YardStick Robotics Secures €1.4M in Funding to Develop Scalable AI Robotics Solutions

YardStick Robotics Secures €1.4M in Funding to Develop Scalable AI Robotics Solutions

(IN BRIEF) YardStick Robotics, a subsidiary of Rheinmetall, has received €1.4 million in funding as part of the €52 million “RoX” research project supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection. The project aims to develop scalable AI-based robotics solutions for practical use, with a focus on enhancing digital ecosystems. YardStick Robotics, which specializes in AI-controlled robots for extreme environments, will collaborate with Rheinmetall Waffe & Munition on various applications at their Unterlüß site.

(PRESS RELEASE) DÜSSELDORF, 16-Oct-2024 — /EuropaWire/ — Rheinmetall subsidiary YardStick Robotics GmbH, known for developing AI-powered robots for extreme operational environments, alongside Rheinmetall Waffe Munition GmbH, has been granted €1.4 million in funding as part of the “RoX” research initiative. The project, with a total budget of €52 million, is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK). The funding notice was presented to Klaus Kappen, CTO of Rheinmetall AG, and Domenico D’Agostino, Managing Director of YardStick Robotics, by Federal Minister Robert Habeck during the ‘Scaling Industrial Data Ecosystems’ event in Berlin.

Launched in September 2020 and set to run for 30 months, the RoX project aims to develop a scalable digital ecosystem for AI-based robotics solutions, targeting practical applications across various industries. Rheinmetall’s share of the project amounts to €3.5 million. YardStick Robotics is focusing on creating an efficient development workflow through digital networking, model-based system development, and artificial intelligence, enabling cost-effective customized robotics for small and medium-sized enterprises.

The project opens up a wide range of future applications for Rheinmetall, particularly at its Unterlüß site, in collaboration with Rheinmetall Waffe & Munition. Earlier in the year, YardStick Robotics also secured €3.2 million in funding from the BMWK’s Manufacturing-X initiative for their Robot-X research project, further expanding their work in advanced robotics.

About the RoX Project

The “RoX” project is a BMWK-funded research initiative aiming to develop a digital ecosystem for AI-based robotics, with a total project volume of €52 million. The consortium behind RoX includes leading industry and scientific partners who are working together to push the boundaries of AI-powered robotics in key sectors like manufacturing, logistics, and services. The project seeks to improve the efficiency and flexibility of robotic systems by combining advanced robotic components, artificial intelligence, and an interconnected digital ecosystem.

Key application areas for the project include loading and unloading logistics processes, commissioning tasks in unstructured environments, multifunctional robot systems for production, and AI-powered system integration. The project will focus on creating practical, scalable solutions that meet the immediate needs of the industry.

By developing a robust digital ecosystem for AI robotics, RoX aims to enhance system integration, shorten innovation cycles, and significantly improve the overall performance of robotic systems. The project emphasizes collaborative, cross-industry efforts, ensuring that no single market participant bears the complexity of AI-driven robotics development alone.

Sustainability and Future Impact

RoX will ensure long-term sustainability by developing software modules, AI models, and semantic structures that can be continuously enhanced beyond the project’s completion. This initiative will not only strengthen the technological capabilities of participating industries but will also play a crucial role in shaping the future of AI-based robotics in Europe.

About the project “RoX”

“RoX” is a research project funded by the BMWK that started in September 2024 and will run for 30 months. The goal which has been set by a consortium of leading industry and science partners is to develop a digital ecosystem for AI-based robotics with scalable and innovative solutions for practical implementation.

The project aims at establishing a digital ecosystem that facilitates or even enables the use of innovative AI-based robotic solutions in various practical applications and industries. Manufacturing in particular, as well as the logistics and service sectors, will benefit from the project results.

The use of AI-based robotic systems offers enormous potential for strengthening those industries that depend on the high efficiency and flexibility of robotic systems. In the coming years, the market for robotics will be characterised by significant growth. In order to fully utilise this potential, the “RoX” project will take robotic systems to a new level of performance by combining advanced robotic components, artificial intelligence (AI) and a digital ecosystem. This will shorten innovation cycles and significantly improve system integration and commissioning.

No single market participant can cover or master the high complexity of AI-based robotic systems alone. That is why a consortium of industry and science is cooperating across company boundaries in “RoX”. The focus is on practice-relevant use-cases that address the current need for action in industry and offer innovative, transferable solutions. The central application areas include

• Loading and unloading processes along the entire logistics chain,
• Commissioning processes in unstructured areas,
• Multifunctional and location-flexible robot systems in production and
• AI-based commissioning of robot systems.

In these areas, the feasibility and practicality of the developed solutions are demonstrated and evaluated in terms of their potential for continuous further development and scalability.

In order to develop a scalable digital ecosystem for AI-based robotics, “RoX” focuses on the integration of practice-oriented solutions in development and application environments, the provision of quality-assured software components and AI models, and the design of semantic models and meta-data structures. Data security of the robotics ecosystem and networking with international initiatives are also addressed as an integral part of the project.

The sustainable organisational structure ensures that the developed software modules, semantic models and the digital ecosystem will be provided and further developed beyond the end of the project. In this way, “RoX” will make an important contribution to the future of AI-based robotics and sustainably strengthen the innovative power of the participating industries.

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SOURCE: Rheinmetall