4M's Approach to Tech Strategy: People-First, Problem-Solving

A good one from our CFO, Steve Mastin, on cutting through the AI hype and asking the right question first: what problem are you actually solving? Great background for anyone in facility services thinking about their tech roadmap.

Steve nails something we talk about internally all the time — technology only works when it's tied to a clear business outcome. Proud of the thinking (and the platform) behind this one. Worth your time if you're a BSC leader.

Exciting milestone for Open Ocean Robotics. Our DataXplorer™ USV and XplorerView™ mission portal solution has been deemed Awardable through the Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace PT Aisle. This is an important step in making our autonomous ocean intelligence capabilities more accessible to U.S. government customers looking to accelerate maritime domain awareness, persistent monitoring, and AI enabled ocean data collection. Proud of the team for continuing to advance practical, field ready technology for safer, smarter ocean operations.

Research Paper - Enhancing Human- Robot Collaboration through AI- Powered Automation 🚀 Excited to share my latest research paper! 🚀 The future of automation isn't just about building smarter machines; it’s about creating seamless, intuitive partnerships between humans and technology. My research paper, "Enhancing Human-Robot Collaboration through AI-Powered Automation," dives into how we can bridge the gap between human ingenuity and robotic efficiency. By leveraging AI, we can move away from rigid, isolated automated tasks and move toward dynamic, collaborative environments where humans and robots work side-by-side safely and productively. Key takeaways from the paper include: 1. How AI-driven adaptation improves real-time communication between humans and robots. 2. Strategies for optimizing workflows in automated environments. 3. The evolving role of human oversight in an AI-heavy landscape. I’d love to hear your thoughts on where you see human-robot collaboration heading next! You can read the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/gmHM3Rf5

We are expecting Claude Fable 5 to start coming back online today, as Anthropic begins restoring global access following the U.S. government’s decision to lift export controls on its most advanced models. For anyone building serious AI products, this is huge news. Over the past few weeks, the sudden suspension of Fable forced a lot of founders, engineers, and product teams to scramble: revisiting roadmaps, downgrading model choices, or delaying launches that depended on frontier‑level reasoning. Seeing Fable cleared to return, with a more stable regulatory path, is a strong signal that advanced models can coexist with tighter safety and export rules rather than being switched off overnight. For builders, this means: More headroom for complex reasoning, agents, and multi‑step workflows. Greater confidence when you design infrastructure around top‑tier models. Less uncertainty when you’re pitching customers or investors on capabilities that depend on Fable‑class performance. From our side, we’ll be leaning back into Fable across our AI and robotics ventures as access is restored over the next hours. If you’re building with advanced models, today is a good moment to review your stack and decide where Fable can have the biggest impact, whether that’s reasoning-heavy automation, copilots for complex workflows, or next‑gen agentic systems. Curious how other teams are planning to use Fable again, what’s the first thing you’ll re-enable when it shows up in your workspace?

Flowstate is Intrinsic's intuitive digital twin environment for developing, testing, and deploying robotic solutions, without needing deep coding or AI expertise. As Senior Product Manager Margot Kimura explains, Flowstate comes with capabilities like: grasp planning, motion planning and force-guided control that enables manufacturers to unlock high-mix production orders and can be used as building blocks, bridging the gap between automation technicians and software developers. Software updates are delivered remotely, eliminating service-related travel. Building with Intrinsic means physical AI has become more accessible than ever before to the manufacturing industry and ecosystem. Our customers are seeing value. Visit intrinsic.ai to learn more.

Simpro Group CEO Fred Voccola argues that the biggest AI opportunities are emerging in the skilled trades, where small and midsize businesses are using digital workers to automate back-office tasks and improve profitability. He explains why entrepreneurial companies are leading AI adoption today and why robotics could begin transforming field service operations over the next several years. For more market news, tune in at: https://lnkd.in/g5zKJzi7

Welcome to Chicago, Automate Show 2026. For companies working across robotics, AI, advanced manufacturing, logistics, food production, healthcare, mobility, and physical AI, Chicago is more than a host city. We are a market built to help you scale. The Chicago region offers a diversified industrial base, world-class research institutions, deep engineering and technical talent, unmatched logistics infrastructure, and the customers and partners needed to move from concept to commercialization to deployment. If you are a startup founder, investor, or business leader in town for Automate, we would welcome the opportunity to connect and show you how Chicagoland can support your growth and expansion. Read this Op-Ed in Crain's Chicago Business from World Business Chicago President & CEO Phil Clement and Automate’s CEO Jeff Burnstein on why Chicago is built for the next era of automation: https://lnkd.in/gdAHd5cy

The future of manufacturing isn’t theoretical, it's already taking shape. At the CAMPS Annual Conference, leaders like Daniel Kocer are focused on what that actually means for operations. From AI and robotics to systems integration and process improvement, the conversation isn’t just about innovation it’s about implementation. How do you take emerging technology and make it work inside a real manufacturing environment? That’s where CAMPS stands apart bringing together manufacturers, technology leaders, and operators to translate ideas into execution. If you’re thinking about what’s next for your operation, this is the conversation to be part of. Learn more: www.camps-us.com

New day, new showcase: we are live again from Automate Show in Chicago! This time, at the TEGUAR booth, Stefan Bekker, Tech Lead at Concept Reply US, walks us through an AI-powered robotics experience that brings together collaborative automation, computer vision and generative AI. The setup features a cobot that can be guided through natural language commands: sorting objects by color, building simple shapes or executing tasks. Behind the scenes, Concept Reply’s solution combines a local large language model with a computer vision model running on Teguar’s edge platform, enabling the robot to interpret requests, recognize objects and act in real time. What makes this especially powerful is that it can run at the edge: reducing latency, limiting cloud costs and bringing intelligence closer to the production environment. A practical look at how we can help manufacturers create more adaptive, human-centric automation experiences - where robotics, AI and industrial operations work together. Come visit us at the Teguar booth (#32022) to see it live!