Credit: Humatics
Boston-area startup Humatics, which is developing “microlocation” systems, secured $18 million in Series A funding.
“We now are piloting our breakthrough microlocation system with key industrial automation and manufacturing partners,” co-founder, president and chief operating officer Gary Cohen said in a press release. “For our partners and others, millimeter-scale precision can dramatically improve safety, efficiency and productivity, and create tremendous value. With the support from our Series A investors, we are completing product development and bringing the technology to market.”
The company’s Spatial Intelligence Platform is a high-precision positioning system and analytics software created to improve human-robot collaboration. Unlike GPS satellites and radio-based location technologies that can be uncertain on positioning by up to several meters, the Spacial Intelligence Platform can locate multiple moving targets at up to 30 meters with “millimeter-scale precision.”
Using radio-frequency technology, the system is not sensitive to light, is exact and can be used in an indoor setting like a factory. The potential benefit of the system is it would allow humans to work more closely and safely with collaborative robots.
“We founded Humatics to locate people, places and things in an increasingly connected world,” co-founder and chief executive officer David Mindell said in the statement. “For robots, next-generation manufacturing equipment, drones, and other autonomous systems to safely and seamlessly interact with people and their environments, we need more precise and robust positioning. Our breakthrough system captures millimeter-scale position and motion data at low cost, indoors and out, creating an entirely new product category – microlocation.”
Such a system could be applied in a variety of industries including automotive, gaming, defense and healthcare. The new investors — which include Fontinalis Partners, Airbus Ventures, Intact Ventures and Lockheed Martin Ventures, among others — reflect the range of use.
“Humatics is developing unprecedented new technology that will unleash the great potential of robotics and autonomous systems, enabling important tasks to be done safer, faster and more productively,” Fontinalis co-founder and partner Chris Cheever said. “Fontinalis was founded to invest in mobility technologies, and we believe precise spatial intelligence is essential to enhance mobility across many industries. We are very excited to lead this Series A financing and to partner with this exceptional management team and outstanding group of investors to accelerate Humatics and its valuable mission.”
Humatics plans to begin selling its microlocation system and licensing its Spatial Intelligence Platform in 2018.
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