Emerging from Stealth: The Long Tail of Robotics and Our Partnership with Formic
It has been a quiet few months on our blog, but behind the scenes, it has been anything but. Our team has been building fiercly. Today, that hard work and dedication culminate in not just one, but two major announcements: Jacobi’s emergence from stealth and our strategic partnership with Formic.
In this blog post, we will guide you through Jacobi's vision, our journey with Formic, and where we are going next.
Industrial robotics has reached an inflection point
With recent advances in AI, industrial robotics has reached an inflection point. Existing technologies now have the potential to multiply robot deployments by eightfold in the next few years.
This coincides with changing customer needs. Uncertainty is the new normal and robots need to be more flexible than ever. Robot use cases that used to be programmed every six years are now being reprogrammed every six months. Moreover, the new generation of AI-enabled applications need to be reprogrammed continuously, sometimes every six seconds.
However, this expansion of robot deployments is constrained by the programming effort. Millions of potential use cases are left unautomated each year because the volumes are not high enough to justify the disproportionate programming cost. At Jacobi, we call this “the long tail of robotics”, and our mission is to bring new software to unlock these use cases and along with that, new growth.
A perfect synergy
Our new palletizing software is the first step in that direction. Jacobi’s AI-powered software platform is, and will always be, application-agnostic. However, system integrators and solution providers must often ponder the risk-reward balance of investing time and effort into a new framework. Recognizing this, our new palletizing software is a comprehensive reference design application that mitigates these risks, allowing customers to easily get started on Jacobi and enjoy immediate value from day one.
That is where our partnership with Formic comes in. Formic is a leading Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS) company with a full-service offering that includes everything from planning and deployment to maintenance and upgrades. The RaaS model ensures Formic is perfectly aligned with the success of the end-customer, e.g., the factory owner or warehouse operator.
Formic’s deep insights from tens of thousands of closely monitored production hours, combined with Jacobi’s state-of-the-art software, means that our solutions are not just innovative, but also fine-tuned to the practical realities of manufacturing floors. Together, we're breaking down the traditional barriers to automation and setting a new standard for robot deployment time.
Our palletizer software exemplifies the strengths of Jacobi: rapid deployment, fast robot motions, flexibility, and reliability. These capabilities are now accessible to engineers everywhere. Solution providers can easily adapt the design to meet a diverse range of requirements on the long tail of use cases - be it varying cell configuration, pallet styles, conveyor setups, or even complex interfaces with safety systems and barriers.
Jacobi’s commitment
We could not be more excited about the partnership with Formic. Palletizing is just the first reference design, with more to come. At the same time, our core focus remains the same and our top priority continues to be supporting our customers in developing and deploying applications on the long tail using Jacobi. We are quickly learning that Jacobi’s AI-powered motion technology is the key to unlocking many of these use cases and will have more news to share about that soon.
Finally, we cannot achieve this vision alone, and our team is growing. If you are interested in being a part of this journey, and like to move unreasonably fast, we invite you to reach out to us.
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