWTH IN 2019 SAYS VDMA

Last year the German robotics and automation sector achieved record sales of €15bn, an increase of 4%.

Wilfried Eberhardt, Chairman of the VDMA Robotics and Automation Association, said: “The new record shows that worldwide demand for robotics and automation technologies from Germany remains high. However, the general political uncertainty and cooling of the global economy led to a more moderate growth than originally expected.

“Continuing global economic uncertainties do not permit a precise forecast for 2019. We are currently expecting growth of between 2% and 5% in the current year.”

The VDMA statement added: “According to a preliminary analysis of the 2018 data, the development in the

sub-sectors varied: with an increase in sector sales of 9% to a total of 8.3 billion euros, Integrated Assembly Solutions was able to continue its dynamic growth course of the previous year. This was due, in particular, to a very high order backlog and strong domestic business.

“In 2018, Machine Vision was able to maintain the record level of 2.6 billion euros set in the previous year. Robotics, on the other hand, only slightly missed the previous year’s sales record of 4.2 billion euros and closed 2018 with industry sales of 4.1 billion euros. This is mainly attributed to the weakness in automobile sales – especially in the main market China.”

INDIA’S RECORD ROBOT SALES

Sales of industrial robots in India reached a new record of 3,412 new units installed in 2017, according to the initial findings of the World Robotics Report 2018, published by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR).

The 30% increase compares to the previous year which saw 2,627 units installed.

Between 2012 and 2017 India experienced a compound annual sales growth rate of 1 %.

India’s automotive sector is the main customer with a share of 62% of the total supply 2017. Sales rose here by 27% compared to the previous year.

“The automotive industry will remain the main driver of the increasing robot installations in India,” says Junji Tsuda, President of the International Federation of Robotics. “Numerous new projects are announced by the international and domestic car manufacturers aiming to expand production capacities. Moreover, OEMs increasingly require local supply of automotive parts.”

The report also shows that there are clear signs that the general industry is catching up with the automotive sector.

Sales numbers of industrial robots in, for example the rubber and plastics, the metal industry, and the electrical and electronics industries, increased by 46% in 2017.

“The general industry will further invest in production capacities and modernisation to serve this growing consumer market,” said Tsuda. “Therefore, an accelerated and strong robot sales growth is expected between 2018 and 2021.”

India is one of the strongest growing economies among the Asian emerging markets. Since 2009, the number of robot installations has been growing rapidly. In 2017, India ranked number 14 regarding the global annual supply, following Thailand and Spain. Regarding the operational stock, India ranked thirteenth following Canada, Spain and Singapore.

India’s automation potential is illustrated by a rather low robot density figure: 85 industrial robots per 10,000 employees in the automotive industry is less than a fourth of Indonesia´s density (378 units) and far away from China´s (505 units).

GENIECONNECT FUNDING OVERSUBSCRIBED

GenieConnect, a robot companion service from Service Robotics, is currently oversubscribed in its funding exercise on Crowdcube. At the time of writing it had raised 138% (£166,360) from 84 investors of the initial target of £120,000 with 24 days to go. Equity on offer is 9.16% and the pre-money valuation is £1.65m.

GenieConnect is an intelligent, personalised, robot companion service supporting extended independent living with companionship and memory stimulation software for older adults.

In the blurb accompanying the pitch on Crowdcube, the team at GenieConnect explains: “We live in an ageing society, where the needs of the older adults of the UK are increasingly unmet by our health and care systems. GenieConnect strives to be an intelligent, personalised, robot companion service that supports extended

independent living for older adults. We are looking to offer GenieConnect to users at an affordable all-inclusive monthly subscription and is completely voice enabled.

“The prospective features of the Genie robot include an interactive companion, offering reminders, video calling to family and friends and smart home management, as well as monitoring of the user environment remotely by family and a real-time video support function that connects the user to a dedicated 24×7 Care Centre. The friendly service agent, with their knowledge of the user’s likes and dislikes, routines & needs, will answer their queries.

“We will integrate GenieConnect with RemindMeCare, a partner software solution that promotes cognitive retention with memory stimulation. Once loaded with the user’s brief life story, Genie’s AI engine will offer reminiscence with family photos and videos, nostalgic articles, music and news.

