Building the New Code
for Machine Autonomy

Made in Japan. Made for the World.

Slide1 Breaking news! Read Announcement Yamazen Corporation and Ascent Robotics signed a business alliance agreement on February 25th. Slide1 Ascent Pick Makes Manufacturing Easier, More Affordable, and Scalable Learn More About Ascent Pick Ascent Pick is a unique, advanced software-based system for automated object picking and kitting. Slide1 New CEO Joins Ascent Robotics Read Press Release Ken Kutaragi, known as the “Father of PlayStation,” looks forward to driving Ascent Robotics to become the leading pioneer of AI and true machine autonomy. Slide1 Now Hiring Diverse and Innovative Thinkers Join Our Team Do you want to help shape the world of AI and robotics? We are expanding our dynamic team and would like to hear from you!

product

アセントピック

Ascent Pick

Easy to Use, Universal, & Minimal Errors

Ascent Pick is an advanced software-based system used for automated object picking and kitting, which can be used in any type of manufacturing facility. Our solution is unique because it utilizes inexpensive perception hardware, and is straightforward and quick to set-up with an intuitive web-based UI. Ascent Pick results in lower costs and a dramatic increase in the productivity of manufacturing lines.

We have designed and developed an advanced perception engine that is able to handle objects of complex and various shapes. More importantly it avoids collisions in the picking and kitting area, reducing wasted time and errors on the line. Ascent Pick can be universally adapted to different robots, making the possibilities more scalable than ever before.

Ascent Pick Highlights

  • Easy and quick to deploy without complicated programming
  • Works with a wide variety of complex shaped and sized objects 
  • Inexpensive camera hardware 
  • Eliminates the need for real data and human labeling
  • Compatible with various robot manufacturers and types
  • Supports both suction and parallel gripper

Fixed Manipulators

Ascent Pick is unique in that it is applicable across the manufacturing industry. It can be utilized for bin picking, kitting, and machine loading applications in structured, semi-structured, or unstructured environments. It can be universally applied to objects of complex shapes and any color. 

Mobile Manipulators

Ascent Pick can be utilized with robotic arms that are mounted on mobile robots, resulting in a truly versatile object-handling system.
Are you wondering how Ascent Pick could work for your manufacturing application? Let us know in the form and we will respond to discuss how your company can benefit from Ascent Pick.
Ascent Pick Enquiry Form

カスタムソリューション

Custom Solutions

Tailor-made Solutions to Fit Every Requirement 

Ascent Robotics has a talented and skilled product development teams experienced in building robotic systems. With our unique knowledge, we are happy to offer specific and customized solutions to handle any factory automation issue your business may face. If Ascent Pick does not match your exact requirements and you are wondering if it is compatible with your current system – just ask us and we will be happy to talk with you about what will work best for your individual situation. We are able to work with each of our customers on bespoke solutions that are tailor-made specifically for unique automation needs.
Custom Solution Enquiry

technology

産業用ロボット

Industrial Robotics

Advanced AI Robotics to Fit
Every Manufacturing Situation
Ascent Robotics creates AI solutions for the next-generation of industry automation. One of the main issues with the current manufacturing industry is that it is stuck with expensive, rigid, and out-dated automation processes that are forcing businesses to remain in the past. At Ascent we want to propel automation further into the future than ever before. We are committed to designing and building cost effective and easy to use solutions for all robotics applications. Our first advanced robotics grasping product is a software-based AI system that enables seamless object manipulation in any type of environment.
Even though our camera hardware is inexpensive for the end user, our robotic systems are able to understand the world around it by leveraging powerful computer vision algorithms. This is what sets our systems apart from others. Utilizing RGBD images, our system constructs accurate 3D models of the environment that are utilized for motion planning and decision making.
Our system is capable of supporting multiple types of manufacturing machines, making it truly versatile. It supports both suction grippers and parallel grippers, which makes it applicable for picking objects of various and complex shapes. Ascent’s unique object grasping technology enables robots to pick specific target objects from a cluttered, fast-moving environment. This ensures that the planned grasps will not collide with surrounding objects and obstacles, creating a safe, efficient, and cost-effective solution to the manufacturing process.
Ascent’s advanced and deep sensory networks recognize different objects in images, as well as estimate their accurate 6DoF pose in the real world space. Our robust system is trained entirely on a large body of diverse synthetic data and is able to handle different environmental conditions in the real world. The networks are optimized to offer real-time performance updates and high accuracy.

