With robots entering new environments and verticals every day, robot simulators streamline the development cycle of robots, trims expenses, and boost overall efficiency. If you’re trying to decide which simulation software best fits your needs, let’s take a look at some of the top choices available. NVIDIA Isaac SIM NVIDIA Isaac SIM powered by […]
This blog is taken from a transcript of our recent webinar, “The Potential of Autonomous Robots In Property Management”, discussing how to communicate ROI and find the right customers. It has been slightly modified for reading. Featured speakers are Jack Morrison, CEO of Scythe Robotics & William (Bill) Santana Li, CEO of Knightscope, hosted by […]
Your year is off to a great start; your pilot deployments have gone well, customers are happy, and the demand for your robot is steadily rising. Until now, your robot operations and data ingestion have been managed on your internal platform. You’ve built your robot platform…. Now comes the maintenance and scaling of it. […]
When the task at hand is to help feed the world, it's vital that farms all over the world operate as efficiently as possible. However, in robotic farming, a smooth deployment isn't guaranteed and can throw quite a few curveballs at robots in the field. Agriculture environments are a well-known application for robots, but as […]
The Formant team is pleased to announce the State of RaaS 2023 Report, revealing the trends, challenges faced, and tools used by robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) companies to scale. It’s clear automation is taking industries by storm- with labor shortages and higher demand for efficiency, more companies need physical automation than ever before. To address this need, […]
This blog was written in collaboration between Mary Hart, Content Marketing Manager at Locus Robotics and Alex Sixt, Content Marketing Manager at Formant. Implementing robots into any environment is no easy task; but in a warehouse environment, it can feel downright intimidating. While the reasons for automation vary from business to business, warehouses are in […]
Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the 2023 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in London. The conference brings together roughly 5,000 roboticists, students, and companies to talk about the latest happenings in the world of robotics. Formant had a booth in the exhibit hall and sent in a team of four […]
Back for 2023, the Automate conference returned to Detroit, MI with over 750 exhibitors showing off the most innovative robot solutions. Our team took to the floor, and although unfortunately we can't highlight them all, check out some of the standout robots we came across at the event. 1. Locus Robotics Making a return […]
Growth is always good- right? For robotics companies, growth means larger fleets and more robots deployed to customer locations; all positive trends. However, scaling your robot operations also means it’s time to take a look at how your internal robot platform will support a larger fleet. A robot platform is vital to the success of […]
As the Robot Operating System continues to be one of the most common robotics software system utilized in robotics, we’re excited to announce we’ve made vast improvements to our ROS 2 support for users. Open Robotics, the creator of ROS, announced that ROS 1 Noetic (the most recent version) will reach end-of-life in May of […]
We’re excited to announce Formant's new integration with generative AI, Theopolis. ChatGPT is the leading large-language model (LLM). Available today, Theopolis provides both the standardized structured Formant workflows enabling users to manage robotic fleets at scale, as well as the new exploratory workflows that allow users to ask exploratory questions of their robot data to […]
The following is a transcript of a conversation on connectivity from “Overcoming Common Challenges In Robotic Farming”, a webinar hosted by Formant. James Turnshek, Chief Architect at Formant: A lot of people asked us when we put this webinar together about networking [network connectivity] because it's one of the things that everyone seems to […]
An excerpt from "Robotics And The Modern Warehouse", a guide exploring how robotics-as-a-service is revolutionizing warehouses. While no two RaaS warehouse offerings are identical, there are some common traits everyone should strive for in creating a successful solution. In this excerpt, you'll learn every aspect to consider when developing a robotic solution for warehouse and […]
If you thought you’d never work alongside a robot in your career, millions of others in the workforce would likely agree with you. Even a few years ago, the concept of having a robotics job for non-technical roles still seemed like a sci-fi dream. Today, however, this is no longer the case. The rapid pace […]
So you’ve started a robotics company. Fundraising has provided enough to get off the ground, you’ve hired an excellent team, and have a few pilot customers ready to take a bet on your hardware. You’re completely prepared- or so you think. As anyone who works in robotics and tech knows, sometimes the smallest issues can […]
Selling robots has been the standard of the robotics industry since its creation. It's what drives the continued success of automation. And while there will always be a strong market for selling hardware, simply selling a robot in today’s market may not be the most beneficial model for young robotics companies in every case. Amid […]
Jeff Linnell, our CEO and Founder, joined Builder Nation's podcast host Elisa Muñoz to share his experiences building a cloud-based data platform and the insights he’s gained from his experience working in the robotics industry. In today's highly competitive business landscape, data has become the driving force behind companies' success and is essential for proving […]