The GenieConnect solution will be piloted with 150 users from Q1 2019, with the goal of a commercial launch in late-2019. The company’s ambition is to achieve 40,000 subscribers within three years, representing just 1.1% of the number of over 65s who live alone.

SMALL ROBOT COMPANY RAISES £1.2M

British agritech Small Robot Company has raised £1.2m on Crowdcube equity crowdfunding platform.

It reached its initial funding target of £500,000 within minutes of its launch thanks largely to support from the farming community.

Investors included Matt Jones, Principle Designer at Google AI; Mark Ellingham, founder of the Rough Guides; and Andrew Ward, MBE, Farmers Weekly Farming Champion and Arable Farmer of the Year.

Small Robot Company aims to harness the power and precision of robots and Artificial Intelligence to improve the way that food is produced and minimise chemical usage. It will make farms more profitable, and increase yield and efficiency, through using small robots instead of tractors. Its farmbots Tom Dick and Harry will plant, feed and weed arable crops autonomously, with minimal waste.

This now takes the total funding raised by the Small Robot Company to £2.5m in total. This includes two awards from Innovate UK, £300,000 seed funding from farmers (including £90,000 in presales), £50,000 raised from Indiegogo crowdfunding, and a £50,000 Horizonatal Innovation Award from the the Institute of Engineering and Technology.

“We’re on the cusp of a fourth agricultural revolution, taking farming into the digital age: and with British ideas and British technology at the helm,” said Ben Scott-Robinson, co-founder, Small Robot Company. “Our Tom, Dick and Harry robots will completely transform what’s possible on the farm. It will radically reduce chemical usage in arable farming, while improving soils, profits and yields. It’s the ultimate sustainable farming model.”

UNIVERSAL ROBOTS CONTINUES TO DOMINATE COBOT MARKET

Confirmation that Universal Robots dominates the cobot market, if any were needed, comes from a new report entitled The Future of Collaborative Robots published by Interact Analysis.

In 2017, UR cobots enjoyed a near 50% share of global revenues and no other manufacturer in the market had a share above 10%.

The order of who came next in terms of market share was as follows: FANUC, Techman, Rethink Robotics, AUBO, ABB, Kawasaki, KUKA, Yaskawa, Precise Automation, Siasun and Staubli.

The report also revealed that 30% of robots forecast to be sold in 2027 will be cobots and that the largest application for cobots over the next five years, some 75%, will be pick and place, material handling and assembly.

Generally, the report concluded that the cobot industry was worth less than $400m last year, but is set to grow to nearly $600m in 2018.

What’s more, growth is forecast to accelerate due to the wider availability of collaborative robots from mainstream industrial robot vendors, the greater awareness at SMEs, and the wider adoption by major OEMs.

Which leads to the forecast that by 2027, revenues will reach $7.5bn and account for 29% of the industrial robot market.

The diverse numbers industry and applications adopting collaborative robots is likely to continue, but, in a way that mirrors the evolution seen with industrial robots, with electronics and automotive being the two largest vertical applications.

In terms of payload, although 5kg has been the sweet spot for collaborative robots, several products have been launched above and below this weight category. A number of products are targeted at pick and place and assembly applications below 1kg, which are designed to efficiently undertake repetitive tasks.

UK GOVERNMENT INVESTS IN TINY ROBOTS TO FIX UNDERGROUND PIPES

The Government has backed a project to develop tiny robots that can help repair the UK’s vast underground pipe network and prevent disruption of roadworks in the future.

The £7m investment will allow scientists from four British universities to develop 1 cm-long robotic devices that use sensors and navigation systems to find and mend cracks in pipes. The traffic closures and disruption to businesses of these roadworks is estimated to amount to more than £5bn.

It’s part of a bigger project to build micro robots that can help repair the UK’s vast underground pipe network preventing disruptive roadworks and using robotics in hazardous work environments to avoid workplace injury.

The robots – including flying and underwater versions – will also inspect and maintain oil and gas pressure vessels and offshore wind turbines.

The project is backed by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy; Health and Safety Executive; Innovate UK; and, UK Research and Innovation.

