How this Chinese-American entrepreneur has created ‘cloud robots’ with potential to access unlimited data
- CloudMinds enables its robots to potentially access infinite computing power and data by building their brains in the cloud
CloudMinds Inc. may be a late entrant to the field of robotics but the Chinese robotics and artificial intelligence start-up has grabbed attention since its inception in 2015 as it provides the “brains” and not just the mechanical arms for its products.
The four-year-old firm, established by Huang Xiao Qing, a Chinese-American telecoms industry veteran, has developed a cloud-based platform capable of operating intelligent consumer service robots simultaneously.
Born in 1962, Huang was the one of the very first young mainland Chinese to attend graduate school in the US after diplomatic relations between the two countries were resumed 40 years ago. He studied at the University of Illinois at Chicago after receiving a bachelor’s degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 1982.
CloudMinds’ robots are different to the traditional approach where robots have self-contained “brains”, with data-processing capacity constrained by the chips that they are equipped with.
Santa Clara, California-based CloudMinds enables its robots to potentially access infinite computing power and data by building their brains in the cloud, hence their name – cloud robots.
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The operating platform consists of three main parts – a cloud brain, a nerve network and robot controllers. The platform is scalable and allows partners to customise the robots, which can be used in shopping malls, hotels, banks and even hospitals to answer customer queries or make coffee.
Competitors include US-based start-up Freedom Robotics, which announced a US$6.6 million seed round earlier this month. Amazon also launched a cloud-based robotics testing platform late last year.
Chief financial officer Richard Tang has offered a simple analogy to better explain the CloudMinds model, saying “it’s a bit like we have come up with the smartphones, operating system and some apps, and we’re looking for developers of more apps.”
CloudMinds is targeting the retail, hospitality, janitorial services, security, household and leisure, warehouse and logistics, and health care sectors in the near future with the aim of deploying 100,000 high-end robots in the market by the end of 2021.
CloudMinds did not respond to a request for comment on its business operations.
CloudMinds is seeking an initial public offering to raise up to US$500 million in the US.
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Its current customers come mainly from China’s telecoms and banking sectors according to an IPO prospectus filed in July, but it has not publicly disclosed specific names. CloudMinds also said it wants to avoid over-reliance on key customers and to broaden its client base, to guard against future competitors.
CloudMinds’ revenue increased 529 per cent year on year to US$121 million in 2018, according to the IPO prospectus filed with the New York Stock Exchange. However, the company’s net loss widened to US$156.8 million in 2018 from a loss of US$47.7 million in 2017 due to heavy research and development investment.
Over the past four years the start-up has attracted a flow of capital, including investments from Taiwanese electronics contract manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group and technology sector investor Walden International as well as Japanese telecommunications and internet services giant Softbank.
Softbank is the company’s biggest shareholder with a 34.6 per cent stake, compared with the 17.4 per cent held by founder Huang, although he remains the key driver of CloudMinds’ business and technology development.
