Sonair has a 3D ultrasound sensor with automatic safety mode in mind

As robots are increasingly entering human spaces, robotics companies will need to think of safety differently from what they were when robots were largely seen from their human counterparts.

Soner It believes that their sensors can help robotics companies reach their safety goals – with a better and cheaper solution than the famous Lidar technology.

The Norway -based Norway company has built the Adar (audio detection and range) for robots that use a high -frequency sound. These sensors send ultrasound and pick up how to return the sound. These signals give robots a 3D view of their surroundings.

This data complements the sensors and other robots to give the robot operating system a clearer image of the environment.

“Human realization-what we use more than others is our eyes, but we also use other senses to realize our environment, ears and mind to explain all our senses,” said the founder of Sonir and CEO of Knut Sandven in an interview with Techcrunch. “The same for robots or independent machines. They use cameras. Cameras are really great to understand the environment, but they are not good to reliably discover things in all circumstances.”

Sonair is designed to help fill these gaps – especially for depth perception. Traditionally, robotics companies turn into Lidar sensors, which send symptoms of light and measure how they wear, to collect this information. Sandfin said the Sonir sensors is a better option because they can take more comprehensive data.

“Lidar is similar to passing the laser index,” Sandvin said. (But) If you shout in a room, you will fill the room with sound. We will fill the room with sound. ”

Sandven said that the sensor product was organized in standard industrial format, so it was designed to work alongside a variety of various automated devices and programs.

Sandfin said that the company issued its sensor earlier this year, and has since witnessed a strong demand for robots, as many companies plan to integrate Sonair sensors into the following robot models.

Soner also witnessed a request from the industrial safety sector. Sandfin said that companies use sensors to discover when people enter areas with heavy machines so that the machines can be turned off automatically before an accident.

Now, Sonair is looking to increase the adoption of its technology and just raised a $ 6 million tour to do so. The tour included new investors and returning from Capital, state -backed investment, and Provene, among other things.

Sandven said that investors who are active in robots space immediately understood the problem that the company is looking to solve. This is not surprising because safety will likely become a great concern as robots begin to interact with humans more-no different from the safety talks that appeared in the early days of the self-driving car industry.

Fady Saad, the general partner, told Cybernetix Ventures, who focuses on Robotics, who is not investing in Sonair, Techcrunch recently that potential safety concerns were one of the reasons that people do not expect to want human robots at their home anytime.

Saeed told Techcrunch in August: “A kind of dirty secret for humans in homes, there is a lot of safety, a lot of security, and a lot of concerns,” Saeed told Techcrunch in August. “If this thing falls on pets or children, it will harm them, right? This is just one side of a big obstacle that no one will pay attention, or a few people pay attention to.”

Sundvin said that Soner is not currently directly competition for Sonar’s sensors, but this may change as more companies try to find safety solutions for robots.

“My goal is to get this technology in all robots, as you have with cameras,” Sandfin said. “If we talk again this time next year, we will have a good indication of whether this is the trend we head to.”