This time around, Hartung and his co-founder Trey German developed a drive-by-wire kit designed with redundant controls for the accelerator, brake and steering and proprietary switching technology.
Auto turn software software#
His previous startup PolySync, which has since shutdown, developed an automated vehicle software platform as well as a drive-by-wire kit that numerous other startups used in their own AV demos. Sygnal’s CEO and co-founder Josh Hartung knows a thing or two about automated vehicles and drive-by-wire systems. Polymath has partnered with Idaho-based startup Sygnal Technologies to help on the hardware side of things by providing retrofits with their drive-by-wire kits. Of course, software alone cannot turn a tractor into an automated vehicle that operates without a human. For instance, this TechCrunch reporter was able to control a tractor located in a dusty lot in Modesto, California via an internet browser while sitting at her desk in Arizona. Polymath’s API tells the robot what to do, whether it’s in the simulation tool or in the real world.
Auto turn software for free#
But technical teams interested in seeing how it works can start building for free in simulation via its API. Polymath is already driving unmanned and working with potential customers. Seltz-Axmacher said the software lets these users just focus on the app, connect to its REST API and command a virtual tractor, forklift or other kind of robot in sim. The Polymath Robotics software platform lets another startup, warehouse owner, farmer or mining company skip the often long process of building out autonomy, a safety layer and front-end app. And unlike other sims, this can be viewed and created on an internet browser and doesn’t require the installation of other tools like ROS, Gazebo or even Linux, according to the company.
Polymath, under the lead of Baranov (who is CTO and previously led robotics teams at Clearpath Robotics and Amazon Lab 126) also created, and now released, a free tool called Caladan that lets users build on top of the company’s software in simulation. The San Francisco-based startup’s software is hardware and business model agnostic and focuses on all the features a company might need to run their automated robot, tractor, or forklift, including path planning, hazard detection, behavior trees, human detection, controls tuning and safety. Think of it as SaaS for industrial robotics. The pair have developed a plug-and-play software platform and an accompanying SDK that allows companies to quickly and cost efficiently automate industrial vehicles.
That’s where Seltz-Axmacher, co-founder Ilia Baranov and their new startup Polymath Robotics hope to come in. In other words, the farmer in Iowa, the yard truck operator in Florida and the e-commerce giant with 100 warehouses spread throughout the country have specific needs that no one else does. To make matters more complex, robots used in warehouses, mining, agriculture and other industrial environments have hyper-specific applications that are structured and are often repeated thousands of times. “Everyone kind of ends up building nearly everything from scratch, for nearly every application.” “They’re really difficult, they break all the time and getting to a stable product is really hard,” Seltz-Axmacher said in a recent interview. But Stefan Seltz-Axmacher, who previously founded and led the now shuttered autonomous vehicle startup Starsky Robotics, is trying to make a point. It’s a bold declaration for a startup founder aiming to work with robots - or more accurately, the software that helps turn a tractor, tiller or forklift into an automated vehicle.