As Morgan Stanley recently outlined in a broker note, robots represent the physical embodiment of AI, which appears to be why they are in the process of becoming THE hottest sector of tech. Yet, despite producing a brilliant note Morgan Stanley has overlooked one key player in its round-up of the top 100 players; Seeing Machines.
That may well be because, unlike the likes of Mobileye, Alphabet and Meta it has a miniscule market cap and resides in a stockmarket slum called AIM. Regardless, someone soon is going to want to marry this beauty. Let me explain why.
To quote the broker note of 6th February: “The physical embodiment of AI touches a $60tn Total Addressable Market (TAM), global GDP, and the meaning of work.”
In that note Morgan Stanley presented the ‘Humanoid 100’, which it described as “a global mapping of equities across a range of sectors and regions that may have an important role in bringing robots from the lab to your living room”.
It used this graphic to illustrate a rudimentary division of these companies into those developing the brain and body value chains.
I’d argue that Seeing Machines should be included in the portion of the Brain (Vision & Compute Semiconductors), which as it currently stands is overly simplistic. For true robots to be successful they will need to develop an understanding of the cognitive state of humans, perhaps even display traits we’d associate with empathy.
I think SEE sits in the same niche as Mobileye in that diagram. “These are the companies producing semiconductors that are the core of the robot “brain”, allowing robots to learn from, perceive, and/or interact with their environments. Vision-focused semis lie at the edge and allow robots to visualize their environments,” states the note. However, Seeing Machines does something special: it allows robots to visualise humans…
It is Seeing Machines, with its software and hardware, that can literally breathe life into robots. As Victor Frankenstein would have exclaimed: “It will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation.”
Mobile robots
Still skeptical? Well, Seeing Machines is displaying that technological capability and is applying it to mobile robots; cars, with its AI-powered driver monitoring.
Its technology uses advanced machine vision technology to precisely measure and analyse head pose, eyelid movements and eye gaze under a full spectrum of demanding in-vehicle lighting conditions. This data is then processed to interpret driver attention state, drowsiness, and impairment levels.
That same technology is also enabling an eco-system that provides highly intelligent vehicle interfaces that employ AI to not just respond to speech commands, but to understand more subtle cues from occupants as indicated by hand gestures and eye movements.
Is it so fanciful to imagine that in the near future the ability to assess reduced cognitive ability and understand more subtle clues could be vital for ‘care’ robots used to look after elderly or vulnerable charges.
Recognition of its ability in the transport sector has brought partners rushing to sign deals with Seeing Machines – many of whom feature in the ‘Humanoid 100’ list. Yet, its latent qualities in the sphere of robotics remains unrecognised by most. Hence, its current market cap belies the true value within. That cannot last much longer… Do you hear wedding bells?
The writer holds stock in Seeing Machines.