Wandelbots, a German software-first robotics company founded in 2017, focuses on making industrial robot programming simpler and more accessible through its "no-code" or "low-code" solutions. In essence, Wandelbots aims to empower users to teach and control robots without extensive programming knowledge, potentially significantly reducing the time and cost associated with deploying industrial robots. They offer an agnostic robotics platform called Nova, which can be used to program various 6-axis robots.
China, meanwhile, is a major player in the global robotics market, with strong government support and a rapidly expanding ecosystem of companies, according to futureTEKnow. The market includes companies specializing in industrial robots, humanoid robots, service robots, and various AI and automation technologies.
While Wandelbots is focused on making robot programming more intuitive and accessible, some notable Chinese competitors with distinct approaches include:
UBTECH Robotics: A leader in humanoid robots, UBTECH has made strides in both consumer and industrial applications, including partnerships with car manufacturers.
Unitree Robotics: Known for its low-cost, high-performance humanoid robots, Unitree Technology is driving innovation in humanoid robot accessibility.
Han's Robot: Focuses on collaborative robots designed to work safely alongside humans.
Siasun Robot & Automation: A large robotics company with a wide range of products for industrial automation, according to granitefirm.com.
UFACTORY: Specializes in collaborative robot arms for various applications, including industrial and consumer markets.
Key differences and points of comparison:
Focus: Wandelbots concentrates on simplifying the programming aspect of robotics, aiming to accelerate adoption and deployment. Chinese competitors offer a broader range of robotics products and solutions, including hardware and integrated systems.
Approach: Wandelbots offers a software-first solution with its Nova platform. Chinese companies often offer comprehensive solutions, including hardware, software, and integration services, as highlighted by UBTECH and Siasun.
Accessibility: Wandelbots emphasizes making robotics accessible to everyone, including users without extensive programming experience. Many Chinese companies also focus on democratizing robotics, as exemplified by Unitree Robotics' low-cost humanoid robots.
Technology: Wandelbots leverages technologies like the TracePen using the energy of batteries in the pen to show the detectors, where the pen is, for intuitive robot teaching and integration with platforms like Nvidia Omniverse for simulation.
NVIDIA Omniverse is a platform that enables real-time, physically accurate 3D design and simulation workflows, particularly for creating digital twins of physical facilities and products. It facilitates collaboration, accelerates design reviews, and integrates generative AI for industrial digitalization.
Chinese competitors utilize advanced technologies such as AI-powered systems for autonomous navigation (e.g., Megvii) and 5G-A technology for enhanced robot capabilities (e.g., LeJu Robot).
AI-powered autonomous navigation systems, with a focus on Megvii
AI-powered autonomous navigation systems are a crucial area of development, enabling robots and vehicles to operate independently in complex and dynamic environments. These systems leverage AI algorithms, including machine learning and deep learning, to interpret sensor data, map environments, plan routes, and avoid obstacles.
Megvii's role in autonomous navigation
Megvii, a Chinese technology company specializing in AI, develops image recognition and deep-learning software applicable to autonomous navigation, particularly in industrial and logistics settings. Megvii's focus in this area is on robotics and intelligent equipment for applications such as smart warehousing, intelligent logistics, smart factories, and intelligent supply chains.
Key aspects of Megvii's approach
Integration of AI and robotics: Megvii combines advanced AI and logistics automation technology to create smart logistics solutions based on AS/RS (Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems), AMR (Autonomous Mobile Robots), and AI.
Proprietary AI platform: Megvii leverages its self-developed AI productivity platform, Brain++, to empower its autonomous navigation solutions. This platform covers all aspects of AI production, from algorithm models to application implementation, aiming to address challenges like high costs and low efficiency in AI research and development.
Advanced algorithms: Megvii's robotics systems are powered by machine vision and SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) algorithms. They employ these algorithms to enhance capabilities such as environmental awareness, intelligent decision-making, and intelligent execution in flexible and comprehensive solutions.
Focus on flexibility and efficiency: Megvii's solutions prioritize flexibility, enabling quick optimization of production lines and capacity adjustments, especially important for industries with fluctuating demands. They also focus on high efficiency, with AI algorithms optimizing operations and facilitating robot collaboration to minimize idle time.
Enhanced safety and reliability: Megvii's autonomous navigation technology aims to ensure safe operation by finding efficient routes and avoiding obstacles without human intervention. Their SLAM technology, in particular, is designed to be adaptable to dynamic environments and capable of intelligent filtering of dynamic objects.
Example applications: Megvii's solutions are used in various industrial settings, including smart warehouses and fulfillment centers. For example, they've implemented solutions for clients like Colgate to enhance warehouse management efficiency and enable unmanned operations.
