US-based wireless technology producer Qualcomm’s formation of a robotics-focused accelerator is partly due to the links the industry has with Qualcomm’s core technology, according to Houman Haghighi, who is leading the accelerator.
The Qualcomm Robotics Accelerator, which is being run in conjunction with another accelerator, Techstars, was originally announced in May 2014, and Qualcomm recently revealed the 10 applicants that were accepted.
In addition to $120,000 in funding, each participant will also be able to access a range of mentors and technical resources, and competition to be accepted was fierce, Haghighi told Global Corporate Venturing.
“We got several hundred applications for the programme from all across the world,” Haghighi said.
“As a result of that, we identified 10 companies that we invited to San Diego, and these companies are now installed here in the bottom floor of our corporate R&D building. They will be building their companies pretty much from the ground up with seed funding that we are providing to them.”
Qualcomm is not new to the robotics sector; it has been developing technology in the space for years, Haghighi explained, adding that its interest is mainly due to the link between robotics technology and the semiconductor technology that the company produces for mobile devices.
“The phone has various sensors that allow it to understand the world around it – the microphone, the camera, but also some sensors people do not think about, like the gyroscope, the accelerometer, GPS – and all of these sensors work in unison to provide external information about the physical world,” he said.
“The same technology naturally transfers to robotics: what does a robot need to navigate the physical world? It is these exact same sensors, and as you add the components of intelligence to the input coming in from the sensors, which are the autonomous components we hope to build out of these companies and hope these companies can build out on their own, it creates the next wave of robotics.
“[That will involve] a low-cost – cell phone chips are a much lower cost than having to create something from scratch – and a high-bandwidth computing model, which cell phones already provide, and the platforms that have already been built out can get the right hooks in place to let these guys solve the problems they are trying to solve in robotics.”
Qualcomm has also become a more active investor in robotics over the past 18 months, investing in unmanned aerial vehicle companies 3D Robotics and Skycatch through its corporate venturing unit, Qualcomm Ventures, where Haghighi works as staff manager of operations.
That interest is reflected in the 10 startups chosen for the accelerator. Although the list spans pet teaching devices (CleverPet), gaming robots (ReachRobotics) and robotic arms (Carbon Robotics), three of them – InovaDrone, SkySense and SkyFront – are developing technology for the drone sector.
All participants will however receive access to mentors from both Qualcomm and the Techstars network, who will provide advice concerning not only technology, but also business models, pricing structures and potential customer base.
Qualcomm has also laid on light prototyping facilities that include measuring devices such as oscilloscopes, as well as 3D printers and some light soldering applications. The company hopes to make the Robotics Accelerator an ongoing project, and potentially to carry on supporting graduates through Qualcomm Ventures.
“This is our first robotics accelerator and our first year of running it, but we hope to run it for many years to come, as long as there is value for the entrepreneur and for Qualcomm, and obviously for the broader ecosystem,” Haghighi said. “We want to continue to foster innovation in the robotics ecosystem and as long as we can do that, I don’t see any reason why we will not continue this.
“Qualcomm Ventures tends to follow on in 80% of its investments. Historically, we have become a long term partner for any company we end up investing in. Based on that, as long as the companies continue to trend well and push the envelope in terms of being a leader in their technology space, I do not see any reason why we would not.”