In this edition, Top 10 of Asia takes a look at its list of the top ten most admirable companies in Asia (presented in no particular order) that are moving their respective countries towards a more sustainable and efficient future with their inspirational breakthroughs in the AI and robotics scene, thus helping communities to adapt to the ever-changing times.
OTSAW (Singapore)
(Photo Courtesy: CEO Ling Ming Ting / OTSAW)
Singapore-based advanced robotics technologies and next-generation artificial intelligence agency, OTSAW focuses on building robotics solutions for security, delivery and mobility applications, implementing their self-driving and artificial intelligence technologies into each cutting-edge machine.
Their globally launched Camello is a last mile-delivery autonomous robot that provides on-demand parcel and grocery delivery with UV-C LED disinfection. This patented disinfection technology is successfully lab-tested against live human coronavirus samples. This can be found in OTSAW’s OR-X autonomous disinfection robot, AERO-X aviation disinfection robot and AIRGUARD air disinfection modules.
(Photo Courtesy: OTSAW)
Geek+ (China)
Geek+ is a global technology company founded in 2015 and is leading the intelligent logistics revolution with the application of advanced robotics and AI technologies to realize flexible, reliable, and highly efficient solutions. With over 800 employees and headquartered in Beijing, its solutions cater to a wide range of industries including e-commerce, retail, logistics, pharmaceutical and supply chain management.
eFishery (Indonesia)
eFishery is an integrated feeding solution for fish and shrimp farming from Indonesia that has been developing innovations within the aquaculture industry to offer end-to-end solutions for fish and shrimp farmers to easily access feed, financing and markets since 2013. Since its breakthrough innovation, the Smart Feeder, an automatic feeder that can record fish growth data, has grown to provide various services with an even greater coverage from supplying within the industry to meeting market demands.
As the first Aquaculture Intelligence Company in Indonesia, eFishery is committed to helping all parties within the aquaculture ecosystem by allowing farmers to increase productivity and quality of their cultivation, easy access to capital and possibilities to scale up their business.
SoftBank Robotics (Japan)
(Photo Courtesy: “Kent” Kenichi Yoshida, Chief Business Officer / SoftBank Robotics)
A subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Softbank, SoftBank Robotics Group is on its way to becoming a worldwide leader in robotics solutions through their constant exploration and commercialization of robotics solutions that help make people’s lives easier, safer and more connected.
Best known for developing Pepper, the humanoid emotion-reading robot, and Whiz, a top-class market professional vacuum cleaning floor robot, SoftBank Robotics is rapidly driving technology forward with over 35,000 SoftBank Robotics robots, Pepper, NAO being used in more than 70 countries worldwide in industries such as retail, tourism, healthcare, finance, education, facilities management and cleaning.
(Photo Courtesy: SoftBank Robotics)
Insight Robotics (Hong Kong)
Founded by Rex Sham, Hong Kong-based startup Insight Robotics is in the business of developing robots to improve the obscure, but critical, forestry management industry. Its data collection robots, designed to be deployed in heavily forested regions or national parks, give operators the ability to detect potential problems such as forest fires or tree diseases quicker than ever before.
Augmentus (Singapore)
Augmentus is a company that strives to help businesses recoup return on investment faster by drastically lowering the time, cost and skill barriers in implementing robotic systems. Inspired to build an intuitive, graphical robotics platform that simplifies and unifies the development and operation of industrial robots, co-founders Leong Yong Shin, Daryl Lim and Chong Voon Foo decided to use their shared experience leading teams to develop robotics solutions for multi-national corporations to create a no-code, fully-integrated robotics platform that enables anyone, with or without robotics training or programming skills, to develop, deploy and re-purpose robotic systems in minutes.
PLEN Robotics (Japan)
(Photo Courtesy: Founder & CEO Natsuo Akazawa / PLEN Robotics)
Established in 2017, PLEN Robotics Inc is an Osaka-based company with the mission of building a social infrastructure to solve the problem of workforce shortage in the service industry by utilizing robotics, IT and artificial intelligence to produce IoT solutions. Before founding PLEN Robotics, CEO Natsuo Akazawa devised and developed a prototype compact AI communicator as a solution to workforce scarcity.
That invention soon came to fruition as the company’s first product. “PLEN Cube” is a box-shaped AI assistant, small enough to fit into the palm of your hands, which uses face recognition and tracking functions through its 350-degree head rotation capability and up-and-down motion across a 20-degree range to support cashless payments, hotel receptions, drink orders and digitalization of the customer’s behaviour history.
(Photo Courtesy: PLEN Robotics)
UBTECH (China)
A global leading AI and humanoid robotics company established in 2012 by James Zhou, UBTECH is born out of industry-leading breakthroughs to digital servos – the core part that enables humanoid robots to move. UBTECH has grown its worldwide research, design, development, manufacturing, sales and marketing capabilities to successfully launch an entire portfolio of world-class robots, including consumer humanoid robots, enterprise service robots and STEM skill-building robots for kids at home with JIMU Robot and in the classroom through UBTECH Education.
Doozy Robotics (Singapore)
Helmed by CEO Suresh Chandrasekar, Doozy Robotics is a Singapore-based company that has established itself as a leader in the field of design and manufacturing of interactive and social humanoid robots. The company offers humanoid and autonomous robots that assist in sectors such as healthcare, hospitality, retailing, warehousing and office management, among others.
(Photo Courtesy: Doozy Robotics)
Youcan Robot (China)
Youcan Robot is a company developing world-class underwater robotic products and underwater video content exchange social platforms driven by the concept of “Endless of Exploration”. Founded in 2016, it continues to innovate and develop in the field of underwater intelligent robots to provide users with comprehensive underwater solutions.
Its first foray into the market started with the launch of its first underwater product the UAV BW1 in 2016, a professional diver underwater exploration device, and was followed by the BW Space in 2018, an underwater tracking drone that was also the world’s first underwater drone with smart features.