Can a software house afford to watch the convergence of artificial intelligence and advanced robotics from a distance? For Gulliver, the answer is no. Hence the trip that took founder Giuseppe Capoferri to China together with his son Stefano, Chief Executive Officer, and partners Michela Bolpagni, Luca Baronchelli and Giovanni Tonelli.
The first stop was Shenzhen, at IOTE – the International Internet of Things Exhibition — among manufacturers of humanoids, quadrupeds and components. Then Hangzhou, at Unitree’s headquarters.
“The visit was genuinely interesting. We were able to explore a broad and diverse product range, some of it particularly well suited to the projects we are already working on, thanks in part to high IP protection ratings that matter for use outdoors,” says Capoferri. This is no minor technical detail: it is what separates a laboratory robot from one that can patrol an outdoor perimeter in the rain.
That visit opened a path Gulliver is now defining: an agreement covering Italy and Luxembourg. “It will give us access to dedicated terms, but above all it will let us build an ongoing relationship with Unitree, with technical support in developing and integrating our software solutions with their robots.” Among the options under consideration is technical training for members of the team on site in Hangzhou.
The strategy is to build a hardware-independent platform able to work with robots from different manufacturers — the same approach the company took in the early 2000s with mobile applications. The work is carried out between Brescia and Luxembourg, in collaboration with SnT, the research centre of the University of Luxembourg.
The first projects are already under way: security and surveillance with Vigilanza Group in Brescia, logistics and monitoring in Luxembourg with Vodafone, and a hospitality and reception solution for a Big Four firm, connected to the Gulliver HR platform.
“The robot alone is not the solution,” Capoferri concludes. “It becomes genuinely useful when it is connected to business processes, to data, to Artificial Intelligence and to the software systems companies already use.”
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