(Reference release)
September 12, 2024: NexAIoT to Launch Next-Gen AI-Powered AMR NexMOV-2 with Kudan Visual SLAM and Showcase at Japan Robot Week 2024

March 19, 2025: Kudan Visual SLAM Completes Integration with latest NVIDIA Isaac Perceptor, Demonstrating Clear Benefits in Real-World Deployment

Designed to meet the demands of real-world industrial automation, NexMOV-2 delivers a cost-efficient, high-performance navigation solution powered by visual data. It excels in complex and dynamic environments such as factories, warehouses, and hospitals. Following successful operational validation, NexAIoT plans to expand deployments across additional customer facilities.

By combining real-time, AI-assisted 3D spatial awareness with robust hardware and software integration, NexMOV-2 offers:

• Reduced implementation time and cost: The pre-integrated Kudan Visual SLAM and NVIDIA Isaac Perceptor significantly accelerate setup while minimizing the need for extensive sensor calibration or environmental tuning.
• Reliable navigation in complex environments: NexMOV-2 ensures robust localization even in dynamically changing, low-feature, or GNSS-denied areas.
• Versatility for diverse scenarios: From structured indoor factory floors to semi-structured logistics environments, the system adapts easily with minimal reconfiguration.

“Having NexMOV-2 commercially deployed in the operational facility is a strong proof point for our long-term vision of industrial automation powered by Spatial Perception and Industrial AI,” said Daiu Ko, CEO of Kudan. “By combining our Visual SLAM with NVIDIA Isaac Perceptor, we’ve significantly lowered the barrier to AMR deployment, both technically and commercially. We’re excited to support NexAIoT as they scale their deployments.”

“The deployment of NexMOV-2 marks a significant milestone in delivering intelligent and scalable AMR solutions to real-world industrial environments,” said Dr. Hoe Seng Ooi, Chief Technology Officer at NexAIoT. “By integrating Kudan’s Visual SLAM with NVIDIA Isaac Perceptor into our cutting-edge platform, we’ve achieved highly adaptive and efficient navigation with reduced deployment time and cost. This collaboration not only pushes the boundaries of AI-driven robotics but also lays a strong foundation for continued innovation and smarter solutions for our customers.”

This successful deployment underscores the value of the ongoing collaboration between Kudan, NexAIoT, and NVIDIA in advancing industrial robotics through cutting-edge AI and spatial computing technologies. As featured in NVIDIA’s announcement on digital twins, robotics and industrial AI for Taiwan manufacturers, the three companies will continue working closely to enhance system performance, accelerate deployment scalability, and drive innovation at the intersection of Spatial Perception, Industrial AI, and real-world robotics.

Video of NexMOV-2 Deployed in Factories:

Public Demo in NEXCOM Huaya Smart Factory:
To further highlight the real-world performance of the AI-powered NexMOV-2, NexAIoT and Kudan will host public demonstrations at the NEXCOM Huaya Smart Factory during COMPUTEX 2025 at Taipei. Attendees will have the opportunity to experience firsthand how advanced Spatial Perception, AI, and Industrial IoT technologies are shaping the future of smart manufacturing.

Demo Schedule:

• Date: May 20 – 23, 2025
• Time: 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
• Location: NEXCOM Huaya Smart Factory
• Address: No. 50, Huaya 3rd Rd., Guishan Dist., Taoyuan City, Taiwan
• Map: Google Maps

The NEXCOM Huaya Smart Factory stands as a leading example of Industry 4.0 deployment, featuring:

• An 8,000 m² facility equipped with SMT, DIP, and system assembly lines
• Seamless OT/IT integration via the iAT2000 cloud-based SCADA system for real-time monitoring and predictive maintenance
• An advanced Enterprise War Room with multi-screen displays for centralized operational control

This is a unique opportunity to explore how cutting-edge robotics and smart factory infrastructure come together to enable next-generation industrial automation.
Advance registration is required to attend the demo. Please use the form below to reserve your visit.

