BOW, the Sheffield-based common robotics software program firm, has as we speak introduced closing a €4.7 million Seed spherical to cut back the price and complexity of programming robots and gasoline the event of transportable robotics purposes.
The spherical was led by Northern Gritstone, the funding enterprise centered on science and expertise companies within the North of England, with co-investors Finance Yorkshire and Praetura Ventures as a part of the Northern Powerhouse Funding Fund II.
This information follows the latest appointment in November 2024 of Liz Upton, Co-founder of Raspberry Pi, as Chair of BOW’s board.
Daniel Camilleri, CTO and Founding father of BOW mentioned, “This funding is a defining second for BOW. It not solely validates our imaginative and prescient but additionally underscores the rising demand for cross-platform compatibility in robotics software program. By simplifying robotics programming, we’re opening the door for all builders—not simply roboticists—to form the way forward for robotics. With BOW software program, we’re enabling the ‘there’s an app for that’ revolution throughout the robotics business.”
Based in 2020 by Daniel Camilleri and Nick Thompson, BOW allows software program builders to create transportable robotics purposes utilizing their most well-liked programming language and working system.
In response to BOW, regardless of the robotics market projected to succeed in €247 billion by 2030, the total potential of robotics is out of attain for many firms and impartial builders due to the excessive price and complexity of programming robots. Purposes developed efficiently for one mannequin of robotic lack portability to totally different makes of robotic, additional slowing robotics innovation and adoption.
Initially spun-out from the College of Sheffield in 2020, BOW is now working with Unique Tools Producers, System Integrators and Software program Improvement Homes who’re utilizing the platform and SDK to speed up their robotics innovation and utility improvement.
Professor Sue Hartley, Vice-President for Analysis and Innovation on the College of Sheffield, mentioned: “It’s incredible to see this degree of funding being invested into certainly one of our spinout firms. Lecturers at Sheffield are working on the very forefront of their fields, conducting analysis that may underpin new companies and assist develop new market-leading applied sciences. Our College is without doubt one of the greatest within the nation for growing IP and commercialising analysis and funding resembling this from Northern Gritstone is essential in serving to our spinout firms develop.”
The BOW platform – which stands for “Bettering our Worlds” – and the BOW robot-agnostic software program improvement package (SDK) goal to resolve this business bottleneck, making it doable to programme totally different robots utilizing the working system and programming language of selection.
With BOW, any software program developer can create and deploy robotics purposes, simply port purposes between totally different makes of robots and handle and orchestrate robotic fleets.
By eradicating the necessity for highly-specialised robotics programmers, BOW’s common robotics platform permits generalist software program builders to create, handle and deploy complicated robotics purposes and opens up useful new use circumstances in sectors which have beforehand been underserved by robotics.
Robots operating the BOW SDK profit from ultra-fast communications and the platform’s AI capabilities.
Nick Thompson, CEO of BOW added, “The robotics market is rising quick, however that progress could be exponentially greater if the large price and complexity of programming robots have been diminished. Robotics has an nearly limitless potential to assist humanity resolve international challenges, however the world merely can’t afford to attend for robotics to standardise round a single working system and coding language. BOW’s common software program platform and SDK elegantly resolve this intractable downside by enabling any software program developer to program varied varieties of robots utilizing the coding language of their selection, make transportable purposes and allow straightforward interoperability between any make and mannequin of robotic. This £4 million seed funding, led by Northern Gritstone, might be used to construct on our robust business traction up to now, develop our sensible group and speed up our product improvement so we are able to unleash the total potential of robotics for the betterment of our world.”
Duncan Johnson, CEO of Northern Gritstone mentioned, “Northern Gritstone is delighted to help BOW’s group, who as soon as once more display that world-leading expertise companies are being created within theNorth of England. BOW’s groundbreaking robotics platform is an ideal instance of innovation within the area born out of the College of Sheffield’s world-class tutorial analysis.”
