ABB Robotics has invested in California-based LandingAI to accelerate the transformation of vision AI, making it faster, more intuitive, and accessible to a broader range of users. This first of its kind collaboration will integrate LandingAI’s vision AI capabilities, like LandingLens, into ABB Robotics’ own software suite, as ABB works towards truly autonomous and versatile robots.
“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,” said Sami Atiya, President of ABB Robotics & Discrete Automation. “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, driving collaboration and investment in innovative early-stage companies that are shaping the future of robotics and automation. Financial details of the investment were not disclosed.
LandingAI’s LandingLens is a vision AI platform that enables the rapid training of vision AI systems to recognise and respond to objects, patterns or defects with no complex programming or AI expertise required.
Through this collaboration, ABB Robotics plans to reduce robot vision AI training and deployment time by up to 80%. Once deployed, it is said that system integrators and end users can retrain the AI for new scenarios on their own, unlocking a new level of versatility. This is a critical step in scaling robot adoption in dynamic environments, beyond traditional manufacturing, especially in fast-moving sectors such as logistics, healthcare and food and beverage.
ABB is currently piloting LandingAI’s technology and working to integrate it into existing vision AI applications, including item-picking, sorting, depalletising and quality inspection.
“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.
ABB Robotics claims to be the only robotics company offering a fully integrated AI training tool within its software suite. It will be available alongside ABB’s simulation and programming tool RobotStudio, which features digital twin capabilities to further simplify commissioning.