Registration form for public demonstration

About NexAIoT Co., Ltd.
NexAIoT is an Industry 4.0 company. NexAIoT has established its position worldwide as market leader in providing I4.0 solution including Industrial PC, Factory Automation, Robotics and AIoT solution. Its mission is to become the global leader in industrial IoT and the preferred partner to accelerate the digital transformation in industry 4.0. NexAIoT’s operation is supported by solution engineering, product engineering (R&D, project management, technical support), sales and business development (local, overseas and ODM) and backend operation (finance, HR, IT, procurement) divisions, with regional business operation in China, Asia, Europe and the USA.

About Kudan Inc.
Kudan is a leading provider of Spatial Perception technologies, enabling next-generation solutions in mobile mapping, digital twins, robotics, and autonomous driving. With its advanced visual navigation and spatial perception technologies, Kudan is at the forefront of digital transformation, empowering businesses to bridge the physical and digital worlds seamlessly, and ensuring scalable deployments of autonomous machines in dynamic environments with great accuracy and reliability.
For more information, please refer to Kudan’s website at https://www.kudan.io/.

■Company Details
Name: Kudan Inc.
Securities Code: 4425 (TSE Growth)
Representative: CEO Daiu Ko

■Contact Information
For more details, please contact us from here

The post Kudan, NexAIoT, and NVIDIA Collaborate to Deploy AI-Powered AMR in Operational Factories in Taiwan first appeared on Kudan global.

In recent years, the aging of drivers and a severe labor shortage have significantly impacted supply chains in developed countries, including Japan. This challenge extends beyond public road transport, affecting intra-factory logistics, and highlighting an urgent need for supply chain optimization. As industries strive to seamlessly connect factory operations with external environments and advance the concept of smart factories, the global demand for autonomous mobility technology is expected to grow substantially.

Amid these circumstances, while the need for efficiency in transport operations is increasing, there remain significant challenges in achieving high-precision autonomous mobility in environments where GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) is ineffective, such as indoor facilities or hybrid environments spanning both indoor and outdoor areas.

This project also faced similar challenges. While GNSS was sufficient for a certain level of autonomous mobility outdoors, realizing autonomous mobility in indoor or hybrid environments presented technical hurdles.

To address these challenges, Kudan conducted a demonstration experiment using its proprietary artificial perception technologies, Visual SLAM and 3D-Lidar SLAM. The experiment successfully achieved the targeted localization accuracy of within 10cm in indoor environments.

In addition, the following strengths of Kudan’s SLAM technology were confirmed during this project:

1. High Technical Flexibility
   Kudan SLAM can be easily retrofitted to existing vehicles and systems, minimizing the need for new investments while enhancing performance
2. Adaptability to Changing Environments
   Even in dynamic indoor environments, such as factories where conditions change significantly due to inventory fluctuations, Kudan SLAM enables high-precision localization using a single pre-generated 3D map.
3. Scalability of Technology
   Kudan SLAM is not limited to indoor environments but can also seamlessly support autonomous mobility in outdoor or hybrid environments, enabling deployment across diverse industrial sectors.

Building on these results, Kudan aims to expand the scale of its demonstrations and conduct further verifications in more complex environments, working toward the transition to full-scale operational deployment. Furthermore, Kudan will continue to support operational efficiency in a wide range of industries by leveraging robotics and digital twin technologies, driving innovation to meet societal needs with cutting-edge solutions.

About Kudan Inc.
Kudan is a deep tech research and development company specializing in algorithms for artificial perception (AP). As a complement to artificial intelligence (AI), AP functions allow machines to develop autonomy. Currently, Kudan is licensing its technology for next-generation solution areas such as digital twin, robotics and autonomous driving.
For more information, please refer to Kudan’s website at https://www.kudan.io/.

■Company Details
Name: Kudan Inc.
Securities Code: 4425 (TSE Growth)
Representative: CEO Daiu Ko

■For more details, please contact us from here.

The post Kudan Collaborates with a Leading Manufacturer to Successfully Complete Autonomous Mobility Demonstration Experiment with Accuracy Within 10cm – Addressing the Growing Demand for Automation in the Logistics Sector first appeared on Kudan global.

