WiBotic was founded in 2015 to commercialize wireless power technology developed at the University of Washington and is currently the industry leader in proximity charging for the robotics market.  There are currently over 200 customers using WiBotic hardware and software to automatically charge Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (AUVs), Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) and Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) across a range of applications.  WiBotic also recently joined forces with Astrobotic to develop space-certified charging systems for lunar vehicles via the Tipping Point program.

The company is led by Ben Waters, a Ph.D. Electrical Engineer with expertise in wireless charging and related work experience at Network Appliance, Arup, Intel and Bosch.  The team consists of 16 FTEs across all relevant disciplines including Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Software/Firmware development.  The company’s commercial hardware products currently deliver power levels up to 300W with higher power products under development. Software solutions include an easy-to-use management user interface system monitoring and configuration as well as the new Commander software product for optimizing energy use across multiple charging stations and diverse robot fleets. 

Wibotic has 5500sf of office and laboratory space located in Seattle, WA, an ideal location for WiBotic’s business and technology due to its proximity to relevant test environments (mountains, sea, varying climates all accessible within 30 minutes), a large electronics ecosystem and test facilities, and a booming startup and robotics hub that includes continued access to resources at the University of Washington. The company maintains a fleet of demonstration robots and a wide range of batteries for commercial applications.   Development equipment includes two 3D printers, automated equipment for wireless hardware testing and battery charging/discharging cycling, a thermal chamber, oscilloscopes, radio frequency test equipment, a spectrum analyzer, vector network analyzer, electronics assembly & test equipment with ESD protections, mechanical assembly tools, and software licenses for MATLAB, Solidworks, GitHub Business, CAD tools, and Ansys Electromagnetics and Thermodynamics.

“Adoption of robot technology happens for a variety of reasons ranging from meeting increasing production demands to maintaining operational resiliency despite understaffing. Regardless of the specifics, the common denominator for any organization using robots is scalability. Companies around the world have realized that robots are the key to expanding, increasing, and reaching their customers.
But simply buying more robots doesn’t result in a complete automation solution. As capable as they are, robots can’t operate themselves. Systems must be in place to ensure proper robot tasking (from conveying and picking to packaging and shipping) and to measure performance over time. As fleets scale to include different types of robots it’s even more critical that they communicate to accomplish complex tasks from start to finish.
That’s where InOrbit comes into play. Customers at every level of an organization, from executive to operations, can use the InOrbit software platform to monitor and manage diverse fleets of robots, performing a wide range of functions, across small or larger geographic areas. As a single interface into enterprise Robot Operations, InOrbit provides the tools needed to identify and address problems, analyze and optimize processes, and increase fleet efficiency over time.
Like InOrbit, WiBotic’s autonomous charging solutions focus on keeping robots running. As a universal solution, WiBotic hardware can deliver energy when and where it’s needed - through both wired and wireless charging technology. WiBotic’s new software platform, Commander, easily integrates with InOrbit’s platform to provide charging and energy-specific information that helps operators optimize the critical battery charging function. After all, robots aren’t nearly as productive if they can’t reliably and autonomously charge themselves. WiBotic is excited to partner with InOrbit to provide enhanced charging and energy management capabilities to their already formidable Robot Operations solutions”.