At Ascent Robotics we are equipped with a proprietary simulator that produces realistic looking synthetic RGBD images that are then used to train deep learning models. It is scalable over on-premise or cloud-compute, delivering great flexibility in the speed of data generation. Synthetic data is generated from an object CAD model, which ensures the object has a correct visual appearance from every possible angle.

モビリティソリューション

Mobility Solutions

Autonomous systems for
mobility applications
In the current market, it may seem that manufacturing companies have little choice because most solutions offer limited and inconsistent performance, which can lead to unexpected outcomes, unsafe situations, and costly issues. At Ascent Robotics we develop autonomous systems for mobility applications, offering a new solution to what many companies thought was unfixable and inflexible. We leverage a combination of advanced simulation and real-life data to achieve robust real world performance. This results in a system that is capable of navigating through even the most challenging of scenarios, but is user-friendly and easy to install.
Our advanced machine learning models are used to better understand the environment for autonomous mobility and to accurately predict the behavior of important participants in the vicinity.
Simulation plays a vital role in ensuring our AI functions flawlessly, effectively, and efficiently. We utilize powerful and precise simulation software to create challenging and robust mobility scenarios from which our AI uses to learn and improve.

Careers

採用

Hiring Diverse and Innovative Talent

Senior Software Engineer, Simulation

Join our talented simulation team and experience the excitement of building world-class simulators for robotics and machine learning applications.

View on Breezy

Robotics Engineer

Be a part of developing the interface between our AI systems and the physical world by transferring our innovative research results into reality. 

View on Breezy

about us

創造する力

AI and Robotics
Reimagined

Ascent Robotics is a unique and dynamic AI company, founded in Tokyo in 2016. We develop intelligent solutions for industrial robotics and autonomous mobility. Working in collaboration with our industry-leading partners, we strive to deliver scalable and dynamic software to achieve true machine autonomy. We leverage cutting-edge research and development in artificial intelligence, robotics and simulation.

Ascent employees stretch around the globe, creating an environment of passionate, engaged, and highly technical professionals that have a desire to create the future.

We thrive in a fast-paced environment that allows us to deliver products to our clients when needed and on schedule. Through all of this we maintain a balance of structure and flexibility alongside a culture that fosters both the value of creativity and the pursuit of excellence.

intelligent solutions for industrial robotics and autonomous mobility

Leadership

Ken Kutaragi

Ken Kutaragi

Chief Executive Officer

Marko Simic

Marko Simic

Chief Technology Officer

Masayuki Ishizaki

Masayuki Ishizaki

Chief Operating Officer

Yosuke Sakai

Yosuke Sakai

Head of Finance and Legal

Liked what you’ve seen so far?

Wondering how Ascent Robotics can advance your business?

We would love to discuss the possibilities or answer any questions.

Fill out the short form below OR email us at hello@ascent.ai

archive

過去のニュース

Our Past News

The International Robotics Exhibition (iREX) at Tokyo Big Sight was a tremendous success for Ascent. In the Aomi hall, which featured the leading Robot makers of the world, we showcased Ascent’s pick-and-place solution in the main demo area at the Kawasaki Heavy Industries booth. Senior executives from global Robot OEMs and System Integrators were impressed by the flexibility and accuracy of the solution, as well as the significant cost efficiency afforded by the use of a simple RGB camera – compared to other pick-and-place solutions that were featured in other booths across the iREX show.

Ascent also had our booth in the West Hall of Tokyo Big Sight, where we showcased to hundreds of visitors the ‘behind the scenes’ of our AI tech that can power industrial automation across various use cases – from pick-and-place to AGV enablement.

Reach out to us at hello@ascent.ai to learn more and to view our videos.

 

Ascent Robotics will be featured on CNN International’s brand new show Innovate Japan. CNN’s award-winning correspondent Will Ripley explores the ways in which Japan’s most innovative companies tackle the country’s issue with its quickly aging society and Ascent was chosen to represent the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics.

Tune into CNN International on Saturday (June 29th) at 8:30PM (JST) or 7:30AM (ET) to see what we have been working on!

CNN: Innovate Japan

On 18th of October Ascent Robotics CEO Masayuki Ishizaki gave a lecture at Toyota Technological Institute. Ishizaki talked about autonomous vehicles’ ability to comprehend the environment and intelligence to act accordingly. Smart Vehicles Research Center Joint Symposium Seminar (In Japanese)

Smart Vehicles Research Center Joint Symposium Seminar (In Japanese)

Weekly Toyo-Keizai “Business hints are here, great startups 100” come out on 9th July.

Alongside articles about innovation from Apple, IBM and other leading tech companies, the leading media source for all things Robotics in Japan, featured Ascent in their January edition of their monthly publication in the section of “Sexy Technology”.

