Building a Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Network

Project Information

BRAIN

Grant agreement ID: 859711

DOI

10.3030/859711

Project closed

EC signature date 21 May 2019

Start date 1 April 2019

End date 31 December 2020

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 2 448 851,25

EU contribution

€ 1 714 195,88

Coordinated by

THE KOBI COMPANY
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - BRAIN (Building a Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Network)

Reporting period: 2020-04-01 to 2020-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In many labour-intensive industries with “dull, dirty or dangerous” jobs, such as lawn & garden, cleaning, agriculture, construction and mining, there is a mismatch from a personnel perspective. The number one problem for companies active in these industries is finding skilled personnel, while for the personnel the fact that many of these jobs are often less attractive. This is exactly the problem which The Kobi Company (“Kobi”) solves. By introducing robotics in the mix, Kobi not only solves the lack of skilled personnel, but also makes the work for the personnel safer and more interesting. Workers can collaborate with these robots and focus on the higher added-value and challenging tasks, leading to a more satisfactory professional career.

To achieve this double objective of solving the labour issue as well as increasing job safety and satisfaction, Kobi has a unique approach. The company noticed that in the industries mentioned above, there are typically a few large Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) who produce manually operated machinery. These OEMs are strong in their respective business but not necessarily in high-tech robotics. OEMs know the market is demanding robotic solutions, but many do not have the expertise to tackle this robotization wave by themselves while still getting to the market quickly with a reliable solution. The approach of Kobi is to establish a synergetic relationship with these OEMs. This capitalizes on strengths of the OEMs expertise in machinery and their sales & distribution network in their respective industries and the strengths of Kobi in robotics and Artificial Intelligence. Bringing these synergies to the next level is the main objective of the project, and this challenge can be split in two parts: a technical part and a more business related part.

For the technical part, the main objectives were to improve the usability, to build and test prototypes, to build a virtual test environment, and to start with the development of a production-ready device to scale up to mass production. The usability objective consists of development of a user-friendly application, of a fleet management system and of an API for OEMs. The prototype objective relates to the roll-out and testing of a pilot series with various stakeholders. The virtual test environment on the other hand is to improve future developments and roll-outs. Besides this, another objective is to scale up the solution to mass production. In that context matters such as component selection, PCB design and certification need to be tackled.
For the business part the main objectives are to establish a working relationships with OEMs form a legal and market positioning point of view, to prepare for the most optimal exploitation of the project results and to create project visibility and brand awareness through targeted dissemination and communication. All of this while maintaining a strong grasp on the project through efficient project management.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Kobi successfully managed to achieve the goals of both the technical and business objectives, even with COVID-19 putting serious restrictions on some of the earlier plans.

In the technical work packages, following milestones were reached:
- A user-friendly application, e.g. to manually control the robot, to adapt the planning, to get notified of events or the robot condition, etc.
- A fleet management dashboard for professional users which allows interaction with robots and to follow up their conditions (e.g. predictive failure/maintenance)
- A generic API which allows easy communication and which ensures scalability of the platform for different applications and OEM requirements (as each OEM has different requirements on how to use the technology and its functionalities)
- Several pilot projects and prototypes/demos to replicate technical scalability, gather feedback, gain insights in product/market fit and overall improvements
- A virtual environment in which the robot can “drive around”, and where various scenarios can be generated. This allows for parallel (virtual) testing of hundreds or thousands of scenarios, without having to do all the physical tests. This allows for faster implementation and market-readiness of future features. It also was of great importance during the COVID-19 pandemic, in which no physical tests could take place
- A new PCB designed according to the ruling compliance standards. This included a detailed study of components for component selection, a board-level block diagram, the component placement, wire routing and routing verification/ tapeout and board bring-up, testing & iterations

In the business work packages following milestones were reached:

- A detailed evaluation of current practises regarding (exclusive) licensing agreements in different sectors and markets Kobi wishes to enter (EU and US)
- An in-depth market study on the lawn & garden, cleaning and golf sectors in the EU and US, including a detailed competitor and cost-competitiveness study
- An study of different pricing models in different markets, such as subscription (e.g. licenses), transaction based models and new models such as Robotics-as-a-service (RaaS), and combinations of these models
- Research on different channels and support services strategies
- Establish an internal organisation structure to enable an efficient market uptake. This includes a reorganisation of the development team (i.e. software, electronics, etc.) and support team (i.e. sales team, support services and maintenance, etc.)
- Assurance of “freedom-to-operate” as well as file protection measures
- Several successful events and tradeshows for dissemination and communication
- Deals with large OEMs related to the Kobi technology
In conclusion, it can be stated that Kobi delivered a highly successful project and not only reached, but surpassed the milestones set out in the beginning of the project.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Kobi is generally regarded as technology leaders in robotic technology for the lawn & garden industry. Increasingly, people outside of this sector are recognizing the impact and leadership of the Kobi technology, and plan to incorporate it.

The socio-economic impact and societal implications of the project are twofold. Frist and foremost, our technology makes devices run 3x more efficient (i.e. 3x less energy consumption) is typically used on electric devices which then replace a combustion device. Furthermore, Kobi will make the jobs for many blue-collar workers safer and more (intellectually) satisfactory.

Picture of the professional prototype which was demonstrated publicly at the GIE+EXPO

Render of a prototype for the smaller (non-professional) version

PIcture of the prototype