Standard Cognition Acquires Robotic Mapping Startup Explorer.AI

Explorer.AI’s Technology to Accelerate Standard’s Roadmap as It Deploys Autonomous Checkout to Retailers Globally

Standard Cognition, which provides the most flexible AI-powered autonomous checkout solutions for brick & mortar retailers, announced that it has acquired Explorer.ai, a mapping and computer vision start-up founded by Akshay Goel, Tushar Dadlani and Nagasrikanth Kallakuri. As part of the acquisition, Standard brings on a team of seven experienced AI engineers and mapping technology to accelerate the rollout of its autonomous checkout solution.

Standard’s autonomous checkout solution utilizes cameras on store ceilings to determine what is in the store, the location of customers, and which items they possess. Indoor mapping is an essential component of this equation. Explorer.ai’s technology was initially developed for autonomous vehicles by a team out of Carnegie Mellon University. This same technology is used for in-store mapping, significantly compressing a process that used to take hours down to just minutes. The new technology helps Standard map larger stores, allowing the company to expand into retail verticals rapidly.

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“We are thrilled to join forces with the Explorer team”, said Jordan Fisher, Co-founder, and CEO of Standard. “The team is highly experienced and already works well together – having them in place gives our engineering team a big edge and a running start toward applying their state-of-the-art computer vision and mapping skill sets in autonomous vehicles (AV) to retail. We believe mapping is a critical ingredient to autonomous checkout. The Explorer team has a strong record of tackling these problems together, and we’re confident that this will allow us to make rapid progress at Standard.”

Akshay Goel, Co-founder of Explorer.ai and now Head of Internal Product at Standard, said, “Explorer’s technology can have a huge impact on Standard’s growth and success, and that’s the main reason we decided to accept their offer over others we received. Our goal from Explorer’s inception was to make a big impact in autonomous technology, and combining our forces with Standard’s allows us to do that. We’re really excited for this new adventure.”

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The Explorer.ai team begins work under Rob Ferguson, who recently joined Standard as Vice President, Engineering. An experienced technology executive, team builder, and software architect, Ferguson was most recently VP Technology at Sirius XM, which acquired Automatic Labs where he served as CTO.  Previously, he worked in engineering management and software engineer roles at several startups, Cisco, and Avid Technology.

Standard’s artificial intelligence-based system lets consumers shop and pay without scanning or stopping to check out. An alternative to Amazon Go, Standard’s platform is available to any retailer, improving the customer experience, reducing costs and opening new revenue streams for retailers. (View a video demo of the system here.)  In December 2018, Standard announced that it had raised $40M in Series A funding.

Standard’s system offers combined benefits over other autonomous checkout platforms:

• Privacy – No storage of biometric information of customers including facial recognition
• Scalable – Lightweight installation requiring only overhead cameras without shelf or item sensors
• Seamless Experience – No checkout, no lines
• Flexible – Allows for dynamic retail environments and flash sales
• Insight – Anonymized in-store shopper analytics

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