In the feature, Nikkei Robotics shares Ascent’s AI technology that leverages deep learning to enable object pose detection and object grasp detection – yielding powerful and cost-effective pick-and-place use cases for industrial automation.

This pick-and-place solution will be featured in the Kawasaki Heavy Industry booth at iREX (International Robotics Exhibition) at Tokyo Big Sight.

Microsoft Japan’s annual conference “de:code (Japanese)” was held on May 29th at the Prince Park Tower in Tokyo. Ascent Robotics CEO Masayuki Ishizaki took the stage in the morning of the first day of the conference to deliver a keynote speech.

Microsoft’s de:code is a technical conference tailored for IT professionals and engineers, including developers. Experts from around the world come to Tokyo for two days to see and experience the latest in technology that Japan has to offer.

In addition to giving the audience insights on Ascent’s work with cutting-edge artificial intelligence and self-driving technologies, Ishizaki announced the company’s plan to increase the use of Microsoft’s Azure Cloud solutions and joining Microsoft’s startup program “Microsoft for Startups”.

Ascent robotics will give a lecture in ET & IoT Technology 2018.

Our autonomous driving car will be exhibited.

Embedded Technology 2018 is focused on “Edge-Computing”, will have exhibition of autonomous driving car.

(Linked article is in Japanese)

Ascent robotics picked up in Nikkei (Japan Economics Newspaper) about sucess raising series A funding.

(Linked article is in Japanese)

Ascent is authorized as a partner of NVIDIA Inception program.

The interview was published in the July edition of the Harvard Business Review Magazine. In this interview, Ken Kutaragi, “Father of the Playstation,” talks about how Ascent Robotics is bringing together talent from all over the world and assembling teams to work at the cutting edge of AI. Researchers and Engineers represent over 20 countries.

Nikkei, the world’s largest financial newspaper, chooses annually Japan’s top startups in its Nikkei Raise Awards. This year Ascent Robotics was nominated among the top 5.

In a briefing announcing the finalists, Nikkei briefly described the reasons behind the nominations. Ascent Robotics was credited for its achievement in developing a system that allows for the accelerated learning of the AI itself.

日経ビジネスRaise賞 受賞者決定 (Japanese)

PlayStation creator backs start-up that uses ‘theoretical neuroscience’ for self-driving cars

There is a sensational Deep Learning company in Ebisu, Tokyo

(Linked article is in Japanese)

Commercial Application of Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning, and Software for Robotics and Mobility Solutions.
Want to learn more?
Contact us at hello@ascent.ai
Press and media enquiries
Contact us at pr@ascent.ai

Ascent Robotics Inc.
アセントロボティクス株式会社
11 Giraffa, 1-6-10 Hiroo, Shibuya-ku,
Tokyo 150-0012 Japan

Twitter

Incorporated September 9, 2016 | Copyright © 2020

Enquiry Form

The process is easy: Simply fill in this form, including the object CAD model that will be used for your application. We will inspect the CAD model and run simulations to better understand how Ascent Pick can be utilized. If Ascent Pick can be applied, we will request real objects in order to conduct a “live” test of the solution to ensure everything will run flawlessly. You will receive updates and videos of how the Ascent Pick performs, communicating with you for each step of the process. If your application would be better suited for a bespoke solution, we will work with you to create exactly what your system needs.

Please submit hte form to reach to us and start the conversation

Capital and Business Alliance Agreement with Ascent Robotics, Inc.

Ascent Robotics and Yamazen Corporation signed a business alliance agreement on January 31, 2021, involving a capital investment in Ascent. Yamazen will acquire Convertible Equity rights issued by Ascent, while Ascent will use the procured funds to accelerate development.

Outline and purpose of the capital and business alliance
Ascent has developed a group of intelligent solutions for industrial robots and autonomous mobile robots that utilize AI, and has begun selling and providing software that utilizes these intelligent solutions to the manufacturing and logistics industries.

Yamazen handles a wide range of equipment for production sites, including labor-saving and automation robots, machine tools, industrial equipment, etc. and has a particularly strong track record in introducing such equipment to production sites. In addition, Yamazen has sales offices in major cities in 16 countries around the world, including Japan, and is expanding its sales channels globally.

Through this alliance, Ascent will use the funds raised to further accelerate its research and development, introduce attractive solutions for the rapidly expanding automated robotics market in a timely manner, and utilize Yamazen’s global sales channels to further expand its business in the future.

