Zebra Technologies acquires stake in Apera AI
The aim is to enable robots in dynamic, unstructured production environments to recognize, analyze and handle objects in real time
Zebra Technologies, through its venture capital unit Zebra Ventures, has announced a strategic investment in Apera AI. Apera develops 4D vision systems for industrial robots that serve as the basis for Physical AI. The goal is to enable robots in dynamic, unstructured manufacturing environments to recognize, analyze and handle objects in real time.
The system combines light-insensitive stereo vision with AI models to reliably localize and identify complex components. It adapts to changing containers, variable lighting conditions, worn grippers and challenging geometries. This means that even transparent, shiny or overlapping parts can be gripped. Image processing is trained in virtual simulation environments and is designed for fast-moving, unstructured production lines.
Zebra is integrating the technology into its Connected Factory framework, which already includes AI and 3D image processing solutions from Photoneo, among others. With the funding, Apera aims to enable scalable implementations with low integration effort and thus increase the level of automation in complex manufacturing environments.
