Here we celebrate the recent RoboValley wins – small and big – which together add up to our community having a serious impact. Today we take a look at six success stories from our start & scale-up community.

Shipshape!

Fleetcleaner invests in Thunderbird 2

Thunderbirds are go at Fleetcleaner! This RoboValley start-up is quite literally cleaning up the shipping industry via the use of robots to inspect and clean ships in port.
Fleetcleaner has already proven the viability of their technology and business model with Thunderbird 1. This mothership which controls the cleaning robot has successfully cleaned more than 100 sea ships and saved some 70,000 tons of CO2.

Having received additional investment from the Rotterdam Port Fund in December, Fleetcleaner is now buying a second ship:  Thunderbird 2. The 60 metre vessel will be converted to contain living berths for four crew members, plus the cleaning installation. It will be operational in major Dutch and Belgium ports by summer of this year, with the team also considering a third investment overseas by the end of the year. → Read the full article here

Nomination for software start-up

SD-Insights shortlisted for National Traffic Safety Award

NEXTdriver is the name of an app, designed by RoboValley start-up, SD-Insights, which encourages better driving behaviour through gamification. The app compliments safe and fuel-efficient driving and coaches drivers so that they iron out bad habits such as harsh breaking or idling. 250 drivers of heavy goods vehicles are already using it.

Now it’s SD-Insights turn to be rewarded for their good behaviour. The start-up and has been shortlisted for the Dutch National Traffic Safety Award in the ‘Risks in Focus’ category. → Vote & read more about how SD-Insights NEXTdriver saves fuel and reduces road traffic accidents.

Fizyr: one to keep an eye on

Vision software scale-up acquires new clients

Over the last three years, RoboValley scale-up, Fizyr, has proven the ability of its vision software to pick up objects regardless of shape, size, colour, materials or position. Having already trained robots for more than a dozen system integrators, the company is now attracting interest from large corporates. Luxottica – the world’s biggest eyewear manufacturer and distributor – which counts Oakley and Ray-Ban amongst its many brands, has come to Fizyr for help. → Click here to read more

Replicating Success at 3Delft

TU Delft students “entrepreneur’s playground”

3Delft is a RoboValley-based 3D printing and design company, set up by three entrepreneurial TU Delft students just 18 months ago. From September, the three founders hope to take on roles in the university’s Dream Teams but before they set to work on the next solar-powered racing car, hyperloop or flying vehicle, they are selecting (three) safe pairs of hands to take over the reins. → Find out more here

Soft robotics start-up

ROCSYS accelerating towards an autonomous future

The journey towards electric and autonomous vehicles has already begun. But in a future in which our cars will drive and park themselves, who will take on the manual task of plugging in the car to recharge its batteries?

The answer to this question lies within RoboValley, for it’s here that start-up, ROCSYS, is developing a ‘soft’ robotic arm and computer vision technology to enable the fully automated charging of electric vehicles.

Having received seed funding from Dutch and Estonian investors last autumn, the ROCSYS team is expanding, allowing them to intensify development of the software, hardware and computer-vision system which will help them achieve their goal: the aim is for the robot to get the plug in the socket in under thirty seconds. Outside the lab, business is revving up too. After installing a system at TU Delft’s Green Village last autumn, ROCSYS is new teaming up with an industrial partner which supplieselectric buses, trucks and automated guided vehicles, to test its systems in the field. → Read the full article here

LOBSTER in at the deep end

Student robotics team conducts research in the Wadden Sea

LOBSTER is a robotics research project which gives TU Delft students the chance to “get their feet wet” with deep sea exploration – a field which is usually prohibitively expensive. The team of fifteen is currently working on their third prototype – LOBSTER Scout – designed as a modular system for ease of maintenance.

Last month the team set sail for the Wadden Sea to put LOBSTER Scout to the test. Mission accomplished? → Read on to find out more