5D Robotics
Reliable, Safe Navigation Indoors and Outdoors

David Bruemmer, CEO & Co-founder of 5D Robotics, wants to use a new means of positioning to change the way robots and humans interact with each other and their environment. “Our goal is to create reliable, safe motion that can be customized for multiple environments or tasks,” notes Bruemmer. Located in burgeoning tech community of Carlsbad, California, 5D Robotics is a team of visionary thinkers with a broad range of intellectual Property (IP).

5D was originally formed to accelerate robotic solutions required by the Department of Energy, Department of Transportation and the Department of Defense. To achieve the reliability and ac-curacy required for military, transportation and energy sectors, 5D created a peer to peer positioning technology based on Ultra Wideband (UWB) radio tags. Originally developed by 5D for landmine detection and tracking soldiers in difficult environments, this technology is now ready for a broader range of applications. The company has a unique four-pronged approach to positioning that includes a combination of GPS, inertial sensing, optical localization and the UWB tags. “By using these in combination we create flexible solutions which are both reliable and low cost,” Bruemmer adds. The technology provides much more reliability and accuracy than GPS and works anywhere, even indoors. Whereas GPS tends to measure accuracy in meters, the 5D positioning technology is accurate to about 2cm and also provides heading that is accurate to a few degrees.

Based on this technology, the company has developed a set of core capabilities for safe motion, 3D mapping, and autonomous navigation currently running on air and ground vehicles ranging from 6 to 6000lbs. 5D’s Virtual Rail technology allows facilities to create a flexible, intelligent ecosystem for autonomous mobility. For instance, an operator can specify routes on a map or can teach the vehicle a path by having it follow them.

The robot can then follow this path as if it were on an actual rail which promotes safety and predictability. Depending on the environment, the user may also allow the robot to choose its own paths. “The UWB constellation gives our customers the ability to reconfigure routes and specify go and no go areas in seconds. There is minimal cost to reconfigure the environment and it does not require an engineer,” says Bruemmer. 5D is working to develop a consortium for executing the vision of Smart Mobility and integration with Smart Cities. This vision includes mobility on demand and the future of self-operating shared pods that can meet you wherever you are, carry you to your destination and then go off to meet the next customer without ever needing someone to drive them.

Imagine an efficient, shared ecosystem where intelligent pods came to meet you wherever you are, carried you to your destination and then drove off to the next person all without you ever having to rent it, drive it or park it

Going forward, 5D’s move is to extend beyond traditional robotics, using the positioning tech-nology for a variety of applications in security, safety, augmented reality and big data where ac-curate, reliable positioning can pay huge dividends. 5D’s technology provides a reliable means to track not only robots but people and packages as well, enabling just about everything to be safer and more efficient.