With our Early Access Program, we asked ourselves:

① Are we truly on a mission to create a new category of virtual safety shields that enable safe interaction between robots, humans, and equipment?

② How realistic is our bet that as autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) become more widespread across industries, the need for reliable, cost-effective, and adaptable sensing technologies will continue to grow?

While we climbed to the stage to accept the “Best of Sensors 2024 Award” at the Sensors Converge show in Santa Clara, requests for more info and product demos jammed our contact forms. Since then, we signed up more than 20 carefully selected testers to our paid “Early Access Program.”

The testers represent major AMR manufacturers, industrial manufacturing conglomerates, automotive technology suppliers, as well as vendors within the autonomous health and cleaning industries. We have also started working with a few distributors and potential partners to explore indirect channels to the market.

We would have loved to bask in the spotlight of some of the massive global technology brands we are currently working with in our Early Access Program. Unfortunately, our contracts don’t allow for namedropping of that nature.

On the other hand, the testers have provided Sonair with exactly the type of actionable feedback that will shape our future product development and go-to-market strategies. Their validation of how we understand their challenges helps Sonair build solutions that solve the real-world pain points of AMR manufacturers.

Here you go. Here’s our moment of truth.

“It’s all about safety.” Testers look for ways to solve safety for their autonomous robotics systems. One easy avenue is to certify their entire system by using safety-certified components. While many testers stress the importance of a certified solution, it’s clear that there are multiple paths to meeting safety requirements.

“Cost matters.” Customers see cost as a competitive differentiator and something that can open the overall AMR market by bringing down the barriers of entry. We have been building Sonair based on the idea that the current sensor combinations are too costly (constituting around 30% of total robot bill-of-materials). The feedback from our testers is that they are all cost-conscious. Some see value in advanced features only if they remain competitive in price compared to existing solutions.

“Go low.” The mounting height of a sensor matters. Low-profile sensors are in high demand, particularly for applications that require slipping under carts or other obstacles. This is not a trivial thing for any sensor. Sonair’s small size contributes to flexible design-ins.

“Go close.” Sonair must deliver on its promise detection at close range. Several of the tested use cases require detection as close as 5–20 cm. Proximity is one of the areas where ultrasonic sensing excels over many of the other 3D vision/perception technologies. Sonair’s future commercial product will detect objects with no dead zones from 0 cm and measure the position from 5 cm and beyond.

“No more blind spots.” A full 360-degree field-of-view and the ability to detect objects in 3D are top priorities. Blind spots are a major concern, especially for AMRs that move in all directions. A single ADAR sensor sees everything in a 180x180 FoV (including vertical angles). With additional ADAR sensors, 360 degrees is within easy reach.

“We need safety zone configurability.” It’s important to offer multiple safety zones. One LiDAR competitor’s 32-zone capability was mentioned as a benchmark, indicating a desire for highly configurable detection areas. Sonair will be launching its first commercial with 128 zones.

“We want it tough.” Many of our testers deploy their robots in dusty, humid, or wet conditions demand reliable performance even when sensors get dirty or partially obstructed. Some robots travel from front-of-store retail environments to chilled storage facilities while others need frequent cleaning. In short, Sonair’s sensor must have a strong degree of environmental robustness.

“Make it easy.” User-friendly integration is on top of the wish list. Some customers want the freedom to tune and adjust settings—ranging from sensitivity to region-of-interest—themselves without complex procedures or extensive manufacturer support. Others just want a plug and play solution.

Potential and challenges

The feedback from these early adopters underscores both the potential and the challenges for Sonair’s ultrasonic sensor in the AMR market. From form factor and safety certification to cost and advanced 3D tracking, each company’s needs offer valuable insight into how our product might evolve.

Clearly, addressing industry safety standards and offering certified and/or certifiable versions could open doors to broader market adoption. Together with exida, we've kicked off the exciting, but no doubt arduous process of obtaining SIL2/Pl d safety certification for the Sonair 3D ultrasonic sensor. exida is the world’s leading product certification and knowledge company specializing in automation system safety, alarm management, cybersecurity, and availability.

As the AMR market expands, this early feedback confirms that our ADAR ultrasonic sensor is poised to play a crucial role in delivering precise, robust, and cost-effective people and obstacle detection. The insights from our early adopters will guide the next iterations of our technology, ensuring it meets real-world demands and remains at the forefront of ultrasonic sensing innovation.

If you’re interested in testing our ADAR sensor, get in touch or email us directly. We are eager to test and learn from even more real-life applications and typical use cases for AMRs.

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