NexAIoT’s development of the NexMOV-2 focused on creating an advanced autonomous mobile robot (AMR) that leverages its in-house AI and hardware expertise. By integrating Kudan Visual SLAM, the NexMOV-2 is designed for versatile deployment across a variety of environments while significantly reducing the production costs of AMRs. This strategic partnership between NexAIoT and Kudan has been instrumental in achieving these goals.

Unlike traditional indoor AMRs that rely on 2D-LiDAR for localization, the NexMOV-2 exclusively utilizes Kudan’s camera-based Visual SLAM for all localization tasks. This innovation enables precise, real-time mapping and navigation, improving performance in dynamic environments while reducing hardware complexity and costs by up to 30%.

The NexMOV-2’s AI-powered 3D vision navigation system further enhances its ability to perceive and understand its surroundings in greater detail. Designed for industries such as logistics, manufacturing, and healthcare, the NexMOV-2 offers unmatched flexibility and reliability in autonomous navigation.

Key features of the NexMOV-2 include a modular AMR controller that supports Intel SMARC or Nvidia SO-DIMM modules, allowing for customization and scalability based on specific operational needs. The robot is also integrated with ROS2, enabling efficient fleet management, real-time monitoring, and multi-robot scalability. It also features a smart, autonomous docking system that ensures continuous operation through wireless charging, significantly reducing downtime.

Kudan and NexAIoT will be partnering to showcase their collaboration at Japan Robot Week 2024, providing attendees with a first-hand experience of the NexMOV-2. This joint exhibition will underscore the continuous innovation between the two companies in autonomous mobile robotics.

◆◆ Event Overview ◆◆
Event Name: Japan Robot Week 2024 (https://biz.nikkan.co.jp/eve/s-robot/)
Date: September 18th (Wed) – September 20th (Friday), 2024, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Location: Tokyo Big Sight
Booth: East Hall 6, J-61

Comment from both companies:

“NexAIoT is redefining next-gen AMR with the launch of NexMOV-2, an AI-powered AMR featuring advanced VSLAM, AI navigation and smart wireless charging. In partnership with Kudan, NexAIoT has integrated state-of-the-art VSLAM technology, enhancing NexMOV-2’s precision in navigating complex, dynamic environments. As AMRs are increasingly deployed across industries, NexMOV-2 sets a new standard for adaptability and performance, driving smarter and more efficient automation. With NexMOV-2, NexAIoT is empowering business to embrace next-gen AMR solutions, unlocking greater flexibility, productivity and operational efficiency”

― HoeSeng Ooi, Chief Technology Officer at NexAIoT

“Our collaboration with NexAIoT on the NexMOV-2 demonstrates the potential of integrating Kudan’s Visual SLAM technology to address complex localization challenges across diverse operational environments. By relying solely on Visual SLAM for positioning and AI-powered 3D vision for navigation, the NexMOV-2 proves how advanced visual perception can enhance the performance of autonomous mobile robots while streamlining hardware and reducing costs. We are excited to see the NexMOV-2 empower industries globally, driving more flexible and productive workflows through 3D vision and AI technologies.”

― Tian Hao, Chief Operating Officer at Kudan

About NexAIoT Co., Ltd.
NexAIoT is an Industry 4.0 company. NexAIoT has established its position worldwide as market leader in providing I4.0 solution including Industrial PC, Factory Automation, Robotics and AIoT solution. Its mission is to become the global leader in industrial IoT and the preferred partner to accelerate the digital transformation in industry 4.0. NexAIoT’s operation is supported by solution engineering, product engineering (R&D, project management, technical support), sales and business development (local, overseas and ODM) and backend operation (finance, HR, IT, procurement) divisions, with regional business operation in China, Asia, Europe and the USA.

About Kudan Inc.
Kudan is a deep tech research and development company specializing in algorithms for artificial perception (AP). As a complement to artificial intelligence (AI), AP functions allow machines to develop autonomy. Currently, Kudan is licensing its technology for next-generation solution areas such as digital twin, robotics and autonomous driving.
For more information, please refer to Kudan’s website at https://www.kudan.io/.

