Velodyne and Boston Dynamics Sign Multi-Year Collaboration Agreement

On June 29, 2022, Velodyne Lidar announced that it had signed a multi-year agreement with Boston Dynamics of the United States, and the two parties will cooperate in the field of lidar sensors.

It is understood that Boston Dynamics will choose Velodyne lidar sensors to provide perception and navigation capabilities for its advanced mobile robots, enabling the robots to fully cope with the most stringent challenges in industry applications.

Boston Dynamics is a company that cannot be ignored in the robotics industry. It was founded in 1992 and spun off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Its founder is Marc Raibert. It is mainly engaged in the research of rapid movement and balance ability of robots, focusing on mobility and anthropomorphism. On June 21, 2021, Hyundai Motor Group successfully completed the acquisition of a controlling stake in Boston Dynamics.

Specifically, Boston Dynamics has released various types of robots, including the bipedal robot Atlas, the quadruped robots BigDog, Spot/Spot Mini, WildCat, the "leg + wheel" robot Handle, the crawling robot Rise, the reconnaissance robot Sand Flea, the warehouse logistics robot Stretch, etc.

Founded in 1983 and headquartered in San Jose, California, Velodyne is a global leader in the lidar industry. Its sensors and software solutions meet the needs of industries including robotics, industry, smart infrastructure, autonomous vehicles and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).

It is understood that Velodyne's lidar sensor solution supports mobile robots to operate autonomously and safely without human intervention, while providing real-time 3D perception data for positioning, mapping, object classification and object tracking applications. In addition, Velodyne's energy-efficient sensors support AMRs to work in a variety of harsh indoor and outdoor environments such as different temperatures, lighting and precipitation conditions.

The cooperation between Velodyne and Boston Dynamics was first reflected in the Spot quadruped robot launched by Boston Dynamics in 2019. At that time, Boston Dynamics announced that Spot had been installed with Velodyne's lidar since its factory delivery, which could create 3D maps of indoor spaces. At the same time, since Spot needs to work in the rain, the construction of outdoor 3D maps has also been scheduled.

So far, Spot, equipped with Velodyne's lidar, has accompanied beautiful women on the beach, served as a capable assistant to police officers, performed ghost dances at Japanese professional baseball games, conducted safety inspections in base metal mines in Canada, entered the Chernobyl nuclear accident site in Ukraine to regularly assess the evolving radiation pollution hazards, performed routine inspections on high-voltage facilities in the U.S. National Grid, and appeared at the smoke-filled Space X explosion site...

Regarding the cooperation with Velodyne, Eric Landry, Director of Supply Chain at Boston Dynamics , said: “Boston Dynamics has signed a supply agreement with Velodyne Lidar. Boston Dynamics and Velodyne will continue to enhance and expand the capabilities of mobile robots.”

Regarding this collaboration, Laura Wrisley, Vice President of Global Sales at Velodyne Lidar, said: “Boston Dynamics’ robots have advanced mobility, flexibility and intelligence, and can be automated in unfamiliar and unpredictable environments. Velodyne’s lidar sensors can help robots navigate autonomously in complex environments, safely avoiding obstacles and finding the fastest routes from manufacturing plants and construction sites to distribution centers and warehouses to complete important tasks.”

So, what does the multi-year cooperation agreement signed between Boston Dynamics and Velodyne mean? Will Spot be mass-produced? Will Boston Dynamics launch a new generation of products? Or some unimaginable measures? Gaogong Mobile Robot will continue to pay attention.