Yamazen will begin selling robot systems equipped with Ascent’s software solutions to a wide range of customers in Japan and overseas, utilizing its own global sales channels. Through this business alliance, Yamazen will actively promote the development of new customers and differentiated labor-saving and automation proposals in addition to the products it already handles.

e-mail ：hello@ascent.ai

アセントロボティクス株式会社との資本業務提携契約の締結について

アセントロボティクス株式会社 （東京都渋谷区、代表取締役兼CEO：久夛良木健　以下「アセント」）および株式会社山善（本社：大阪市西区、代表取締役社長：長尾雄次　以下「山善」）は、2021年1月31日、アセントへの資本出資を伴う業務提携契約を締結しました。

山善は、3月にアセントが発行するCE（コンバーティブルエクイティ）型新株予約権を取得して資本出資し、アセントは調達した資金を活用して開発を加速してまいります。

■資本業務提携の概要および目的

アセントはAIを活用した知能ロボットや自律移動ロボット向けのインテリジェントソリューション群を開発しており、主に製造・物流業向けに当該インテリジェントソリューションを活用したソフトウェアの販売・提供を開始しております。

一方、山善は省人化・自動化ロボットをはじめ、工作機械や産業機器、機械工具など生産現場の設備機器を幅広く取り扱っており、特に生産現場への導入においてこれまでにも数多くの実績を有しております。また日本を含め世界16カ国の主要都市に販売拠点を配置するなど、グローバルに販路を拡大しております。

本提携によりアセントは、調達した資金を活用して研究開発のさらなる加速を図り、タイムリーに急拡大する自動化ロボット市場に向けて魅力的なソリューション群を導入すると共に、山善の有するグローバルな販路を活用し、今後の業容の一段の拡大を目指します。

山善においては、アセントのソフトウエアソリューションが搭載されたロボットシステムを、自身の有するグローバルな販路を活用して国内外に広く販売を開始いたします。今回の業務提携により、従来の取扱商品に加えて、新規顧客の開拓や差別化した省人化・自動化提案を積極的に推進してまいります。

■提携の背景

日本のみならず、全世界規模で製造業等の生産現場や倉庫等の物流現場での人手不足が年々深刻化しており、eコマースの急拡大傾向とあわせて、新型コロナウイルス感染症対策として作業者の「3密

を避ける動きも加わることで、生産・物流現場における省人化・自動化のニーズは今や喫緊の課題になりつつあります。

これらのニーズに柔軟に対応するためには、あらかじめ決められたスペースやルートのみで稼働し、定型化された反復作業のみを行う旧来型のロボットではなく、多種多様な対象物に対しフレキシブルにハンドリング・移送することができ、且つ現場の環境に応じて人間のオペレーターと協調して自律的に動作可能な知能ロボット群の導入が期待されています。アセントのAI技術を活用したインテリジェントソリューションは、既存のロボットを「環境に応じて」「自律的に」稼動させることが可能です。

■事業展開について

その第一弾としてアセントは、ロボットシステムの導入前のティーチング（教示）プロセス等に多大の時間とコストが必要だったことから自動化ソリューションの導入に二の足を踏んでいた中小の製造業に向けて、「Ascent Pick 1.0

（注：数値はバージョンを指す）をベースとしたソリューションの販売を開始しました。「Ascent Pick 1.0」とは、煩雑なティーチングプロセスが不要で、部品とロボットハンドのCADデータを用いてAIを事前に学習させることで、バラ積みされた部品を正確にハンドリングすることを目的とした、ライトウェイトな自動ピッキングソフトウェアです。様々な種類のロボットアームとも組み合わせて搭載できる汎用性もその特長の一つです。さらに、「Ascent Pick 1.0」のラインナップとして、正確な部品の配置も可能にした「Ascent Pick & Place 1.0

のPoC運用を開始しました。

今後開発が予定されている次世代「Ascent Pick 2.0

においては、最先端の3Dビジョンセンサー群の導入により、より高速・高精度・複合的な動作を可能にすることで、需要が急拡大している大規模製造・物流業界向けのAIロボットソリューションの提供を開始すると共に、統合的なソフトウエアソリューションの構築により、さらに幅広い業界・企業における省人化・自動化ソリューションを推進してまいります。

■株式会社山善について

工作機械、産業機器、機械工具、自動化ロボットなど、世界のモノづくりを支える「生産財」と、快適で便利な住まい・オフィス環境をつくる住宅設備機器や、暮らしを豊かに彩る生活用品などの「消費財」を提供する専門商社です。生産現場の自動化提案、脱炭素社会へ向けた省エネ事業の推進、生活者のニーズを具現化した商品の開発など、変化する時代に対応したソリューションを様々な分野で提供しています。