As robotics continues to enter more industries, facilities management is quickly becoming an increasingly popular use case for automation. It’s no secret that labor shortages have been a long-standing issue for businesses. Now that cleaning and sanitation have received increased attention after the pandemic, robots are stepping in to assist with streamlining facility service tasks. […]
In this blog post, we dig into a topic that is near and dear to our heart: the decision of whether to buy or build a cloud platform for your robotics business. Why do you need a cloud data platform? In order to deploy and manage a fleet of robots successfully, companies need to adopt […]
Robots and alpacas may be an unlikely pairing, but our friends at Clearpath Robotics made it happen. In an effort to test remote outdoor navigation, the Clearpath team decided to send one lucky robot of theirs packing to a farm in Colorado. In the wide open spaces of the West, they were able to test […]
Although tire-changing may not be the first task that comes to mind when thinking about automation, RoboTire is utilizing Formant’s remote support capabilities to streamline and automate this traditionally time-consuming task – and it’s a game changer. RoboTire, a Michigan-based robotics company, is focused on improving efficiency in vehicle maintenance, specifically tire-changing. By introducing its […]
When reflecting on 2022, it’s hard for us to pinpoint just one moment from all we worked on. 2022 was a year of growth for us. We welcomed 21 InFormants to our team and hosted our largest company summit in Carmel Valley, CA. Here’s a peek into a few interesting details of our platform: We […]
Planning out your robotics conference calendar for 2023? Look no further. We’ve gathered the top robotics conferences your team should head to this year to meet your audiences and show off those bots. Robotics Summit & Expo Boston, MA, May 10-11 This educational forum and expo is held every year at the Boston Convention […]
We know; another year, another set of trends to follow. However, 2022 proved to be an important year for robotics which saw incredible growth across multiple sectors. Coming into a more normal state of the world allowed the industry to get back to in-person conferences and bring more robots to feed the growing demand for […]
Formant is proud to announce our newest partnership with Kinova. Kinova, a leader in developing robotic solutions for the medical and industrial industries, is well-known for its advanced robotic arms that are widely utilized in the robotics industry. To help support the widespread use of their arms for robotics companies, Formant has partnered with Kinova […]
Every roboticist needs an arsenal of software tools to ensure their robot is running smoothly and they can visualize everything happening within the robot and around it. And we’ll be honest, it’s not always easy to find them, especially if you’re new to robotics. To help you best prepare for 2023, we’ve compiled a list […]
When building a robotics company from the ground up, it’s pretty easy to get lost focusing on building the most impressive hardware in the market. With a surge in technical advances and commoditized components, it sometimes feels like everyone’s in a constant race to build the “best robot” and keep one-upping the rest of the […]
Communication is one of the most important aspects of helping a robot function properly. If one part of the device cannot communicate with the other, tasks and missions can’t be reliably carried out. But sometimes the higher-level information passed between nodes isn't granular enough to investigate the root cause of an issue. As a data […]
If you are working in the agricultural robotics industry, chances are that you have heard of or run into Cal/OSHA 3441(b). According to the website of California’s Department of Industrial Relations, “All self-propelled equipment shall, when under its own power and in motion, have an operator stationed at the vehicular controls.” In addition to the […]
Last week, our Formanteers traveled to Kyoto, Japan to visit ROSCon 2022, hosted by Open Robotics. With approximately 800 ROS users in attendance, our team had an amazing time meeting with everyone and sharing the exciting news of a free tier we launched last week. Want to see what our Formanteers got up to in […]
Digital doubles are not an entirely new concept in the world. Utilized in industries including building management and oil and gas, these virtual assets have been helping experts navigate an environment remotely for years. In reality, the current state of digital doubles (also referred to as digital twins), is still in its infancy, and more […]
We’re excited to announce our newest partnership with alwaysAI! A leader in the computer vision platform industry, alwaysAI provides developers and enterprises with a comprehensive platform for building, training, deploying, and managing computer vision applications on IoT devices. This partnership will help us deliver a cutting-edge integration, providing more value to enterprises in their robotics […]
The modern warehouse is changing. As automation becomes simpler and cheaper, more and more companies are leveraging autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for warehouse operations. These AMRs are tackling warehouse operations tasks such as intra-logistics, cleaning, inspection, and maintenance. In order to deploy and manage a fleet of robots in a warehouse successfully, companies need to […]
In the post-pandemic economy, funding for startups has begun to trend downwards, yet plenty of robots-as-a-service (RaaS) companies still need to raise successful rounds to survive. With the RaaS market on the rise and still emerging as a viable model, early-stage RaaS companies need to understand exactly how to navigate the fundraising journey to win […]
