At a time when companies are focusing on deep learning techniques to create machines able to operate autonomously, a UK-based startup is on a mission to transform the world of autonomy with advanced “natural intelligence”.
For a decade, Opteran’s team delved into understanding how insect brains work. They studied how insects see, find their way around, navigate, and react to the world.
‘Natural Intelligence’ breakthrough
In turn, they turned these findings into algorithms, calling it “natural intelligence.” They believe it could completely change how autonomy works, making it more practical and efficient.
“Insects like honeybees have about a million neurons by comparison to around 86 billion in a human being, but the central systems are there,” Opteran’s CEO David Rajan told The Engineer. “They see the world, localise themselves in space and can even navigate up to 10 kilometers consuming just micro watts of power. If you really want to see state of the art autonomy, don’t go to California… look at a garden.”
In the upcoming months, the team aims to enhance the system with additional functions like collision avoidance. By next year, they plan to integrate decision-making algorithms, enabling machines to prioritize tasks.
According to Rajan, this is only the start, as the company is currently looking into various commercial applications across sectors including logistics, automotive, mining, security, and more.
Major partnership for warehouse robotics advancement
The company, now with 45 employees, is growing fast. Recently, it announced a big partnership: its technology will be used in advanced warehouse robots made by German company Safelog.
Furthermore, Opteran’s technology stands apart from existing systems in that it doesn’t require extensive training on large datasets before deployment. The algorithms are innate, enabling them to navigate the world autonomously and adapt to dynamic variability without the need for continuous data gathering and training in a datacenter, as shown with the Safelog application.
Setting up an autonomous guided vehicle (AGV) in a warehouse usually involves a lot of work. Operators need to carefully scan the entire facility and deal with a lot of data before letting the robots move around the warehouse.
What the Opteran Mind does is significantly simplify the setup process.
“All it takes for them to do is to drive one robot at the speed that robot operates and off it goes,” explained Charlie Rance, the company’s chief product officer. “We’re essentially creating a solution that allows their AGVs to autonomously map in one shot, so it’s a very quick set up time and you can share that with the rest of your AGVs. We can remove fixed infrastructure, so we’re not using any kind of reflectors or QR codes or anything. And we’re keeping the system at a lower cost.”
In addition to the Safelog partnership, the company is pursuing several undisclosed commercial applications under confidentiality agreements. These include applications for indoor security drones in the consumer market, as well as implementations in the mining and automotive sectors.
