Pre-trained models, smart data workflows, and no-code tools can reduce training time by 80% and accelerate deployment, says ABB. Credit: ABB
ABB Robotics today said it has invested in LandingAI to make vision artificial intelligence faster, more intuitive, and accessible to a broader range of users. The collaboration includes an investment by the automation provider through ABB Robotics Ventures, but the companies did not disclose financial details.
“This announcement is the latest in our decade-long journey to innovate and commercialize AI, benefitting our customers by enhancing robot versatility and autonomy to expand the use of robots beyond traditional manufacturing,” said Sami Atiya, president of ABB Robotics & Discrete Automation.
“The demand for AI in robotics is driven by the need for greater flexibility, faster commissioning cycles, and a shortage of the specialist skills needed to program and operate robots,” he added. “Our collaboration with LandingAI will mean installation and deployment time is done in hours instead of weeks, allowing more businesses to automate smarter, faster, and more efficiently.”
Founded in 2009, ABB Ventures has invested around $500 million in startups that fit ABB‘s robotic automation, electrification, and motion businesses. ABB Robotics claimed that it is the only supplier whose portfolio includes industrial automation, autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), and machine automation, as well as software. The business unit employs about 11,000 people in 53 countries.
LandingAI accelerates vision AI training
Andrew Ng founded LandingAI in 2017. He is the co-founder of Coursera, founding lead of Google Brain, and former chief scientist at Baidu.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based LandingAI said it delivers agentic visual AI technologies to “empower customers to unlock the value of visual data.” The company said its systems allow users to move AI projects from proofs of concept to production and realize the value of AI.
LandingAI said its LandingLens flagship product enables users to build, iterate, and deploy visual AI systems quickly and easily. It noted that the deep-learning platform enables the training of vision AI to recognize and respond to objects, patterns, or defects with no complex programming or AI expertise required.
The company’s technologies include Agentic Document Extraction, which it said can transform unstructured visual data from documents and images into actionable intelligence, driving efficiency at scale.
The collaboration will integrate LandingAI’s software, including LandingLens, directly into ABB Robotics’ own software suite. It is intended to make robot vision AI training and deployment faster, more intuitive, and accessible to a wider range of users.
“AI is advancing quickly, creating many opportunities, but also requiring us to keep learning and adapting new skills,” said Dan Maloney, CEO of LandingAI. “By combining LandingAI’s vision AI capabilities with ABB’s robots and software, we can make automation more accessible. This makes it easier for businesses to deploy and scale intelligent robotic systems that are practical and useful.”
LandingLens, enables users to build, iterate, and deploy Visual AI solutions quickly and easily. Credit: ABB
ABB promises versatile robotics beyond manufacturing
Through LandingAI’s pre-trained models, smart data workflows and no-code tools, ABB Robotics said it expects to reduce robot vision AI training and deployment time by up to 80%. Once deployed, system integrators and end users can retrain the AI for new scenarios on their own, unlocking “autonomous versatile robotics” or AVR, asserted ABB.
It said this is a critical step in scaling robot adoption in dynamic environments beyond traditional manufacturing, especially in fast-moving sectors such as logistics, healthcare, and food and beverage. ABB is already piloting LandingAI’s technology and actively working to integrate it into existing vision AI applications, including item-picking, sorting, depalletizing, and quality inspection.
ABB Robotics said it will offer a fully integrated AI training tool within its software suite. It will be available alongside ABB’s RobotStudio simulation and programming tool, which features digital twin capabilities to further simplify commissioning.
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