■Company Details
Name: Kudan Inc.
Securities Code: 4425 (TSE Growth)
Representative: CEO Daiu Ko

■For more details, please contact us from here.

The post NexAIoT to Launch Next-Gen AI-Powered AMR NexMOV-2 with Kudan Visual SLAM and Showcase at Japan Robot Week 2024 first appeared on Kudan global.

Kudan’s SLAM solutions have become the standard in robotics and computer vision applications, providing real-time mapping and navigation capabilities. The partnership with Cadence allows Kudan to further enhance its technology, accelerating overall performance and delivering an unparalleled experience for customers.

“We are excited to partner with Cadence and leverage their expertise in DSP technology to enhance our SLAM capabilities and performance,” said Daiu Ko, CEO of Kudan. “This collaboration allows us to provide our customers with the highest level of performance and a more reliable and efficient compute platform for their robotics applications.”

“Through our collaboration, we’re bringing our expertise in vision and AI DSP technology to Kudan’s cutting-edge SLAM solutions,” said Amol Borkar, director of product marketing, management and business development for Tensilica Vision and AI DSPs at Cadence. “Optimizing Kudan’s SLAM pipeline using our Tensilica Vision Q7 DSP can reach a broader range of customers and deliver a truly differentiated solution for their robotics needs.”

With this effort, Kudan is looking forward to further partnering and working with computing platform providers, implementing the Cadence Tensilica Vision Q7 DSP to help expand its reach in the robotics industry.

About Kudan Inc.
Kudan is a deep tech research and development company specializing in algorithms for artificial perception (AP). As a complement to artificial intelligence (AI), AP functions allow machines to develop autonomy. Currently, Kudan is using its high-level technical innovation to explore business areas based on its own milestone models established for deep tech which provide wide-ranging impact on several major industrial fields.
For more information, please refer to Kudan’s website at https://www.kudan.io/.

■Company Details
Name: Kudan Inc.
Securities Code: 4425 (TSE Growth)
Representative: CEO Daiu Ko

■For more details, please contact us from here.

The post Kudan Partners with Cadence to Enhance Visual SLAM Performance for Robotics Applications first appeared on Kudan global.

Movel AI, the Singapore-based robotics software company, is widely offering its clients this all-in-one localization, navigation and fleet management software through a seamless user interface which will benefit from Kudan’s robust and highly accurate positioning software.

Kudan and Movel AI began talks in 2022 and the aligned synergy between both companies made us start to collaborate on product development and business expansion towards AMR market.

This partnership enabled Movel AI to integrate Kudan’s 3D Lidar SLAM and Visual SLAM into its Seirios Robotic Navigation System (RNS) and Fleet Management System (FMS) to offer greater localization and mapping capabilities to its clients. Both new and existing clients can experience enhanced localization accuracy by up to 2cm, so that robots can more precisely position themselves and navigate in the environment. Kudan SLAM also allows the robots to operate in dynamic and complex environments with excellent robustness, reliability and operational efficiency compared to other open-source solutions.

Figure 1: Seiros’ Lane Navigation Feature (Image Source: Movel AI)

Figure 2: Seirios FMS Manage Map Feature (Image source: Movel AI)

For Kudan, this collaboration and release of all-in-one solution allows us to offer customers navigation and fleet management solutions on top of our SLAM software. This will benefit customers who are looking to accelerate their go-to-market plan or to scale their robotic fleet aggressively.

Figure 3: Kudan’s 3D-Lidar SLAM (Reference video : https://youtu.be/JVXS6q2KoGE)

Figure 4: Kudan’s Visual SLAM (Reference video : https://youtu.be/wm4M_jW4zyc)

“We are thrilled to partner with Movel AI and witness the commercial release of this integrated solution leveraging our market-leading SLAM technologies.” said Daiu Ko, CEO of Kudan. “With our collaboration, we look forward to leveraging the business footprint of both companies in different regions and helping AMR vendors in the global market grow their deployment base with enhanced performance and operational efficiency enabled by our joint solution.”