The funding comes from the government’s modern Industrial Strategy to invest in the industries of tomorrow.

A further 14 projects backed by £19.6m government investment, through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF), will see robots sent to hazardous work places such as offshore wind-farms and nuclear decommissioning facilities. Researchers will test new technologies, such as the use of artificial intelligence (AI) software on satellites in orbit to detect when repairs are needed, and drones for oil pipeline monitoring.

Science Minister Chris Skidmore said: “While for now we can only dream of a world without roadworks disrupting

our lives, these pipe-repairing robots herald the start of technology that could make that dream a reality in the future

“From deploying robots in our pipe network so cutting down traffic delays, to using robots in workplaces to keep people safer, this new technology could change the world we live in for the better. Experts in our top UK universities across the country are well-equipped to develop this innovative new technology.

“We have put research and development at the heart of our modern Industrial Strategy, with the biggest boost to funding in UK history to create high skill jobs and boost productivity across the country.”

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Chief Executive, Professor Sir Mark Walport said: “The projects announced today demonstrate how robots and artificial intelligence will revolutionise the way we carry out complex and dangerous tasks, from maintaining offshore wind farms to decommissioning nuclear power facilities.

“They also illustrate the leading role that the UK’s innovators are playing in developing these new technologies which will improve safety and boost productivity and efficiency.

The £26.6m government funding boost is part of the modern Industrial Strategy, investing in the technologies of tomorrow and creating high skilled jobs across the country. The UK already develops world-leading robotics technologies, and these projects delivered by UKRI will help make this a sector for UK businesses to grow and dominate international markets.

Health and Safety Executive Chair Martin Temple said: “The key purpose of the Health and Safety Executive is to save lives and prevent workplace injury and ill health. To achieve this, we need businesses to work with us and to be innovative in their thinking around managing risk in the workplace. New and emerging technologies are shaping our working environment.

“As a regulator we want to encourage industry to think about how technologies such as robotics and AI can be used to manage risk in the workplace, safeguarding workers both now and in the future world of work.”

Picture shows Chris Skidmore MP meeting the team at Bristol University.

MIR BOOSTS REVENUE

Mobile Industrial Robots (Holbrook, New York), the market leader in autonomous mobile robots, grew revenue by 160% in 2018, matching its 2017 growth and meeting its forecast.

MiR, which did not disclose its profits, is now part of American company Teradyne, the leading supplier of automated test equipment.

MiR told RoboPro Magazine that its success was due, in large part, to it’s multinational customers, including the Toyota Motor Corporation, which are investing in fleets of mobile robots to optimise internal logistics and to gain competitive advantages in the production and supply chain.

Some 30% MiR’s 2018 sales come from the Americas (27% in the US and 3% in Latin America).

“Large multinational organisations, who are happy with the benefits they’ve received after trying one of our robots, are now investing in fleets spread across more of their plants, with some purchasing as many as 15 to 25 MiR robots at a time,” said Thomas Visti, CEO of MiR. “Our robots make it easy for these companies to follow the increasing shift to

a mass-customisation model, where they manufacture a higher number of customised products in smaller batches, requiring an agile production facility with flexible and easily adaptable logistics. Our user-friendly technology fits this model well.”

MiR is driving growth from new products and a new “robots as a service” offering to help more companies benefit from the technology.

In addition to increased sales of multiple robots to companies like Toyota, which already uses MiR robots to optimise logistics in plants in the US and Asia, the company’s growth in 2018 also came from the launch of the MiR500.

Around 40% of sales of the MiR500, which can pickup, transport, and deliver pallets, have come from US companies. The continuous growth worldwide means that MiR expects 2019 will bring even more new products, along with 100 new employees and new offices in the US, China, and Japan.

According to Visti, the company also expects to increase revenue as much, if not more, over the next year, while expanding the types of companies that can benefit from autonomous mobile robots.

He said: “In 2019, we’ll continue to focus on delivering solutions that companies are requesting. That means we’ll also support companies that are used to leasing equipment such as electric forklifts and AGVs by starting a new ‘mobile robots as a service program’ via our external partners. Now we can lower the initial investment required to make it easier and more attractive for these companies to get started with our collaborative autonomous mobile robots.”

