When one robot learns, every robot knows if they can communicate

In a world where robots are increasingly integrated into our daily lives, from delivering parcels to working on farms and in factories, there is a growing need for them to communicate and share knowledge. This phenomenon, often referred to as "Physical AI," involves machines that perceive their surroundings, make decisions, and take action in the real world.

As the number of robots grows, so does the amount of data they create. In the US, the Federal Aviation Administration expects the commercial drone fleet to increase from around 966,000 aircraft by the end of 2024 to around 1.18 million by 2029. Globally, there were an estimated 4.66 million industrial robots working in 2024, with another half a million installed during the year.

This data is essential for the robots to function effectively, but moving it from one machine to another can be a manual and time-consuming process.

Today, the slowest way to transfer large amounts of data from a robot is still a person carrying a hard drive. As autonomous machines become more prevalent in our cities and industries, the challenge of efficiently sharing data becomes one of the defining infrastructure issues of the robotics age.

Every autonomous vehicle, delivery drone, agricultural machinery, warehouse robot, and industrial equipment generates a digital trail of sensor readings, video, telemetry, diagnostics, and operational logs. These machines also require fresh maps, software updates, configurations, AI models, and instructions from the computing infrastructure behind them.

The exchange of data between the physical world and the robots' digital systems occurs in both directions, creating a new layer of internet traffic that we are only beginning to understand.

This traffic was evident as early as 2019, when a university paper on 6G highlighted that mobile robots, drones, and autonomous vehicles would drive demand for ubiquitous wireless intelligence. The US commercial drone fleet is expected to reach seven figures, and industrial robots already number in the millions globally. Autonomous vehicles are becoming more common on city streets, accounting for over 57% of global web traffic in June 2023.

A significant opportunity lies in the fact that a lesson learned by one machine can be shared with other robots on the network through connectivity. This means that experience stops being "local" and starts becoming a shared asset across the network, amplifying intelligence for the company's competitive advantage. However, while the physical footprint of robots is expanding, the data traffic they generate remains concentrated at central locations, such as data centers.

To address this issue, a new layer of connectivity is required. Wired networks cannot evolve as rapidly as the mobile economy. Installing fiber links at each site can be a costly and time-consuming process due to trenching and permitting requirements. Wireless connectivity offers a faster and more flexible solution, allowing operators to connect new sites quickly and easily without the need for digging or permit approvals.

This enables fleet operators to expand their operations rapidly, whether by opening new depots, placing drone nests closer to customers, or connecting autonomous equipment at temporary industrial sites.