“At Movel AI, we aim to speed up robot adoption across industries. Our partnership with Kudan is a crucial step towards achieving this vision, while simultaneously advancing robotics companies to leverage enhanced navigation experiences.” said Abhishek Gupta, CEO of Movel AI. “Through collaborating with Kudan, we are confident in delivering a greater value by leveraging our expertise to offer innovative navigation solutions to the robotics market. This partnership is a significant milestone for both companies, and we look forward to the opportunities it presents.”

The joint solution has already generated the interest of multiple robotics companies, which are now currently testing it in different phases and progressing towards commercial site deployment. Seirios’ technology will enable everyone, even non-tech users, to enjoy the performance capabilities and experience a seamless robot navigation. Furthermore, it can also be scaled efficiently across robotic fleets, allowing robot fleet managers to run and delegate tasks to up to 100 robots with one single system.

To find out more about this all-in-one solution or to try a 15-day trial, please reach out to us via Kudan or Movel AI.

About Movel AI
Movel AI is a robotics software, deep tech startup based in Singapore. Movel AI delivers human-like precision and movements to robots; combining sensor fusion, vision and machine learning & artificial intelligence technologies. Movel AI’s solutions are tailored to customers across different industries, applications and needs; from AGVs (automated guided vehicles) traversing factory grounds for logistical movements, to inspection robots scanning structural defects within multi-storey buildings, to enabling automated navigation in personal mobility devices. For more information, please refer to Movel AI’s website at www.movel.ai.

About Kudan Inc.
Kudan is a deep tech research and development company specializing in algorithms for artificial perception (AP). As a complement to artificial intelligence (AI), AP functions allow machines to develop autonomy. Currently, Kudan is using its high-level technical innovation to explore business areas based on its own milestone models established for deep tech which provide wide-ranging impact on several major industrial fields.
For more information, please refer to Kudan’s website at https://www.kudan.io/.

■Company Details
Name: Kudan Inc.
Securities Code: 4425 (TSE Growth)
Representative: CEO Daiu Ko

■For more details, please contact us from here.

The post Kudan’s strategic partner Movel AI starts commercial offering for integrated solution for AMR with Kudan SLAM first appeared on Kudan global.

Kudan Inc. (headquartered in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; CEO Daiu Ko, hereafter “Kudan”) will be exhibiting at the upcoming ProMat conference to showcase its solution for applications within the manufacturing and supply chain industry. This event will be taking place on 20-23 March at McCormick Place, Chicago, USA.

ProMat is the largest international material handling, logistics and supply chain show and conference featuring over 1,000 leading solution providers, including Kudan. As robotics for intralogistic use cases will be one of main interests for those attending, Kudan will be presenting both its camera-based and 3D Lidar-based “Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping” (SLAM) technology, KdVisual and KdLidar. With the robustness of Kudan’s SLAM, customers can equip their robots with a positioning stack that is able to handle warehouse environments that are typically large and dynamic in nature. This provides companies with the flexibility of not needing to implement infrastructure-based positioning systems which can be costly and time consuming. Companies can quickly change the physical operational workflows of their robots or vehicles as their operations evolve, without needing to reinstall any infrastructure.

We will be demonstrating both single-stereo and multi-stereo visual SLAM (VSLAM) capabilities on our robots at the booth. Customers will be able to see first hand how certain use cases can benefit from having a multi-camera set up on their robots or vehicles. We will be also highlighting our recent partnership with Intel in a robot running Intel’s Edge Insight for AMR with Kudan’s KdVisual SLAM software. Intel’s EI for AMRs helps customers to cut down development time through its open, modular Software Development Kit (SDK). The included libraries and middleware allows code to be implemented and deployed to AMRs even if they have multiple hardware configurations.

