Insider Brief
- ABB Robotics invested in LandingAI and will integrate its LandingLens vision AI into ABB’s software suite to make robot vision faster, more intuitive, and accessible beyond traditional manufacturing.
- The collaboration targets up to an 80% reduction in training and deployment time and enables end users and integrators to self-retrain models for item-picking, sorting, depalletizing, and quality inspection across logistics, healthcare, and food & beverage.
- The undisclosed venture investment via ABB Robotics Ventures complements RobotStudio digital-twin tools, aiming to shift installations from weeks to hours and advance ABB’s roadmap toward autonomous, versatile robots.
PRESS RELEASE – ABB Robotics has invested in California-based LandingAI to accelerate the transformation of vision AI, making it faster, more intuitive, and accessible to a broader range of users. This first of its kind collaboration will integrate LandingAI’s vision AI capabilities, like LandingLensTM, into ABB Robotics’ own software suite, marking another milestone in ABB’s journey towards truly autonomous and versatile robots.
“This announcement is the latest in our decade-long journey to innovate and commercialize AI, benefitting our customers by enhancing robot versatility and autonomy to expand the use of robots beyond traditional manufacturing,” said Sami Atiya, President of ABB Robotics & Discrete Automation. “The demand for AI in robotics is driven by the need for greater flexibility, faster commissioning cycles and a shortage of the specialist skills needed to program and operate robots. Our collaboration with LandingAI will mean installation and deployment time is done in hours instead of weeks, allowing more businesses to automate smarter, faster and more efficiently.”
As part of the collaboration ABB has made a venture capital investment through ABB Robotics Ventures, the strategic venture capital unit of ABB Robotics, driving collaboration and investment in innovative early-stage companies that are shaping the future of robotics and automation. Financial details of the investment were not disclosed.
LandingAI’s LandingLens is a vision AI platform that enables the rapid training of vision AI systems to recognize and respond to objects, patterns or defects with no complex programming or AI expertise required.
Through this collaboration, ABB Robotics will reduce robot vision AI training & deployment time by up to 80 percent. Once deployed, system integrators and end users can retrain the AI for new scenarios on their own, unlocking a new level of versatility. This is a critical step in scaling robot adoption in dynamic environments, beyond traditional manufacturing, especially in fast-moving sectors such as logistics, healthcare and food and beverage. ABB is already piloting LandingAI’s technology and actively working to integrate it into existing vision AI applications, including item-picking, sorting, depalletizing and quality inspection.
“AI is advancing quickly, creating many opportunities, but also requiring us to keep learning and adapting new skills,” said Dan Maloney, Chief Executive Officer of LandingAI. “By combining LandingAI’s vision AI capabilities with ABB’s robots and software, we can make automation more accessible. This makes it easier for businesses to deploy and scale intelligent robotic systems that are practical and useful.
ABB Robotics is the only robotics company offering a fully integrated AI training tool within its software suite. It will be available alongside ABB’s powerful simulation and programming tool RobotStudio®, which features digital twin capabilities to further simplify commissioning.
ABB is a global technology leader in electrification and automation, enabling a more sustainable and resource-efficient future. By connecting its engineering and digitalization expertise, ABB helps industries run at high performance, while becoming more efficient, productive and sustainable so they outperform. At ABB, we call this ‘Engineered to Outrun’. The company has over 140 years of history and around 110,000 employees worldwide. ABB’s shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ABBN) and Nasdaq Stockholm (ABB). www.abb.com
ABB Robotics & Discrete Automation as one of the world’s leading robotics and machine automation suppliers, is the only company with a comprehensive and integrated portfolio covering robots, Autonomous Mobile Robots and machine automation solutions, designed and orchestrated by our value-creating software. We help companies of all sizes and sectors – from automotive to electronics and logistics – to outperform by becoming more resilient, flexible and efficient. ABB Robotics & Discrete Automation supports customers in the transition towards the connected and collaborative factory of the future, operating leaner and cleaner for a better future. The business area employs approximately 11,000 people at over 100 locations in approximately 53 countries. go.abb/robotics
ABB Robotics Ventures is the strategic venture capital unit of ABB Robotics, part of ABB’s corporate venture capital framework: ABB Ventures. Since its formation in 2009, ABB Ventures has invested around $500 million in startups with a close fit to its robotics, automation, electrification and motion businesses. For more information, visit abb.com/ventures
LandingAI™ delivers cutting-edge agentic visual AI technologies that empower customers to unlock the value of visual data. With LandingAI’s solutions, companies realize the value of AI and move AI projects from proof-of-concept to production. LandingAI’s flagship product, LandingLens™, enables users to build, iterate, and deploy Visual AI solutions quickly and easily. LandingAI is a pioneer in agentic vision technologies, including Agentic Document Extraction, which empowers the world’s leading companies to transform unstructured visual data–from documents, images–into actionable intelligence. Our agentic AI platform makes it possible to build and deploy powerful vision applications that drive efficiency and innovation at scale. Founded by Andrew Ng, co-founder of Coursera, founding lead of Google Brain, and former chief scientist at Baidu, LandingAI is uniquely positioned to lead the development of Visual AI that benefits all. For more information, visit Landing.ai.