In essence, Megvii's contribution to autonomous navigation lies in its integration of AI with robotics, its proprietary AI platform (Brain++), and its development of advanced algorithms to create flexible, efficient, and safe autonomous navigation solutions for diverse industrial applications.
5G-Advanced (5G-A) technology offers significant advancements that enhance the capabilities of robots, including those from manufacturers like Leju Robot
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Here's how 5G-A can improve robot capabilities:
1. High-precision positioning
5G-A enables robots to achieve high-precision positioning in large-scale environments without requiring extra equipment like traditional indoor Wi-Fi systems, according to Interesting Engineering. This is particularly valuable for applications in factories and large industrial spaces.
2. Enhanced multi-robot collaboration
The improved reliability of 5G-A facilitates better coordination and collaboration among multiple robots working on shared tasks, boosting efficiency and expanding the applicability of robots in industrial settings.
3. Real-time remote control
5G-A's high bandwidth and ultra-low latency enable real-time remote control of robots, even for complex tasks that require precise and instant responses. This can be crucial in scenarios like delicate assembly in smart factories.
4. Faster robot development and adaptation
The high bandwidth of 5G-A supports the collection of large-scale data, which is essential for training deep learning models that drive humanoid robots. This speeds up development cycles and allows robots to adapt to diverse industry needs more quickly.
5. Potential reduction in hardware burden
5G-A can potentially reduce the hardware burden and cost associated with individual robots by enabling them to offload heavier computations to cloud or edge servers while maintaining fast responsiveness, according to the research and development team behind a new 5G-A powered humanoid robot developed by China Mobile, Huawei, and Leju Robotics.
Leju Robot's integration with 5G-A
Leju Robot has partnered with China Mobile and Huawei to develop a humanoid robot powered by 5G-A technology. This robot, named Kuafu, leverages 5G-A for the aforementioned benefits and is integrated with Huawei Cloud's Pangu embodied intelligent large model.
Use cases for Leju's 5G-A powered robots
Industrial Automation: 5G-A enhances Leju's ability to apply humanoid robots in large-scale industrial scenarios, such as manufacturing and logistics.
Smart Homes: Leju is exploring "Humanoid Robot + Smart Home" applications with partners like Haier Home Robotics, with Kuafu demonstrating capabilities like cooking, sweeping, and managing smart home devices.
Smart Healthcare: Leju is investigating innovative applications of 5G-A powered robots in healthcare settings with China Mobile.
Challenges and future outlook
Despite the advancements, challenges remain in the widespread adoption of 5G-A robotics, including:
Infrastructure limitations: Availability of 5G-A networks, particularly in rural and remote areas, remains a hurdle.
Security risks: The increased connectivity necessitates robust cybersecurity measures to protect data and systems.
Cost of implementation: Upgrading infrastructure and integrating new technologies can be a significant investment.
Standardization efforts: Developing uniform standards for 5G-enabled robotics is crucial for interoperability and broader adoption.
The future of 5G-A robotics is promising, with expected advancements in AI and machine learning, and expansion into various industries. Standardization efforts and continued investment in infrastructure and security will be key to unlocking the full potential of this transformative technology.
In conclusion, Wandelbots is making a mark with its innovative approach to simplifying robot programming, potentially allowing for broader and faster adoption of industrial automation. Chinese competitors, while also focusing on innovation and accessibility, offer a wider range of hardware and software solutions across various robotics sectors, reflecting China's strong position in the global robotics market.
"Christian Piechnick has raised more than 100 million euros from investors with the robotics company Wandelbots. The Dresden-based startup was already considered a future DAX candidate. Two years ago, the founder changed its strategy. His ambition hasn't changed.
New strategy, new product, new headquarters - at the Dresden-based robotics startup Wandelbots, nothing has remained the same in recent months. This hasn't changed the confidence of CEO Christian Piechnick, who founded the company in 2017 together with his wife Maria and four colleagues from the Chair of Software Technology at the Dresden University of Technology. "If the year continues like this, we'll be among the fastest-growing startups in the industry by the end," says Piechnick about Wandelbots' prospects almost two years after the strategic shift.
At that time, after consulting with customers and investors, the founders decided to focus entirely on developing operating software for programming industrial robots. The hardware division of the company was closed, and almost a third of its then 150 employees were forced to leave.
A painful but correct decision, says Piechnick, who grew up in Jena and came to Dresden to study in 2005. As part of its reorientation, Wandelbots has just relocated within the city limits. From a prestigious villa, located directly on the Grosser Garten, the company moved to an industrial building in the southwest of the city, which most recently housed an arthouse cinema. During the GDR era, the then state-owned company Kupplungs- und Triebwerksbau Dresden was located at the same address.
