ABB Acquires Sevensense, Expanding Leadership in Next-generation AI-enabled Mobile Robotics
ABB收购Sevensense，扩大在下一代人工智能移动机器人领域的领导地位

ABB has announced that it has acquired Swiss start-up Sevensense, a leading provider of AI-enabled 3D vision navigation technology for autonomous mobile robots (AMRs). Sevensense was founded in 2018 as a spin-off from Swiss technical University, ETH Zurich.

ABB宣布已收购瑞士初创公司Sev​​ensense，该公司是自主移动机器人 (AMR) 人工智能 3D 视觉导航技术的领先供应商。Sevensense 成立于 2018 年，是瑞士苏黎世联邦理工大学的衍生公司。

“This marks a significant step towards our vision of a workplace where AI-enabled robots assist people, addressing our customers' needs for greater flexibility and intelligence amidst critical skilled labor shortages,” said Sami Atiya, President of ABB Robotics and Discrete Automation. “Each mobile robot, equipped with vision and AI, scans a unique part of the building; collectively these robots complement each other’s view to form a complete map, enabling them to work autonomously in a rapidly changing environment.”

ABB 机器人和离散自动化总裁安世铭 (Sami Atiya) 表示：“这标志着我们向人工智能机器人协助人类的工作场所愿景迈出了重要一步，满足了客户在熟练劳动力严重短缺的情况下对更大灵活性和智能的需求。每个配备视觉和人工智能的移动机器人都会扫描建筑物的独特部分；这些机器人共同补充彼此的视野，形成完整的地图，使它们能够在快速变化的环境中自主工作。”

The acquisition follows ABB’s minority investment in Sevensense after it joined the company’s innovation ecosystem in 2021, the same year ABB acquired ASTI Mobile Robotics. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Following pilot customer projects in the automotive and logistics industries, ABB will integrate Sevensense’s technology into the company’s AMR portfolio, offering an unprecedented combination of speed, accuracy, and payload.

在此次收购之前的2021年，ABB在Sevensense加入公司的创新生态系统后对其进行了少数股权投资，同年 ABB 收购了ASTI Mobile Robotics。此次交易的财务细节并未披露。继汽车和物流行业的试点客户项目之后，ABB 将把 Sevensense 的技术整合到公司的 AMR 产品组合中，提供前所未有的速度、准确性和有效负载组合。

The market for mobile robots is expected to grow at 20% CAGR through 2026, from $5.5bn to $9.5bn and ABB’s AI-powered 3D vision technology is at the forefront of this growth.

预计到 2026 年，移动机器人市场将以 20% 的复合年增长率增长，从 55 亿美元增长到 95 亿美元，而 ABB 的人工智能驱动的 3D 视觉技术处于这一增长的最前沿。

Sevensense’s pioneering navigation technology combines AI and 3D vision, enabling AMRs to make intelligent decisions, differentiating between fixed and mobile objects in dynamic environments. Once manually guided, mobile robots with Visual Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (Visual SLAM) technology create a map that is used to operate independently, reducing commissioning time from weeks to days and enabling the AMRs to navigate in highly complex, dynamic environments alongside people. Maps are constantly updated and shared across the fleet, offering instant scalability without interrupting operations and greater flexibility compared to other navigation technologies.

Sevensense 的开创性导航技术结合了人工智能和 3D 视觉，使 AMR 能够做出智能决策，区分动态环境中的固定和移动物体。一旦受到手动引导，采用基于视觉的同步定位与地图重建(Visual SLAM) 技术的移动机器人就会创建用于独立操作的地图，从而将调试时间从几周缩短到几天，并使 AMR 能够与人类一起在高度复杂、动态的环境中导航。地图在整个车队中不断更新和共享，无需中断操作即可提供即时可扩展性，并且与其他导航技术相比具有更大的灵活性。

Today, this AI-enabled navigation technology is already transforming the automotive manufacturing and logistics sectors, delivering value through faster and more efficient operations. For automotive manufacturer Ford, Visual SLAM enabled ABB AMR’s will create efficiency gains in production sites in the US, while Michelin will use the technology in intralogistics at its factory in Spain. Other automotive manufacturers will roll out the technology in the UK, Finland and Germany.

如今，这种支持人工智能的导航技术已经正在改变汽车制造和物流行业，通过更快、更高效的运营来创造价值。对于汽车制造商福特来说，视觉 SLAM 支持的 ABB AMR 将提高美国生产基地的效率，而米其林将在其西班牙工厂的内部物流中使用该技术。其他汽车制造商将在英国、芬兰和德国推出该技术。

“Offering more autonomy and cognitive intelligence, ABB’s unique market-proven technology paves the way for a shift from linear production lines to dynamic networks. Intelligent AMRs autonomously navigate to production cells, tracking stock inventory as they go and sharing this information with other robots, while collaborating safely side-by-side with humans,” said Marc Segura, President of ABB’s Robotics Division. “With the acquisition of Sevensense, ABB becomes the leader in next-generation AMRs, offering Visual SLAM in Autonomous Mobile Robots, together with an integrated portfolio covering robots and machine automation solutions, all managed by our value-creating software.”

“ABB 独特且经过市场验证的技术提供了更多自主权和认知智能，为从线性生产线向动态网络的转变铺平了道路。智能 AMR 可自动导航到生产单元，跟踪库存并与其他机器人共享这些信息，同时与人类安全地并肩协作，”ABB 机器人部门总裁 Marc Segura 说道。“通过收购 Sevensense，ABB 成为下一代 AMR 领域的领导者，在自主移动机器人中提供视觉 SLAM，以及涵盖机器人和机器自动化解决方案的集成产品组合，所有这些都由我们的价值创造软件进行管理。”

Gregory Hitz, CEO of Sevensense, said: “This is a significant moment in our shared journey, as we introduce our home-grown technology to a wider range of markets and sectors. ABB is the ideal home for us to continue scaling our versatile platform for 3D visual autonomy, serving OEMs across the automated material handling and service robotics industries. Together, we will redefine the limits of AI-enabled robotics.”

Sevensense首席执行官Gregory Hitz表示：“这是我们共同旅程的一个重要时刻，我们将把自己的技术推广到更广泛的市场和行业。ABB 是我们继续扩展 3D 视觉自主多功能平台的理想家园，为自动化物料搬运和服务机器人行业的 OEM 提供服务。我们将共同重新定义人工智能机器人的极限。”

This revolutionary technology has the potential to impact robotics far beyond AMRs, leading to greater efficiency, flexibility and accuracy throughout production and intralogistics. The technology will also continue to be sold across segments including material handling, cleaning and other service robotics fields under the product name Sevensense.

这项革命性技术对机器人技术的影响可能远远超出 AMR，从而提高整个生产和内部物流的效率、灵活性和准确性。该技术还将继续以产品名称 Sevensense 在物料搬运、清洁和其他服务机器人领域等领域进行销售。

The Sevensense partnership highlights the success of ABB’s commitment to nurturing the next generation of innovations. Through its partner ecosystem and collaboration with start-ups and universities, ABB develops leading technology for the benefit of global businesses. Sevensense’s approximately 35 employees will continue to be based at its Swiss office in Zurich.

与 Sevensense 的合作彰显了 ABB 致力于培养新一代创新的成功。通过其合作伙伴生态系统以及与初创企业和大学的合作，ABB开发领先的技术，造福全球企业。Sevensense的大约35名员工将继续在苏黎世瑞士办公。