SMALL ROBOT COMPANY BEATS FUNDING TARGET ON CROWDCUBE

The Small Robot Company is raising money via the Crowdcube platform and is already, with 24 days left, over subscribed at 137%. The target funding was set at £500,000, but they have already raised £685,530 from 420 investors. The equity on offer is 14.63% and the pre-money valuation is £4m.

The company is seeking to transform farming with robots & artificial intelligence. Their three small robots (Tom, Dick, and Harry) are being developed to reduce farming’s impact on the environment and increase farm outputs globally. Over 20 farms have signed up, including Waitrose and the National Trust.

The company recently won £565,000 from Innovate UK

funding, one of the largest awards given in 2018, and has received £90k in pre-sales on our services. The precision farming market set to be worth $5bn by 2020.

The company is developing the concept of Farming as a Service. This is a farming system which will use lightweight robots and AI to create a truly Digital Farm.

The robots are Tom, Dick and Harry. Tom collects data autonomously. Dick will care for the crop, which we estimate could save up to 95% of chemicals. Harry will place seeds individually with minimal soil disturbance.

Wilma, the company’s operating system, gives them a digital view of the field. This enables the robots to only treat the individual plants that need it.

PRESIDENT AND CEO OF FANUC EUROPE UPDATES ON ROBOT MARKET PROSPECTS

Whilst fears of recession worries Europe and the wider markets, the overall picture for the industrial robot market “stays bright.”

So said Shinichi Tanzawa (above), President and CEO of the FANUC Europe Corporation.

“In the first half of our current fiscal year our order volume in all Europe rose by a double digit percentage number and we expect the expansion to continue although it might slow down a bit.”

FANUC has installed more than 550,000 robots, four million CNC controllers and 19 million servo motors worldwide. The company has 263 locations serving 108 countries and

employs more than 7,000 people. In Europe, FANUC has 22 entities with around 1,400 employees.

“In the past couple of years the Industrial Robot market in Europe has been growing at a very high speed. It is only natural that we might now see a short term consolidation in some regions.”

He pointed out that the main drivers of automation are intact: a lack of skilled workers, an increase of labour costs and the development of ever more capable industrial robots.

As for the cobot trend. “We increasingly see more demand coming from small and mid-size companies, even from companies who have not been using robots in their production in the past. The interest in collaborative robots is strong all over Europe.”

FANUC believes it has the widest and most reliable range of collaborative robot models on offer, ranging from the small CR-4iA that can handle loads of up to 4kg, up to the CR-35iA that can lift loads of up to 35 kg and assist workers in heavy lifting tasks without the need of special safety equipment like protective fences.”

As for the skills shortage. “In most European countries that we cover we see a lack of robot programmers and engineers. That is hampering companies from automating their production sites at the pace they would like to.”

ROBOTIQ RAISES $31M

Cobot gripper company Robotiq has raised $31m in funding from global investment firm Battery Ventures.

It’s the company’s first ever round of institutional financing and the funds will be used for product development, international expansion and enhanced support of its partner ecosystem. Sources say a major expansion in Europe is on the cards.

Robotiq makes equipment including specially designed plug-and-play “grippers” that can handle manufacturing tasks previously done by human hands. The company was founded ten years ago and spun out of a project at Laval University in Canada.

“Collaborative robotics is transforming industries today, offering low-cost, easy-to-deploy solutions that stand in stark contrast to the more-complicated, legacy robotics systems of the past,” said Samuel Bouchard, Robotiq’s co-founder and CEO. “What is amazing about these

systems is how they work side-by-side with humans to improve quality, increase efficiency and minimize worker injuries. We could not be more excited to work with Battery Ventures—a firm that has demonstrated a commitment to innovation in both industrial technology and software—to take our company to the next level.”

Battery General Partner Jesse Feldman, who specializes in industrial-technology investments, will join Robotiq’s board. He said: “We have been tracking Robotiq and its experienced team for several years and are extremely impressed with the business the founders have built.

“Robotiq’s next-generation products are improving efficiencies at companies all over the globe and, more broadly, provide a glimpse of how new, interconnected technologies including robots, sensors and software are driving a new kind of industrial revolution with huge ramifications for the global economy and workforce.”