What does Cobalt do when there is no wifi?
All robots in the Cobalt fleet have the capability to work on cellular. This important feature allows Cobalt to be a reliable security partner even in the even of a disruption to power and connectivity in the building that we are securing. In normal operation, the Cobalt robot uses wifi for reasons of bandwidth, better connect with on-premise systems, and deliver services more economically. If for any reason wifi is disrupted, the Cobalt robot will start to use cellular and continue to deliver service as normal.
Cobalt is compatible with 3G, 4G, and 5G networks. The onboard cellular modem connects externally exclusively to the VPN the robot runs on and internally to onboard networking system allowing all functions of the robot to access connectivity as normal if the cellular bandwidth is available. The robot is capable off swapping sim cards and changing between carriers. In the US we will generally use one of the two largest cellular networks, depending on which one has the better coverage at the site that particular robot is securing.
Overseas we use several cellular providers depending on what carriers have coverage in the facilities we are securing. If you are requesting an overseas deployment please consult with our operations team prior to shipment so that we can configure the robot to connect with the local cellular network upon arrival before we ship the robot.
As long as the area we are covering has 4G or 5G network coverage with good signal, we can support real time two way video calling for robot engagements. Degraded networks can allow compressed one way video and two way audio, as well as event reporting.
It is a requirement of our standard contracts that the site provide wifi. We monitor closely when robots switch over to cellular as it can material impact the economics of providing service at site if we are on cellular for several days. If you wish to procure Cobalt services at site where there is no wifi, please contact the sales and distribution team about a custom agreement.