Latest / AI.pt / ESI Robotics Readies Humanoid greeters, INA Lab builds 15 AI Prototypes in Two Weeks
Transcript
- Maya: Hey everyone! Here's what's on the radar today on AI.pt. ESI Robotics readies humanoid robots for reception work, INA's lab turns public bodies' problems into AI prototypes in two weeks, and KPMG finds only twelve percent track AI returns. I'm Maya. James: And I'm James. Let's get into it. Maya: So, ESI Robotics, an automation firm in Famalicão in northern Portugal, is moving into humanoid robots. Cofounder Gil Sousa says the machines are ready now to greet visitors, work events and handle entertainment. He frames it as giving a body to artificial intelligence. James: That's the key distinction, Maya. Sousa is clear that homes and industrial settings still need development. The company is working on the information used to train robots to understand instructions, interact with people and carry out different tasks. Maya: Right, and this sits on a real business founded in two thousand seven, with clients like Grupo Amorim, IKEA and Porminho. Mayor Mário Passos visited last Thursday and said they went to the future in the present. James: Next, Portugal's Instituto Nacional de Administração runs the AI Experience LAB, which turns a public body's concrete problem into a solution over two-week sprints. The goal is letting entities test technology and prepare teams before any decision to buy. Maya: And here's how it works, James. Each sprint ends with three deliverables: a certified training, a working prototype, and a requirements document designed to support a future caderno de encargos, the tender specification used in procurement. James: Exactly right, and every project pairs the entity with a technology partner and a higher education institution. The training runs ninety-four hours for up to fifteen participants, and the lab has supported fifteen projects so far. Maya: Our last story: KPMG's Global AI Pulse, a survey of two thousand one hundred thirty-one leaders in twenty countries, found only twelve percent of companies consistently weigh AI returns against cost, even though eighty-nine percent already see measurable benefits. James: That gap is the story, Maya. Rui Gonçalves, Partner Head of Technology Consulting at KPMG in Portugal, says the main risk is not investing too little, but investing without knowing what generates a return. Maya: And budgets grow regardless. Average planned investment is one hundred eighty-seven million euros per organisation, up thirteen percent. EMEA leads, with planned spending rising twenty-nine percent to one hundred eighty million per company. James: And deployment is catching up too. The share of EMEA organisations implementing AI broadly rose from forty percent to fifty-six, while thirty-eight percent are building or deploying multi-agent systems. The money is clearly ahead of the measurement. Maya: That's your AI.pt daily brief. Check ai.pt for the full stories.