“The Aro autonomous robot was able to move around the scanned piece, and Element X was able to rebuild and analyze the corresponding point cloud for damaged identification and repair computation,” Elementiam posted with a video of the demonstration. “This process represents the first step of how (additive manufacturing) and autonomous inspection can work together to revolutionize the manufacturing industry.”
Khan sees lots of opportunities to work with other startups to develop new applications for their tools and augment the power of Aro. He said he has invited SPI Utilities Solutions, which is also participating in the 500 Global accelerator, to mount its device for cleaning high-voltage power equipment. And he’s had conversations with Sarcomere Dynamics about combining its near-human robotic hand with the decidedly non-humanoid Aro.
“We want to build an ecosystem of collaborations,” Khan said. “We want to invite other companies to bring in their gadgets, their devices, their technology, to put on our robot.”
Aro is aiming to price the robots for 60% to 70% of the cost of a full-time employee, available for purchase upfront or through a monthly subscription. That said, the robots are meant to work among humans, not to replace all of them, Khan added.
“These robots are just going to augment the workforce,” he said.
Aro has been self-funded and bootstrapped for the past three years. Now it could use some investment to meet current demand and accelerate growth. The company manufactures the devices in Edmonton, and “there is so much demand that we don’t have enough robots to deliver,” Khan said.
In the meantime, the company will keep running experiments to understand what customers will pay for. Co-founder and CTO Clayton Coutu is heading to Germany for some important conversations, and the company will try to make the most of the connections made at SmartMTX, including Brian Jean, the provincial minister for jobs, economy, and northern development.
Khan is also CEO of Fourien, a nanotechnology company operating in the biotech space.
