Caterpillar Acquires Robotics Expertise

Caterpillar Inc. said it has acquired select assets and hired employees from San Francisco, Calif.-based robot and autonomy technology solutions company Marble Robot, Inc. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The acquisition is part of Caterpillar’s automation and autonomy strategy. Building on its experience in autonomous mining, the company said it plans to leverage the deep expertise of the new team in perception, localization and planning to bring scalable solutions to meet the changing needs of mobile equipment markets.

“We’re excited to join the autonomy team at Caterpillar,” said Kevin Peterson, former Marble CEO, now Caterpillar technologist. “In many ways, this completes a full circle for me. I had the privilege of working with Caterpillar early in my career at Carnegie Mellon, where they sponsored the development of the first generation of self-driving vehicle software.

“Now, with the acquisition of the Marble team, together we will drive the next generation of autonomy solutions for Caterpillar customers in the construction, quarry, industrial and waste industries.”

Caterpillar said it will continue to make investments in emerging technologies, like automation and autonomy, in order to bring innovative solutions to meet the industries’ challenges.

“Our customers need the best solutions for running an effective jobsite, with improved operator productivity, lower operating costs, and greater efficiency brought by autonomous solutions,” said Karl Weiss, Caterpillar chief technology officer. “That’s why we’re continuing to invest in the areas of automation, remote control and autonomy.”