ABB acquires stake in Wandelbots competitor Scalable Robotics

A surprise from the USA, which once again shows ABB's consistent strategy. ABB is successively acquiring an ecosystem and is apparently also thinking in terms of submarkets. Because the current focus of Scalable Robotics apparently "only" includes no-code programming using a pen for welding. This is also a domain of Wandelbots, so the acquisition could both hurt and benefit the Dresden-based company. If Scalable were to support only ABB in the future (I assume - quote last paragraph), Wandelbots would certainly have a benefit. The market is large and if ABB is going for a pen, this approach must actually be good, many an SME is likely to think. In addition, the other robot builders should be forced to move. If there is no manufacturer fixation, of course it looks different. The price of the transaction is not known. From today's perspective, Wandelbots was generously valued in the last financing round. The environment was also much more favorable at that time. It is remarkable that the deal is "hung" high - press release and statement of Robotcs head of ABB suggest that it is not about "small change". Wandelbots has 166 employees on LinkedIn, Scalable Robotics currently has 3. So certain differences exist. This in advance - here the official press release:

Expansion of the range of user-friendly welding solutions

• The collaboration with the U.S. start-up marks another milestone in ABB's strategy to build a partner ecosystem for user-friendly solutions.
• Scalable Robotics' technology allows customers to easily program welding robots without robotics experience.

ABB is entering into a strategic partnership with U.S.-based startup Scalable Robotics to expand its range of robotic welding solutions. Scalable Robotics' technology uses 3D image processing and integrated process knowledge to enable customers to easily program welding robots - without coding. ABB Technology Ventures (ATV), ABB's strategic venture capital investment arm, is the lead investor in Scalable's seed funding round. The amount and terms of the investment were not disclosed.

The investment marks another milestone in ABB's strategy to build an ecosystem of partners offering user-friendly solutions for different applications and industries.

In the USA, there is a shortage of up to 400,000 welding specialists as early as 2024

"Faced with global challenges such as labor shortages, disrupted supply chains and general uncertainty, companies are increasingly turning to robotics to improve their resilience, flexibility and efficiency," said Marc Segura, head of ABB's Robotics Division. "In the U.S. alone, there will be an estimated shortage of 400,000 welding workers by 2024. To combat this, we need to drive robotics adoption and provide technologies that are easy to use and program. In this way, we make it easier for manufacturing companies to adopt automated solutions that can weld more components in less time - while ensuring minimal scrap and maximum quality."

With Scalable's technology, ABB is expanding its portfolio of solutions that require no writing of program code and no special programming skills. Welders can simply show the robot where a weld seam should be applied - the robot then learns the corresponding path independently. Scalable's platform includes a 3D camera in a protective housing at the end of the robot arm and a touchscreen interface that guides users through all scanning, learning, validation and fine-tuning steps.

By clicking with an input pen on the desired approach, path and exit points, the robot can be taught the positions of the welds. The platform automatically generates a weld path that is validated in RobotStudio®, ABB's leading simulation and programming software. Final changes can then be made before the robot fine-tunes the program and sends it to the robot controller so that the welding process can be performed.

"We founded Scalable Robotics on the premise that industrial robots are tools that should be available to all companies, regardless of their size or level of mechanization," said Tom Fuhlbrigge, founder and CEO of Scalable Robotics. "With our novel human-robot interaction techniques, people who know the arc welding process can intuitively show the robot what to do without having to have experience with robots. We are pleased to join forces with ABB. ABB is the ideal partner to bring this technology to market worldwide."

The video is from the beginning of the year and is on the ABB channel. So they have known each other for a long time.

All photos: ABB. To the contribution image at the top: ABB's investment in Scalable Robotics is another step in ABB's strategy to build an ecosystem of partners offering user-friendly robotics solutions.

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The author of this blog is significantly involved in the AI/robotics project Opdra. He consults around robotics. More about him can be found here.