■アセントロボティクス株式会社について

アセントロボティクス株式会社は、2016年に創業した、国際色豊かな研究者や技術者の集団であり、代表者である久夛良木健の指揮の下、業界をリードするパートナー企業や研究チームと手を取りながら、産業用及び自律移動ロボットのためのインテリジェントソリューションを開発しています。

以上

（お問合せ窓口）アセントロボティクス株式会社　担当：石﨑、豊浦

e-mail ：hello@ascent.ai

社長の交代および代表取締役の異動に関するお知らせ

アセントロボティクス株式会社取締役会は、2020年8月26日開催の取締役会において下記の通り代表取締役の異動を決定いたしましたのでお知らせいたします。

 

久夛良木健
(新)代表取締役兼最高経営責任者(CEO)
(旧)社外取締役

石崎雅之
(新)取締役兼最高執行責任者(COO)
(旧)代表取締役兼最高経営責任者(CEO)

久夛良木はソニーグループにおいてプレイステーションの開発を指揮し、ソニー株式会社の取締役副社長兼COOを2005年まで務めると同時に、ソニーグループのゲーム部門である株式会社ソニー・インタラクティブエンタテインメント（旧）ソニー・コンピュータエンタテインメントの代表取締役会長兼グループCEOを2007年まで務め、以降複数の上場企業の社外取締役を担う一方、ベンチャーコミュニティにも深く関わり、これまでも情熱を持つ若き起業家たちを支援してきました。当社においても2018年より社外取締役として経営陣への助言や指導を行っております。

アセントロボティクス代表取締役兼CEO　久夛良木健のコメント『アセントロボティクスのさらなる飛躍に向けて、最高経営責任者としてテクノロジーとビジネスの両面においてチームを強力に牽引し、次世代自動運転システム（AV）と多彩な自律Robot群による未来の到来に期待が膨らむこのタイミングで、アセントロボティクスが一段とその取り組みを加速できるよう舵を取ることを楽しみにしています。』 

アセントロボティクスは2016年に創立された東京を拠点とするAIベンチャーであり、産業用ロボットと自動運転車両のためのAIによるさまざまなインテリジェントソフトウェアソリューションを開発中です。製造ライン向けロボティクス応用分野、自動車業界のお客様と共に、自律的な機械がこれまで以上に人や社会に貢献できる未来を創造するためのAI技術を日本発で開発し、広く世界に提供して参ります。

さらに詳しく

Ascent Robotics Announces New CEO Ken Kutaragi

Former Sony senior executive steps in to accelerate the Tokyo-based AI venture towards the next phase of growth

Tokyo, Japan – September 8, 2020 — Ascent Robotics Board of Directors announces the appointment of Ken Kutaragi as Chief Executive Officer – effective August 26, 2020.  Mr. Kutaragi, globally acknowledged as the visionary behind the creation of Sony’s PlayStation, will be taking the leadership reigns from Masayuki Ishizaki, who co-founded Ascent Robotics and has been CEO since 2017.  Mr. Ishizaki remains on the Ascent Robotics board and has transitioned to the role of COO on the executive team.

Ken Kutaragi, well known as the ” Father ofPlayStation,” was the former chairman and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment (formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment) – the computer game division of Sony, retiring in 2007.  Mr. Kutaragi was also COO, Executive Vice President and Board Director at Sony Corporation, from where he retired in 2005.    Over the past decade, Mr. Kutaragi has been engaged in the venture community, supporting entrepreneurs and fellow pioneers who share his passion for breakthrough innovation in how machinesand human engage and interact.

Mr. Kutaragi first encountered Ascent Robotics in 2017 through his support ofinnovative technology start-ups, and joined Ascent’s Board of Directors in 2018.   As Ascent Robotics continues to advance their solutions to deliver machine autonomy across industrial robotics, mobility and more, Mr. Kutaragi’s transition into an executive and operational role will further accelerate Ascent’s momentum within the fast-growing ecosystem.  “I am thrilled to be joining Ascent at this critical period of commercial application and development”, says Mr. Kutaragi, “I look forward to driving Ascent to emerge as one of the leading pioneers in next-generation AI and true machine autonomy.”.

Founded in 2016, Ascent Robotics is a Tokyo-based AI venture, developing intelligent solutions for industrial robotics and mobility.  In collaboration with customers across manufacturing, robotics, and automotive industries, Ascent’s is “building the new code for machine autonomy – made in Japan, made for the World”

For inquiries: pr@ascent.ai

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