Did you ever think you’d work with a robot? For most people, the answer would likely be no. But in present times, any job has to be prepared to take on a robotic counterpart. Often thought to be one of the most tech-involved devices, robots are rapidly becoming more accessible to the “everyday” worker, and […]
ROS is one of the most widely used operating systems in the robotics industry. If you use it, especially for commercial purposes, it’s likely at some point you’ve had to ask what the differences are between ROS 1 versus ROS 2. With its first non-beta release in 2017, ROS 2 marked a significant shift in […]
If you can’t handle the heat, send the robots into the kitchen…or something like that? Post-pandemic, multiple industries were hit with labor shortages that left businesses, particularly those that rely heavily on customer-facing roles, struggling to find enough people to fill jobs, and has left restaurants and hospitality businesses feeling the burn the most. Since […]
For a smoothly running mission, your number one priority is to have a handle on all incoming data. To do so, you have a few options: you can watch the console stream from the robot, run tail on log files, or even go so far as to build your own dashboard. However, when printing or building […]
In robot operations, efficiency and speed are key. Whether you're launching a mission or teleoperating a robot to correct a sudden spill, having every capability needed to oversee a mission at your fingertips can be the difference between a successful mission and lost productivity. This is where we come in. Formant enables robot operators to […]
On August 2nd, the Formant team took off to Carmel Valley, CA to meet for four days for Formant's 2022 Summer Summit. For many, this was the first time they’ve ever met colleagues offline. But we weren’t only there to enjoy the beautiful weather. For Formanteers, this was the chance to share ideas across departments, […]
An excerpt from "What Is Robotics As A Service?", a practical guide to starting, launching, and scaling a robotics company. Building a strong go-to-market strategy for RaaS companies can feel like quite the challenge in a competitive environment. In this excerpt from our guide, learn some of the key points to hook your first pilot […]
When operating a robot or a fleet, it's likely you’ll be using ROS in your operations. An integral part of using ROS is service calls; now, we’re excited to announce that ROS service calls are now supported natively on the platform. Although the action is still completed, manual ROS service calls took extra time, delaying […]
There’s no doubt that 5G is here to stay in the robotics industry. Between high speeds that enable improved bandwidth and latency to greater network coverage, it enables robots to perform better than ever before. But once you’ve decided to upgrade, now comes the next challenge: how do you find the right 5G hardware for […]
An excerpt from "What Is Robotics As A Service?", a practical guide to starting, launching, and scaling a robotics company. Raising money for any new venture can be a long, arduous process, especially when the founders or executive team lack entrepreneurs or leaders with prior successes and exits under their belt. Winning over investors for […]
In 2022, the robotics industry’s been busy with a strong comeback to in-person events, showing off the major advancements companies have been working on. Although we’re already halfway through the year, there’s still time to attend conferences to learn where robotics is headed and meet with key players in the industry. Check out the top […]
When you think of mobile robots, chances are you picture a wheeled vehicle in a warehouse, shuffling among workers to transport materials from point A to point B. And with good reason. Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) have taken off recently, particularly in warehouses and logistics, where these intelligent machines are working side by side with […]
Want to stay updated on the latest happenings in robotics but don’t have time to comb through the news or dig into a book? Podcasts are an excellent way to keep up on hot topics whether it's during your morning workout on traveling for work. We’ve curated a list of the best robotics podcasts to help […]
This post is contributed by Simon Bracegirdle, a Senior Consultant with Mechanical Rock. Introduction At Mechanical Rock, we are strong believers in the benefits of continuous integration (CI) and continuous deployment (CD) pipelines. CI in particular is useful for running all kinds of validation and checks on your code before and after merging. For example, you […]
Held in Detroit, Michigan, the Automate 2022 conference didn’t fail to impress as hundreds of North American robotics companies showed off their automation solutions. The Formant team attended to exhibit with the Pittsburgh Robotics Network, but the team made sure to share some of this year’s robots that were shown. 1. FANUC M-2000iA […]
When it comes to building a successful robotics company, data is key. Yet, the strategic importance of data and data flexibility is often an afterthought, especially when it comes to building a strong tech stack. Data affects every department, from operations to engineering, finance, and business. Although each has different needs for data, their reliance […]
Here's your intro to robotics observability platforms.
For robotics applications to achieve the same high availability we’ve come to expect from web services, we need better observability in robotics.
The bottom line is this: when the next wave of autonomous and semi-autonomous machines come online in the coming years, they will bring with them a tsunami of data.
TechCrunch: "Until workplace robots are truly autonomous and don’t require any human thinking, we’ll need software to supervise them at scale."
ZDNet: "Google X roboticists and engineers aim to provide solution to make sense of robot data in industries such as retail, construction, automotive and healthcare."
