The Intel RealSense D421 Depth Module. | Credit: Intel
We were a little surprised in mid-September 2024 with the launch of the entry-level Intel RealSense Depth Module D421. With the recent financial turmoil and changes at the company, there was uncertainty whether Intel would continue to invest in the product line.
Well, today The Robot Report learned more about the plans for the line of depth cameras. Intel is spinning out RealSense as an independent company. Intel said this will be done in the first half of 2025, with the new business being an Intel Capital portfolio company.
“After ten years of incubation, Intel is unleashing the potential of the Intel RealSense computer vision-AI portfolio in a standalone ICAP portfolio company by the first half of 2025,” Intel said in a statement to The Robot Report. “We are committed to ensuring a smooth transition for our customers and continue to provide support throughout the process.”
This is all we know at the moment. We have reached out to Intel to learn more and will pass along more information when it becomes available.
RealSense has always been a small part of Intel’s business. It likely benefitted from the financial stability and extensive resources of Intel. Operating within a tech giant’s ecosystem provided a safety net for R&D, as well as access to a vast network of industry partners.
Will all that hold true as a standalone company? Will the new RealSense need to raise outside funding?
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Intel RealSense depth cameras are a popular choice for developers of mobile robots and industrial pick-and-place robots. Intel details some robotics customers on its website. One example is ANYbotics‘ ANYmal quadruped. According to Intel, each ANYmal robot has six Intel RealSense D435 modules that work together to create an elevation map that helps the robot navigate around a site and traverse difficult terrain, including climbing stairs.
How will this new independence affect the confidence of its current customers? We’ll have to wait and see.
We do know this is yet another new chapter in what’s been a three-and-a-half-year saga filled with twists and turns. In August 2021, Intel stunned the robotics industry by announcing it was shutting down RealSense to focus on core businesses. This even caught internal RealSense leaders by surprise at the time.
However, Intel quickly reversed course, opting to keep RealSense alive but with a reduced lineup.
The robotics industry has long been riding a roller coaster when searching for low-cost, high-quality depth sensing. With RealSense spinning out as a standalone company, this narrative takes another surprising turn. RealSense is freed from Intel’s restructuring priorities, but independence will most certainly introduce new challenges.
This certainly isn’t Intel’s first time spinning off a company. In December 2024, after facing declining revenue, Intel announced it would spin off its foundry business. Mobileye, an autonomous vehicle developer, spun off from Intel in October 2022. Intel acquired Mobileye in 2017 for $15.3 billion, and at the time it was the largest acquisition ever of an Israeli company. Mobileye was founded in 1999.
Intel began producing depth-sensing products under its Perceptual Computing division in 2013. Intel rebranded this group as Intel RealSense in 2014.
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