Earlier this month, RoboCV, a Moscow-based startup developing autopilot solutions for vehicles and industrial equipment, raised $500,000 from LETA Capital, the venture branch of Russian IT security group LETA.
RoboCV employs 15 people and is developing “a universal autonomous navigation robotic unit,” which it describes as “a compact device with a built-in associated navigation system (combining inertial navigation system, GLONASS/GPS and machine vision) and hardwired software for processing the indications coming from this system.”
The unit delivers the integrated result to the robotized device, supporting standard interfaces for data exchange and power supply.
According to the company, the use of several complementary methods of navigation within one unit “provides unique accuracy of positioning and terrain guidance, therefore providing new opportunities for designers and users of robotic systems all over the world.”
RoboCV has just launched the alpha-version of X-MOTION, a solution to pilot warehouse equipment. Six robotic units of warehouse equipment were tested in a large plant. The system uses constructing environment algorithms and navigation maps, detects obstacles and builds transport movement trajectories, the company stated, “completely replacing the driver.”
The startup targets, in particular, “large logistics or production companies that use modern electronic warehouse equipment and aim to increase the efficiency of warehouse operations by reducing the human factor,” RoboCV’s sales director and shareholder Dmitry Smirnov told East-West Digital News.
Smirnov added that among the company’s clients were “large international companies operating in Russia,” whose name will be disclosed after project completion.
From Skolkovo grant to global goals
Launched in 2012, the startup received that same year a $170,000 grant from Skolkovo, the international tech hub nearing completion on the outskirts of Moscow. It started generating revenues in 2013, which are expected to reach approximately $170,000 in 2013. Positive cash flows are expected in mid-2014.
The Skolkovo-based startup has ambitious international goals. “One of our projects for early 2014 involves Eastern European countries. In addition, negotiations are underway with the major manufacturers of warehouse equipment to include our product in their Russian catalog,” Smirnov told EWDN.
“We’re also discussing the possible creation of a joint product – a serial automatic loader –and its promotion on the global market,” he added.
The startup aims to reach a “15% global market share for automatized warehouse equipment subsystems, including 35% of intellectual systems based on computer vision.”
Established last year, LETA Capital invests from $400,000 to $2 million in startups at the seed or early growth stage in various high tech fields. The fund has closed over half a dozen deals to date.
Update Dec. 12, 2013
RoboCV has supplied the first batch of intelligent self-driven robots to Samsung’s Russian factory in Kaluga. Six electric warehouse vehicles have been successfully robotized with the X-MOTION intellegent autopilot system developed by RoboCV.
