New partnership to offer smart robots for dangerous environments

ADLINK Technology has signed a strategic alliance and joint development agreement with Under Control Robotics, the company behind the robotics startup Noble Machines. The two firms will combine ADLINK’s edge AI platforms with Noble Machines’ autonomy software to create a new generation of general-purpose robots for modern manufactories and engineering plants. The work focuses on bi-pedal, bi-manual machines – read, human-like robots – designed to operate in demanding industrial settings.

The partnership will integrate ADLINK’s DLAP edge AI platform with Noble Machines’ autonomy and whole-body control software. The system is intended to provide reasoning, sensing, and motion control for robots handling heavy loads. Initial target sectors include manufacturing, mining, construction, energy, petrochemicals, and public utilities, industries that currently report labour shortages and often involve risky environments for human workers.

ADLINK’s hardware is built on the NVIDIA Jetson Thor platform. In a press release, the companies state DLAP offers multi-voltage feeds and high-bandwidth sensor interfaces, quoting “up to eight” GMSL camera connections, four Ethernet ports, and 5G or Wi-Fi modules. Systems can operate inside a wide temperature range and comply with IEC 60068 standards for shock and vibration.

ADLINK’s hardware will combine with Noble Machines’ autonomy software, which manages perception, reasoning, and coordinated whole-body motion in robots. Robots operating in adverse conditions ideally need to replicate the mobility and manipulation abilities of human workers, so they can replace at-risk humans without significant retooling or altering existing working environments.

Ethan Chen, general manager of ADLINK’s Edge Computing Platforms business unit, said the agreement will extend the company’s edge computing hardware into emerging general-purpose robotic systems, moving from support for the current DLAP platform to a jointly-developed computing platform based on Jetson Thor.

Wei Ding, chief executive of Under Control Robotics, said ADLINK’s experience in industrial hardware complements Noble Machines’ software, specifically its whole-body control systems. The collaboration addresses hardware durability and supply chain integration issues that can affect industrial robot deployment. The two partners will pursue possible deployments in the construction and energy industries initially, where it’s common for certain tasks to involve workers tolerating dust, heat, heavy loads, and vibration. Typically, such tasks are difficult to mechanise because they require on-the-spot decision-making, mobility, and manual handling.

By working with one anothers’ specialisations, the companies may be able to offer a turnkey solution for customers unwilling to invest in what would be experimental technology and hardware deployments. The emphasis on real-time reactions and decision-making means that the AI element would provide the necessary real-time decision-making that humans working in difficult conditions would otherwise provide. Conventional software, as opposed to AI-based algorithms, would need to be constructed with every possible edge-case hard-coded into control systems.

The success of any systems emanating from the partnership would hinge on whether highly-costly robotics could be able to react correctly in unforeseen situations without compromising itself or human co-workers, or negatively affect wider workflows on site.

(Image source: “Robot” by 1lenore is licensed under CC BY 2.0.)

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