Yokogawa acquires Danish AI and image processing specialist

Yokogawa took over all shares of the Danish company Grazper Technologies ApS on March 20, 2020. This company specializes in artificial intelligence (AI) for image recognition and image analysis. Yokogawa intends to apply these technologies in various business areas and use them to develop industrial AI solutions. For example, the company sees potential in security monitoring, image analysis and the use of robots on production lines.

In a first step, Yokogawa's subsidiary Amnimo Inc. will integrate Grazper's FPGA IP core into its industrial LTE gateway "Edge Gateway", which is expected to be launched soon. On this basis, solutions for smart city projects and security applications for airports and railways are to be developed.

Grazper focuses on FPGAs for KI applications

Grazper was founded in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2015 and was later financed by the Danish venture capital company Promentum Equity Partners. Grazper has made a name for itself primarily with a software solution that allows AI software to be efficiently executed on an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). The software uses image recognition methods that have been theorized using algorithms and 3D modeling, and can be operated with limited computing resources.

Yokogawa develops and distributes AI-based software solutions for industrial plants and public infrastructure projects. With the technology acquired from Grazper, the company can now also offer solutions that use AI for image recognition and analysis, such as the acquisition of image information for robots, the detection of anomalies in plants, and security surveillance with cameras.