BOW, the Sheffield-based common robotics software program firm, has at present introduced closing a €4.7 million Seed spherical to scale back the associated fee and complexity of programming robots and gasoline the event of transportable robotics functions.
The spherical was led by Northern Gritstone, the funding enterprise centered on science and know-how 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 current 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 in addition 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 inside the robotics business.”
Based in 2020 by Daniel Camilleri and Nick Thompson, BOW allows software program builders to create transportable robotics functions utilizing their most popular programming language and working system.
In line with BOW, regardless of the robotics market projected to succeed in €247 billion by 2030, the complete potential of robotics is out of attain for many corporations and unbiased builders due to the excessive price and complexity of programming robots. Functions developed efficiently for one mannequin of robotic lack portability to completely 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 Growth Homes who’re utilizing the platform and SDK to speed up their robotics innovation and software growth.
Professor Sue Hartley, Vice-President for Analysis and Innovation on the College of Sheffield, mentioned: “It’s implausible to see this degree of funding being invested into one in every of our spinout corporations. 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 among the finest within the nation for creating IP and commercialising analysis and funding corresponding to this from Northern Gritstone is essential in serving to our spinout corporations develop.”
The BOW platform – which stands for “Bettering our Worlds” – and the BOW robot-agnostic software program growth package (SDK) intention to resolve this business bottleneck, making it doable to programme completely different robots utilizing the working system and programming language of alternative.
With BOW, any software program developer can create and deploy robotics functions, simply port functions between completely 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 advanced robotics functions and opens up invaluable new use instances in sectors which have beforehand been underserved by robotics.
Robots working 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 development 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 remedy 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 remedy this intractable downside by enabling any software program developer to program varied sorts of robots utilizing the coding language of their alternative, make transportable functions and allow simple interoperability between any make and mannequin of robotic. This £4 million seed funding, led by Northern Gritstone, will probably be used to construct on our robust industrial traction up to now, broaden our sensible workforce and speed up our product growth so we will unleash the complete potential of robotics for the betterment of our world.”
Duncan Johnson, CEO of Northern Gritstone mentioned, “Northern Gritstone is delighted to assist BOW’s workforce, who as soon as once more display that world-leading know-how 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.”
