Robohub.org
 

Ozobot, Knightscope, HiBot and Airware all get funding


by
02 December 2014



share this:

UPDATED 12.03.14 Four interesting funding announcements: Ozobot got $2 million; HiBot got $3.1; Knightscope got $3.7; and Airware got an undisclosed amount but from a substantial partner, GE Ventures.


Evollve, Inc.
ozobot, a Southern California start-up, has received $2 million in a Series A round of funding. The money will be used to scale up manufacturing for the company’s first product: the Ozobot. Ozobots are able to read colors, flashing lights and patterns on game boards, tablets and smartphones. It recognizes them as code that can be programmed to perform specific actions such as speed up, slow down, turn right or left and stop. Ozobots are programmable learning devices as well as toys, and retail for $49.99.

Ozobots launched earlier this year at both the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and the American International Toy Fair after getting off to a rocky canceled Kickstarter campaign. But it won both Best of CES and Best of Toyfair awards, and USA Today and Popular Science also named it one of their Best Tech Toys of Toy Fair 2014.

hibotHiBot, a Tokyo-based startup, developed what looked to be a great invention to inspect high-voltage transmission lines and was progressing nicely until the earthquake and subsequent disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. HiBot’s sponsor was KEPCO, the operator of that plant; funds for HiBot dried up, progress came to a halt, and the project has been on hold ever since.

HiBot went on to develop a snake robot for pipe inspection and components, sensors, cables and software – focusing on using robots to do dangerous jobs and improve safety for humans. Earlier this year HiBot entered into an agreement with Hitach High-Technologies, whereby Hitachi will manufacture and market the Expliner overhead transmission line inspecting robot, and Hibot will support and continue to provide development solutions for KEPCO and Hitachi. And just the other day HiBot secured a $3.1 million equity investment from Draper Nexus Venture Partners. Funds will be used to accelerate development and product launch for their new pipe inspection robot, which is expected to be released next spring.

airwareAirware, a San Francisco-based inventor of a customizable autopilot drone operating system and platform, just received a strategic investment of an undisclosed amount from GE Ventures. [Airware was formerly known as Unmanned Innovation, an Orange County start-up.] Airware has already raised $40.4 million. GE Ventures will not only get an equity interest but they will work closely to “make sure the platform can address a number of their use cases”, said Airware CEO Jonathan Downey. Some of those use cases include checking power lines for downed cables; monitoring pipes for leaks and inspecting wind turbines for breaks and other problems.

Airware has grown to more than 70 people since their July $25 million Series B funding infusion led by Kleiner Perkins, Andreessen Horowitz and First Round VCs.

Knightscopeknightscop-robots, a Silicon Valley security and robotics start-up, closed a $3.7 million Series A financing with an impressive list of strategic investors: NTT DOCOMO, Konica Minolta and Flextronics. Funds will be used to help the company accelerate deployments (as will be done for Microsoft by providing Knightscope security and K5 robots for the MS Campus).

Knightscope is marketing their start-up as a platform developer of autonomous technology that fuses robotics, predictive analytics and collaborative social engagement to predict and prevent crime. They’re even trying to coin a new term: ADMs – Autonomous Data Machines – for their K5 roving robots.

The $3.7 million funding round brings total Knightscope funding thus far to $5.2 million.

Knightscope is making the K5, available now for preorder on a MaaS (Machine-as-a-Service) basis to select customers in Silicon Valley at $6.25 per hour, per machine in 24/7 deployments for terms of one, two or three years. According to Knightscope, deploying K5 machines in outdoor environments on corporate campuses, around data centers, shopping malls and where private security guards are stationed will free humans to address strategic tasks while the machines handle the monotonous and sometimes dangerous tasks.

Correction from the editors: The title of this article originally suggested that Ozobot, HiBot and Airware all received funding from GE Ventures. In fact, only Airware received funding from GE Ventures. We apologies to the author and our readers for any inconvenience the error may have caused.



tags: , ,


Frank Tobe is the owner and publisher of The Robot Report, and is also a panel member for Robohub's Robotics by Invitation series.
Frank Tobe is the owner and publisher of The Robot Report, and is also a panel member for Robohub's Robotics by Invitation series.





Related posts :



Robot Talk Episode 110 – Designing ethical robots, with Catherine Menon

  21 Feb 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Catherine Menon from the University of Hertfordshire about designing home assistance robots with ethics in mind.

Robot Talk Episode 109 – Building robots at home, with Dan Nicholson

  14 Feb 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Dan Nicholson from MakerForge.tech about creating open source robotics projects you can do at home.

Robot Talk Episode 108 – Giving robots the sense of touch, with Anuradha Ranasinghe

  07 Feb 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Anuradha Ranasinghe from Liverpool Hope University about haptic sensors for wearable tech and robotics.

Robot Talk Episode 107 – Animal-inspired robot movement, with Robert Siddall

  31 Jan 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Robert Siddall from the University of Surrey about novel robot designs inspired by the way real animals move.

Robot Talk Episode 106 – The future of intelligent systems, with Didem Gurdur Broo

  24 Jan 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Didem Gurdur Broo from Uppsala University about how to shape the future of robotics, autonomous vehicles, and industrial automation.

Robot Talk Episode 105 – Working with robots in industry, with Gianmarco Pisanelli 

  17 Jan 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Gianmarco Pisanelli from the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre about how to promote the safe and intuitive use of robots in manufacturing.

Robot Talk Episode 104 – Robot swarms inspired by nature, with Kirstin Petersen

  10 Jan 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Kirstin Petersen from Cornell University about how robots can work together to achieve complex behaviours.

Robot Talk Episode 103 – Delivering medicine by drone, with Keenan Wyrobek

  20 Dec 2024
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Keenan Wyrobek from Zipline about drones for delivering life-saving medicine to remote locations.





Robohub is supported by:




Would you like to learn how to tell impactful stories about your robot or AI system?


scicomm
training the next generation of science communicators in robotics & AI


©2024 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence


 












©2021 - ROBOTS Association