Fayetteville-based company AMBOTS has received approval for a $50,000 Technology Development Program award through the Arkansas Economic Development Commission’s Division of Science and Technology. This award will be used to develop “swarm” three-dimensional printing and assembly manufacturing technology that uses a swarm of robots for on-demand customized manufacturing.
“This TDP award will allow us to continue our efforts to get the first AMBOTS platform commercial ready, attract additional investors, and develop new markets,” said Marco Cruz, chief marketing officer.
“Rebecca Todd and Martial Trigeaud of the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center have been instrumental for our TDP application, including but not limited to, providing valuable inputs and feedback on our application materials, consulting for our preparation of the application materials and presentations, and assisting with market research. AMBOTS gained valuable professional relationships through the ASBTDC,” Cruz said.
Swarm 3D Printing
Manufacturing is one of the most sophisticated processes, and it is challenging to replicate with one machine that is good at everything.
“Using a swarm of robots for autonomous manufacturing is a natural idea. Nature has been using the same method to tackle complex tasks, such as how a swarm of bees builds a beehive or how humans with different expertise are organized into teams to accomplish sophisticated tasks,” said Dr. Wenchao Zhou, AMBOTS chief technology officer.
Having a swarm of robots perform tasks isn’t new. “Amazon has been using swarm robots for warehouse management. Ocado has been using it for autonomous order grocery picking. The fact is that no one has succeeded at using swarm robots for manufacturing before due to the technical challenges,” said Lucas Marques, chief design officer.
3D printing is a subset of digital manufacturing. “AMBOTS is approaching manufacturing from a holistic perspective to pursue general digital manufacturing methods for different applications. As the application-driven demand grows, so will the demand for further capacity in the tech,” said Zhou.
Benefits to Customers
Industries such as construction, architecture, and interior design that have a need for prototyping or making custom-designed large-scale structures will benefit from this technology. AMBOTS believes it can deliver reduced cost and turnaround time along with increased flexibility.
“In the short term, compared to other technologies on the market, AMBOTS’ technology will enable large-scale structures and scaled production. With faster speeds, the cost will lower due to the use of a swarm of cooperative mobile robots on an open factory floor,” said Zhou.
“Long-term, the AMBOTS platform will be reconfigurable with the inclusion of different robots in the swarm that could potentially become a generic digital factory that can produce customized products on demand at low cost due to automation,” said Robert Austin Williams, chief software architect.
The AMBOTS Team
Current core team members include Zhou, Marques, Williams, Cruz, and Chief Financial Officer Juan Yan.
“Our team has worked together for several years and developed the technology from scratch. Our accumulated expertise and knowledge about this new technology and its markets equip us well to address the market needs,” said Zhou.
Arkansas Impact
“As AMBOTS gets commercial-ready and grows, we expect to hire mechanical, electrical, software, and manufacturing engineers for product development and operations. We will also expand our research and development team for industrial applications development and extended capabilities of AMBOTS,” said Williams.
The AMBOTS platform aims to influence STEM and therefore increase the number technical jobs that rely on STEM talent in Arkansas.
Advice for Prospective TDP Applicants
Dr. Zhou had several points of advice for prospective TDP applicants. “Clarify the value proposition, technical and business milestones, and seek help and guidance available in Arkansas, such as the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center,” said Zhou.