"It was the perfect decision; we're right on the cutting edge," says Piechnick about the change in strategy, the move, and the interest in the new software, which the company presented in November.
Wandelbots' operating system is designed to enable automation teams in corporations, system integrators in medium-sized businesses, and mechanical engineers to program industrial robots from various manufacturers such as ABB, Fanuc, or Kuka faster and more cost-effectively than is possible with proprietary software.
In the world of robotics, this is tantamount to a revolution. "We started with the ambition to make robots more accessible through technology," says the 39-year-old founder, describing Wandelbots' mission, which hasn't changed despite the shift in strategy.
Originally, Piechnick wanted to enable users to model movements for a robot using proprietary hardware, such as the "Tracepen" sensor pen, and automatically translate them into software code. "We underestimated that the various use cases are too complex and heterogeneous to be addressed with a one-size-fits-all solution," he says, referring to the challenges of teaching a robot different welding, gluing, or grinding movements.
With the new software, Wandelbots aims to democratize robotics, just as Microsoft did with the Windows operating system for personal computers a good 40 years ago. "Now we no longer talk to the welding experts in the company, but rather to the Chief Information Officer," says Piechnick. The first 40 customers include companies from the automotive industry, such as Volkswagen and Schaeffler, as well as Medium-sized companies such as Fränkische Rohrwerke. The supplier to the automotive industry managed to halve the cycle time at one point in production, thus saving millions, says Piechnick. Interest is also coming from unexpected quarters, such as the construction industry, which uses industrial robots to dispose of explosive ordnance, or from large bakeries, where a robotic arm is the icing on the cake.
The cloud infrastructure for Wandelbots' operating software comes from Microsoft. As part of this collaboration, the Dresden-based company also uses language models from Open AI. Software from partner Nvidia is used to simulate robotics applications.
Piechnick expects Wandelbots to generate sales in the double-digit millions this year. "If we can do that, we'll be profitable," he says. Despite all his optimism, the strategic shift has also left its mark on the founder. "We haven't yet made our software publicly available for download." It's important to us to know who is using it and for what, and to support these customers so closely that they are highly successful and satisfied," says Piechnick. He calls the principle behind the cautious market launch of his product a "zero fuck-up policy." The perspective on the organization has also changed. "We imagined what the future would look like and built our processes accordingly. That backfired; now we're learning step by step," says Piechnick.
Today it’s a company rule that something has to work three times before it's turned into a process.
"Our scars also define us, but in a good way," says Piechnick. He's not afraid that the company might have lost agility because of this. "Move fast and break things" is only partially applicable in his industry anyway, says Piechnick about the demands industrial customers place on a startup. "Robotics is a particularly thankless industry in this regard, because it's either damn cool or damn terrible," he says, describing the potential for failure in the production environment.
The idea for Wandelbots originated at the Chair of Software Technology at the Technical University of Dresden. The starting point was Maria Piechnick's doctoral project on "Smart Clothing." The founder grew up near Görlitz and, like her husband Christian, came to Dresden to study.
Together with the later founders of Wandelbots, she developed a sensor jacket that can control a robotic arm through movement.
She submitted the project to a competition run by robot manufacturer Kuka in 2016, which invited the team to the Hannover Messe that same year. "We returned home after a week with a huge stack of business cards. On the train ride, we first thought about turning it into a company," recalls her husband Christian.
In an initial funding round in 2018, the founders raised six million euros from venture capitalists such as EQT Ventures and Paua Ventures. In the summer of 2020, a further $30 million was added under the leadership of British venture capitalist 83 North. M 12, the venture capital arm of Microsoft, and Next 47, with which Siemens invests in future technologies, also invested in the company. In January 2022, New York-based Insight Partners led the most recent funding round to date, with a volume of $84 million.
A further round is not currently planned and would not help the company in its current situation, says Piechnick. "I've learned that a lot of money not only helps, but also creates new problems," he says. The founders still jointly hold a minority stake in the company. An IPO remains an option for a later date, provided Wandelbots can maintain its current course, says Piechnick. Several years ago, he already considered the startup as a potential first candidate from eastern Germany for the leading index of the German Stock Exchange. There are also companies that could show interest, says Piechnick about a possible takeover by strategists. Two years after the relaunch, the founder has other things in mind than an exit. "We want to build a company that is relevant for Germany and Europe. What particularly motivates me is to show that this can be done from Dresden."" [A]
A. Revolutionär für Robotersoftware. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; Frankfurt. 10 July 2025: 20. STEFAN PARAVICINI
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