Customers interested in 3D Lidar SLAM solutions will also be able to view demo robots equipped with Kudan’s KdLidar SLAM software. These robots will be using Kudan’s SLAM to both create a map and navigate themselves autonomously within the booth space. In collaboration with one of our Lidar partners, Hesai, we will be demonstrating our Lidar SLAM software on our robot using the QT128, a certified safety laser scanner qualifying as an ASIL B product under ISO 26262 and can be used in AMR systems classified as ASIL A, ASIL B, and ASIL C. We will also be presenting two Lidar sensors from our partner Robosense – the ‘RS-Bpearl’, which has a unique 360°×90° super wide field-of-view (FoV) with less than 10cm blind-spot detection area, as well as the ‘RS-Helios’, which has a 70° ultra-wide vertical FoV, fulfilling both long-range perception and near-field blind spot detection needs.

Whether for indoor or outdoor, simple or complex environments, participants can visit Kudan’s booth to understand which sensor and SLAM system would best suit their intralogistic robotics applications. We look forward to discussing our SLAM solutions with you at ProMat 2023!

Presentation details

• Event: ProMat 2023 (https://www.promatshow.com/)
• Date: Monday – Thursday, March 20 – 23, 2023
• Location: McCormick Place, Chicago, USA
• Booth: #N8229

About Kudan Inc.
Kudan is a deep tech research and development company specializing in algorithms for artificial perception (AP). As a complement to artificial intelligence (AI), AP functions allow machines to develop autonomy. Currently, Kudan is using its high-level technical innovation to explore business areas based on its own milestone models established for deep tech which provide wide-ranging impact on several major industrial fields.
For more information, please refer to Kudan’s website at https://www.kudan.io/.

■Company Details
Name: Kudan Inc.
Securities Code: 4425 (TSE Growth)
Representative: CEO Daiu Ko

■For more details, please contact us from here.

The post ProMat 2023: Kudan to exhibit and present its visual and 3D Lidar SLAM solutions for intralogistics robotics use cases first appeared on Kudan global.

Kudan Inc. (headquartered in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; CEO Daiu Ko, hereafter “Kudan”) is excited to share its participation and exhibition as the gold sponsor in the upcoming ROSCon 2022 event happening 19-21 October at the Kyoto International Conference Center in Kyoto, Japan.

ROSCon is an international conference for ROS (Robot Operating System) developers, and this year ROSCon will be held as the physical event after having taken place virtually for the past two years. We expect many robot users and developers from all over the world to join and spend an extraordinary three days learning from and networking with the ROS community in beautiful Kyoto.

In Kudan’s booth, we will focus on exhibiting Kudan’s commercial-grade ROS-based SLAM software and their relevant solutions. These solutions, integrated with either Kudan Visual SLAM or 3D-Lidar SLAM, are the outcomes of the close collaboration with the partners including ADLINK, Intel, Movel AI, NVIDIA and Ouster. The solutions aim to bring significant value to autonomous mobile robot applications with unmatched performance in accuracy, robustness and resource usage, while also having superior easiness and efficiency of integration for robot developers.

Visitors at the Kudan booth would be able to closely see the different robots running with these solutions, and experience the real-time demonstrations. We look forward to meeting you there!

Event details

• Event: ROSCon 2022
• Date: Wednesday, October 19th to Friday, October 21st, 2022
• Location: Kyoto International Conference Center in Kyoto, Japan
• Exhibition Booth: Event Hall #18

About Kudan Inc.
Kudan (Tokyo Stock Exchange securities code: 4425) is a deep tech research and development company specializing in algorithms for artificial perception (AP). As a complement to artificial intelligence (AI), AP functions allow machines to develop autonomy. Currently, Kudan is using its high-level technical innovation to explore business areas based on its own milestone models established for deep tech which provide wide-ranging impact on several major industrial fields.
For more information, please refer to Kudan’s website at https://www.kudan.io/.

■Company Details
Name: Kudan Inc.
Securities Code: 4425 (TSE Growth)
Representative: CEO Daiu Ko

■For more details, please contact us from here.

The post Kudan to showcase commercial-grade solutions built with its partners for autonomous mobile robots at ROSCon 2022 first appeared on Kudan global.

