Norwegian company Sonair – a company that is launching a groundbreaking sensor that uses ultrasound in the air to give robots safe spatial awareness in 3D- announced it raised a total of $6.8 million with Skyfall Ventures leading the latest $1.6 million round. RunwayFBU, another early-stage VC fund, also contributed to the round.
One of the most expensive components of an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) now is its sensor package, which is crucial for obstacle detection and safe navigation. And the current LiDAR systems are not only bulky and power-hungry but also computationally demanding, driving up costs and accounting for nearly a third of the robot’s price.
A typical 2D LiDAR scanner in an AMR only sees a person’s legs in one horizontal plane. As a comparison, Sonair’s patented ADAR (Acoustic Ranging and Detection) technology detects people and objects in 3D, with low energy and computational requirements.
Ultrasonic sensors are less affected by environmental factors like poor lighting, dust, or changing temperatures, ensuring reliable performance in diverse conditions where traditional sensors may fail. And Sonair’s sensor can also detect reflective or see-through surfaces such as glass or mirrors without difficulty.
Sonair is utilizing the new funding round to introduce its global early access program with an evaluation kit that has quickly been adopted by a wide range of warehouse AMR manufacturers, automotive OEMs, health- and cleaning robotics companies.
This patented ADAR technology has been in development at the world-renowned MiNaLab sensor and nanotechnology research center in Norway for more than twenty years. And the imaging method is called beamforming; it’s the backbone of processing for sonar and radar, as well as in ultrasound imaging known in medicine but now used in the air.
KEY QUOTES:
“ADAR is an enabling technology for the entire mobile robot sector. For mobile robot builders, ADAR provides massive technology cost savings that can be passed on to end-users, boosting automation adoption worldwide.”
“Early access partners will get a first mover advantage on a breakthrough sensing technology that addresses society’s urgent need for safe human-robot interaction in a cluttered world.”
-Knut Sandven, CEO of Sonair
“We are incredibly excited to invest in the Sonair team, whose extensive experience in sensor technology, robotics, software, and AI, combined with their strong company-building expertise, is positioning Sonair as a truly exciting company. With reduced costs in sensor technology and AI advancements in perception and decision-making, industries from manufacturing to healthcare are poised to benefit from unprecedented efficiency and safety improvements. Sonair is uniquely positioned to help drive this transformation.”
-Preben Songe-Møller, Partner at Skyfall Ventures
“In 2024 alone, up to 200,000 AMRs will be produced, it’s a $1.4 billion market. Industrial automation and autonomy will be key drivers of this growth, but the cost of sensors remains a friction point. Sonair’s innovations aim to resolve this challenge, unlocking even greater potential for the AMR industry.”
-Sagar Chandna at RunwayFBU
