US start-up claims it can program robots 20 times faster
22 July 2024 
An American robotics start-up has pioneered a new kind of AI-powered motion planning that needs 1,000 times less computational time than existing programming tools, and allows robots to be deployed in less than a day compared to a month. Jacobi Robotics, founded by a group of roboticists and AI researchers from UC Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon University, has attracted $5m of seed funding.
Until recently, robot motion planning – controlling robots’ joints to manoeuvre their end-of-arm tools, while avoiding obstacles – was almost never used in commercial settings because of the complexity of implementing these algorithms. Jacobi says it has pioneered a new kind of AI-powered motion planning technology that results in the fastest-ever generation of real-time, collision-free trajectories, with the calculations taking less than 1ms.
The company argues that recent advances in AI, combined with labour shortages, mean that industrial robots have reached an inflection point. Shorter production runs and new applications enabled by advances in AI require robots that can adapt to changes. They are now being reprogrammed every six months, instead of every six years.
Jacobi says that early adopters of its technology have achieved 95% reductions in deployment times and 24% savings in project costs.
The company reports that there has been “significant demand” for its robot motion planning technology, with agreements already secured with manufacturers across the US, robotics suppliers including Formic, and Fortune 500 companies worldwide in a wide range of sectors including electronics and consumer packaged goods (CPG).
“Just a few years ago, machine learning was limited to a small group of experts and researchers,” says Jacobi’s CEO and co-founder, Max Cao. “Today, any software developer can train a production-ready machine-learning model by following an online tutorial. Similarly, in a few years, software engineers will be implementing production-ready robot applications using Jacobi.
“The strong demand we’ve seen from the market underscores how programming for industrial robots is ripe for a massive shift,” he adds. “The new financing will enable us to quickly ramp Jacobi’s capacity to meet initial and new demand fulfilment.”
Jacobi has announced a palletiser – the first in a series of AI-powered applications based on its technology. It points out that more than $400bn worth of US trade is exported annually on pallets, driving a rapidly growing demand for robotic palletisers that can stack cases onto pallets for storage and shipment.
Jacobi Robotics: LinkedIn