According to the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) refers to a constellation of satellites providing signals from space that transmit positioning and timing data to GNSS receivers. The electronic devices with appropriate receivers can use this data to determine their precise location on the earth’s surface.

The GNSS system can determine the receiver’s position with an approximate several meters accuracy. One of the most common further improvements to this technology is RTK-GNSS (Real-time Kinematic), which can increase the position accuracy to about 1–4 cm.

Some outdoor autonomous vehicles, such as autonomous mining trucks, agricultural robots, mapping solutions, and more, use the GNSS, especially RTK-GNSS. When the signal quality is strong, we can detect these vehicles with several cm accuracies.

The Problem: What happened to the GNSS?

Despite GNSS being able to accurately position autonomous vehicles, in the recent past, we have been approached by companies using GNSS and RTK-GNSS for their applications. They have relied on RTK-GNSS to position their vehicles over the last years. However, recently they have been experiencing continuous disruptions in the GNSS signals. When these GNSS signals are unavailable, it causes the vehicles to stop operationing and they have to wait until the signals recover; costing their business significantly.

Companies can’t anymore solely rely on GNSS as their positioning systems.

Why is this happening?

The Reasoning: Why isn’t the GNSS reliable?

The disruptions to the GNSS signals can be linked to the increased solar activity in the past. In simpler terms, here’s the detailed explanation of why it’s been happening.

Like every other star, there are regular explosions of vast bursts of material, referred to as solar activities. A constant increase in solar activity has been recorded in the past months and is expected to increase even further in the coming years.

According to EUSPA, cyclical variations in the solar magnetic field can be experienced approximately every eleven years. The latest solar cycle, 25, started in December of 2019 and is expected to maximize its impact between 2023 and 2026.

The graph below from the Space Weather Prediction Center details the solar cycles and the expected timeline better:

Figure 2: Solar cycle progression

Now that we understand that solar activities peak every several years, how do they impact communication systems such as GNSS?

As we know, the GNSS receiver determines its location through signals emitted from the satellites orbiting the earth. These signals travel about 20,000 km to Earth and are mostly unhindered. The distortions and delays in these signals occur due to the refraction and diffraction of the signals in the earth’s atmosphere — especially within the ionosphere.

According to NASA, the ionosphere is where the atmosphere meets space and is the home to all charged particles in the Earth’s atmosphere.

GNSS receivers typically consider the effect of charged particles on the satellite signal using modeling techniques when the charged particles are homogeneously distributed. Increased solar activities, however, cause fluctuations in the ionosphere’s electron density, distorting the amplitude and phase of the GNSS signals.

This phenomenon is called scintillations. Due to irregular distortions, the standard GNSS receiver can’t handle such strong scintillation events. Mild scintillation causes several meters of inaccuracy, and severe scintillation may result in cycle slips or, worse, a complete signal loss.

This was precisely the scenario faced by the major mining machinery provider we saw earlier. The localization systems we use must be robust to handle the possibility of deteriorating GNSS, especially since such scenarios are expected to repeat in the future.

So how can we mitigate the impact of solar activities on the GNSS?

The solution: Can SLAM help?

The first option in overcoming the disruptions to GNSS signals is to look for advanced GNSS systems [1] that are more robust against the above mentioned scenarios. Systems with advanced receivers can continue tracking signals in conditions that challenge the standard receivers.

However, if you want to countermeasure it fundamentally, you must introduce redundancy in the positioning system. We recommend using 3D SLAM as the redundancy system, which can act as the fail-safe mechanism when the GNSS signals aren’t available [2].

3D SLAM only requires camera images or 3D-Lidar point clouds to function accurately in an outdoor setting.

For wide-open spaces such as mining sites, farming fields, and parking lots with ample parking spaces, Visual SLAM has an advantage over 3D-Lidar SLAM. 3D-Lidar SLAM requires detecting a meaningful amount of objects around the sensor which couldn’t be the case for wide-open spaces like the above. Visual SLAM can use visual features to keep tracking in such areas. However, in scenarios with objects within the 50m-100m range or during nighttime, 3D-Lidar SLAM provides better accuracy and robustness.

