Cloud-based Software Platform Reduces Robots Development Time by 80%

To join the tidal wave of new robotic systems, one needs easy to use high-level plug and play solution with ready made proven libraries. Cogniteam from Petach Tikva (near Tel Aviv), said its new Nimbus Operating System, announced this week, answer these needs. “Nimbus Delivers a seamless user experience from development, to deployment, and in-field maintenance.” Said Cogniteam co-founder and CEO, Dr. Yehuda Elmaliah.

During the last 11 years Cogniteam has developed artificial intelligence technologies for mapping, navigation and autonomous decision-making, working with companies like Mitsubishi, Intel, and others. This experience is the basis of Nimbus: A cloud-based platform with all the artificial intelligence you need to develop, analyze and manage robot fleets remotely and in real-time. It contains a library of proven algorithms for mapping, navigation and is able to auto-configure these algorithms for quick set-up.

Nimbus offers pre-developed drivers and software packages in a drag n’ drop environment, making it easy to incorporate advanced sensors and complicated features. It also integrates with the open-source Robotic Operating System (ROS) and other 3rd party resources. Now, as hardware engineers develop the physical aspects of the robots, they can upload the blueprints into Nimbus and allow software teams to program the robot in a simulated environment.

Cogniteam co-founder and CEO, Dr. Yehuda Elmaliah
Cogniteam co-founder and CEO, Dr. Yehuda Elmaliah

“By allowing hardware and software teams to work in tandem, instead of having one team wait for the other, teams can cut the time needed to bring their product to market 80% faster,” said Dr. Nachum Kaminka, CFO of Cogniteam. “In the past, hardware-focused teams would focus their resources on developing the physical aspects of the robot. They become tied down by the unexpectedly complex nature of robotic software development,” said Elmaliah.

“Nimbus cloud-based platform makes it possible to share robot access through multiple teams, allowing software and hardware developers to work together during development and even troubleshoot in-field challenges, remotely.” The company said that Nimbus platform has already been adopted by partners such as AAEON and Adlink.

On September 2021, Cogniteam raised $4.2 million in a private investment equity round led by Seabarn Management’s Founder & CEO, Andrew Owens and an investment group from the UK-based Panthera private office. “Our recent funding round has allowed us to extend our product to new companies around the globe,” said Kaminka.

Open-source Robots

In fact, Nimbus is part of a wider move. aimed to bring open-source resources into the robotics industry. Cogniteam’s blog provides this context: “Most of the robots created today are still closed boxes; the OS cannot be updated, and they are not ROS-based. iRobot, for example, discussed their intention in 2019 to move away from a proprietary operating system to a ROS based one, and is currently using ROS only for testing its infrastructure in AWS Robomaker.

“This is just one example. If you take a look at the robots around you, most of the issues they face will never be solvable and their behavior will not change greatly. Today’s ROS-based robots will be replaced by a whole new OS with a full-blown new ROS release in a new robot. Now ROS has come into the picture, making data visualization, SLAM algorithms, and navigating robots something that anyone with some free time and a step-by-step tutorial can follow through, test, and customize.”