Back to School

As we work closely with our clients on the deployments of MAG, we see that there is a gradual increase in the use of mobile robotics across various industrial sectors such as logistics, manufacturing, military, and even hospitality. The impact of the ongoing pandemic stretches across all sectors and further proves that investment in robotics is the way to go to guard against future disruptions.

With more companies preparing to adopt robotics and other automation tools to further digitize and strengthen their operations, there will always be the fear that this change can make many existing jobs irrelevant and redundant. This fear has the potential to not just create panic but also inhibit the adoption of automation, thereby preventing it from providing the value that it is designed for. With our academic division, Botsync Labs, we have made it one of our missions to address this growing mismatch between the current employee skillsets and the evolving job requirement. Our latest product, Volta is designed to be a platform through which institutions can create and structure training programs, conduct research and courses to educate and train the work force to pick up the skills they need to be “essential” in an automated future.

While hobby robots have been around for some time, their platform capabilities are still too limited to be able to allow for robotics research and advanced training. Hobby robots may be often used in educational teaching, but the learning often does not translate into industry-relevant robotics skills. On the other extreme, industrial AMRs could technically be used as a platform to test out software and algorithms. However, these robots are expensive and very frankly, an overkill in a lab setting. We wanted to develop a mobile platform that could hit the niche spot between a hobby robot and an industrial AMR.  As per tradition, we named this new robot, Volta, after the Italian physicist who is credited as the inventor of the electric battery.

We designed Volta to have core features in line with those of industrial AMRs. It is well equipped with a software setup for on-site deployments and comes with various software packages to cater to a wide range of research. Volta can also be easily configured with a wide range of sensors and accessories such as lidars, cameras and manipulators, making it adaptable for multiple use cases. Its speed and load configuration are also intended to allow for scaled-down experiments of industrial applications. Volta’s compact and robust design makes it durable and ready for repetitive experiment trials. When used in an educational course, students can feel free to be more hands-on when learning with the robot.

With the addition of Volta under Botsync Labs, we are thrilled that our initiative to support the research and educational community has been growing, now in both outdoor and indoor use cases. We will be continuing our development with Volta, making it compatible with a wider range of sensors to allow for more research possibilities. Continue to follow our story as we unveil other exciting plans we have with Volta!