The ultimate solution would be to fuse a camera and a 3D-Lidar with the GNSS and other sensors. In the long run, this solution would ensure a reliable, robust, and accurate positioning system for your use cases.

If you notice performance issues on your existing GNSS-based positioning system, consider that it could be for the reasons that we’ve shared about, and get in touch with us. We will be able to propose a customized SLAM-based solution to bring back the accuracy and performance that your application needs while eliminating any operational downtime from such disruptions.

References

[1] Petovello, Mark & O’Driscoll, Cillian & Lachapelle, Gérard & Borio, Daniele & Murtaza, Hasan. (2008). Architecture and Benefits of an Advanced GNSS Software Receiver. Positioning. 1. 66–78. 10.5081/jgps.7.2.156. [PDF]

[2] Gong, Zheng & Ying, Rendong & Fei, Wen & Qian, Jiuchao & Liu, Peilin. (2019). Tightly Coupled Integration of GNSS and Vision SLAM Using 10-DoF Optimization on Manifold. IEEE Sensors Journal. PP. 1–1. 10.1109/JSEN.2019.2935387. [PDF]

■For more details, please contact us from here.

The post How to Tackle GNSS Deterioration Due to Recent Solar Activities first appeared on Kudan global.

When we talk about intralogistics automation, low-height autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) comes first to many people’s mind. However, forklift automation is as important and impactful as them. You can either deploy autonomous forklifts or retrofit existing manual forklifts into autonomous ones. In these forklift automation applications, you would face 2 major challenges.

1. Operators need to switch between manual mode and autonomous mode: The forklift needs to figure out its position anywhere within the mapped facility quickly and reliably when the autonomous mode engages after some manual operation. This can pose a major challenge in the typical 2D-Lidar SLAM approach. Also, the system needs to continue tracking its position even if it goes outside of the mapped area
2. Significant scenery changes over time: A warehouse or factory is full of pallets sometimes and it’s almost empty at other times. This type of dynamic environment is also quite difficult to deal with using 2D-Lidar or other Visual SLAM systems due to mapped features becoming unrecognizable

Kudan Visual SLAM robustly deals with these challenges with its “Robust Against Change” mode

This time, our demo showcases Kudan Visual SLAM solving these challenges in an actual warehouse environment. Our partner company, ROSTEK Vietnam, mounted an Intel RealSense D455 on a forklift in a tilted position and we tested our Visual SLAM on this dataset.

Demo video：
Kudan Visual SLAM in action: Forklift in a scenery-changing warehouse
(The data credit: ROSTEK Vietnam)

Our Visual SLAM enabled relocalization at random positions on the map and continued tracking. Also, our “Robust Against Change” mode together with the tilted camera mount allows robots to operate in environments where the scenery changes quite significantly over time. It can keep tracking on the map for a certain period of time even when 95% of the scenery is changed.

Here are some of the details of the environment,

• Size of the area: 120 x 15m. Total trajectory length of the localization was ~320m
• Sensor: Intel RealSense D455
• The SLAM video is processed and generated in real-time frame rates

Please feel free to reach out to us if you operate within these types of environments or have other challenging environments that you need a solution for. See the difference commercial-grade Visual SLAM software can make compared to 2D-Lidar SLAM or other open-source Visual SLAM software that may be part of your solution. We are happy to solve the problems together.

(For reference)
Usecase with ROSTEK
Kudan Visual SLAM (KdVisual) in action: In an operating factory for autonomous mobile robots

About Kudan Inc.
Kudan (Tokyo Stock Exchange securities code: 4425) is a deep tech research and development company specializing in algorithms for artificial perception (AP). As a complement to artificial intelligence (AI), AP functions allow machines to develop autonomy. Currently, Kudan is using its high-level technical innovation to explore business areas based on its own milestone models established for deep tech which provide wide-ranging impact on several major industrial fields.
For more information, please refer to Kudan’s website at https://www.kudan.io/.

■Company Details
Name: Kudan Inc.
Securities Code: 4425
Representative: CEO Daiu Ko

■For more details, please contact us from here.

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