Miranda Software Interview with Laurent Ravagli

Hi guys Philip English this from philipenglish.com. Welcome to the Robot Optimized Podcast where we talk about everything robotics related. For our next episode, we have IRAI Robotics led by Laurent Ravagli who will talk about their leading software and robotics .

Philip English:
Hi guys. my name is Philip English and I am a robotics enthusiast, reporting on the latest business and applications of robotics and automation. My mission is to get you Rove optimised and to support Industry Innovation and Infrastructure. so, uh, we’ve got, uh, Laurent on the call today. Um, I’m going to have a chat with her on, uh, just to, uh, get a good understanding of his company. And, uh, and then yeah, as, as always, if you have any questions and please feel free to come back to me. Um, so probably, yeah, going straight over to you later on, like, could you give us, um, sort of like a quick intro of like your company and the, and the software that you got?

Laurent Ravagli:
Yep. Sure. So thank you for this interview. So I’m Laurant Ravagli from the IRAI company so, uh, we create a software for the education in the industry since 1988. And, uh, this, uh, last year, uh, we developed a software called Miranda. So this is a software to simulate, uh, robots for the education. So there’s a lot of robot that you can assimilate, uh, pretty much everything that’s popular, it’s already into the software and board and et cetera, over LIGO. So you can create challenges and, uh, make your students do these challenges and create a challenge yourself and see their progress, et cetera.

Philip English:
Oh, I see. So, so the company has been around since 1988, did you say, or no?

Laurent Ravagli:
Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah, that’s the key for the staff. So there wasn’t robotics at this point like this, it was mostly, uh, with PLC, uh, saw we are more in this, this, uh, field of the front, the education. Uh, so is, uh, about this, but, uh, this is, was a software called the automation still exist in the same words, but, uh, basically it’s a good software program, uh, inside the, with this software or the type of, uh, it gives you, you want, so you don’t have to learn every time, a newer software to learn, to run a PLC. So it’s a really popular in, uh, in France, not in the world, it’s a student setting in France, not so much because, uh, we are pretty much the one market was, uh, so a lot of the schools are there, they are this or this product yet.

Laurent Ravagli:
And, um, so after that, so we developed some more, um, so another software that’s more on the schematics, uh, so electrical, coding, et cetera. Um, and after that back 10 years ago, I think, uh, we push, uh, us to the industry more, uh, visible, natural commissioning software. Uh, so far we are, also still working with PLC because, uh, it was, uh, um, software that you can connect to the PLC. So it’s a really, uh, creating a digital twin of the, the machine you are trained to, to create. And, uh, so basically, so this last year, uh, in France in the world, we saw that, uh, Kirsi doesn’t get much more, um, the schools. So, you know, they are switching to scratch, uh, RDR by turn, et cetera. So we decided to, to build the product for, for this, uh, and the us, we had, uh, some, uh, previously made a, um, simulator before Miranda, so specific to some robots and bought the drone.

Laurent Ravagli:
And, uh, we had a lot of feedback, uh, that we didn’t, uh, expand it. And, uh, so we decided to create this Miranda nine, to give all the tools, uh, that to be taken. We took from the old products to implement them to this software. Uh, um, so this is the software so that we, we developed for 10 plus, uh, chitlins. So really, uh, start programming with scratch, but, uh, what’s so good is that we can do scratch and bite them so they can continue to use the same software, uh, or the years and the CEO different, uh, type of programming. And of course the Chuck and also make the old changes there. There’s no really limits, uh, for the software. Uh, so it’d be trying to build a community so they are sharing, or there are challenges, et cetera, sorry, really trying to give all the tools for 40 channels. And, uh, basically, yeah, we sell to schools, but, uh, we are trying also to sell to, uh, to outsource, uh, right now we are trying to see if it’s something that can be, uh, useful because, uh, you know, uh, children play, we, we buy a summer bus. So maybe that’s something that we are trying to dig in.

Philip English:
Yeah. I mean, so that, that, that, that’s really interesting. I mean, to just going back to the history there, so I will say I was doing a bit of research and actually it sounds like I didn’t realize that you guys had been round and you’ve been doing the PLC work and everything else, and then you’ve merged into this slight type of technology. Um, I was almost going to say all that. You should have some of that stuff like your website, because it shows a real sort of wealth and authority that you have there. So people would say, Oh, look, they’ve come from this background. And now they’re, you know, now they’ve moved to this. So, you know, that that’s really in interested in now. So you’ve got skills from the past, you’ve done it in the past. You’ve done it with PLCs, and this is just a natural progression. So you’ve got the experience. So that’s, that’s really, really interesting to know. I actually, um, I mean, I suppose, um, so from a problem solving point of view, so what would you say is the main, the main thing, the main problems that, that you’re solving?

Laurent Ravagli:
So right now with the current situation, of course, it’s the giving the tools to the students to, to be able to code the code that they don’t have to, they can access to the robots and the teacher don’t, don’t say use, I don’t want to make the costs on the coding is they don’t have the robots. So giving the tools on that, uh, the mentor first, um, and also, uh, as a cost-effective solution, because as a class room, you don’t have, uh, the number of robots you need for all the students. So to have a simulation of the robots, even don’t have to have the robots. Uh, so, but still some romantic factor or coming from us for that training, the setting, the software, but, uh, our grandfathers, uh, some are, some of them are actually, uh, adapting to this and, uh, contacting us directly, uh, to, to, to build something with us, um, or they are training to, uh, get some money.

Laurent Ravagli:
Uh, uh, yes, uh, you’re always trying to, to get through for the teacher for the, uh, or so in the industry, uh, for other products is also always giving something that, uh, can, um, uh, help, uh, the industry or the education to be more effective in the industry. For example, if, you know, go to commission software, it’s small on, uh, you don’t have to build a prototype, uh, you can be 3d of the machine and you can connect to the PC. So you can start working on the beauty. Doesn’t have to be the prototype. You can present the machine with a working system and you can see, uh, what would be the problems. Um, so it’s a timer, it’s a Q and a, so, uh,

Philip English:
I see, I see. So you’ve got, so it sounds like you got two different areas there, so we’ll see, like for education, it, you know, if, if, if, if teachers or parents or kids haven’t got the hardware, then they can use your, your, your, your, your software to, to practice their coding skills, um, without actually having the, the, the hardware there, but then also in the corporate world, uh, for, for people that want to test out their ideas on a more like commercial basis, then they can use your, your, your software. So you’re, you’re, you’re, you’re, you’re essentially saving them costs, you know, and saving them money. You know, he, you know, stood the test then, I mean, I was having to read, so I can see that you, you already interact with a mixture of robots. So could you do a robot that, that someone built? So, so like if I built my own robot out of bits and pieces, um, uh, at w w w would there be something I suppose, software wise that I would need to install to connect to your system, is that how it works?

Laurent Ravagli:
Cool. So you can, um, basically, uh, Miranda, we have three main parts. So you have one, you can just play the already big challenges, one, which you can create your own. And, uh, the last part is when you can create or modify the robots. So all the built-in robots, we can hide some saw plan for example, but you can also create your own from scratch, not to another program in China. Uh, so you, you have basically the library, uh, with, uh, elements you can have so chassis, you can have the whales, uh, several motels, et cetera, and, uh, all your sun salts, so we can have that to make your, uh, base, uh, that’s what we, uh, I do also for, I didn’t explain my, my role in the company, uh, but I’m a simulation development manager. So, um, for all the projects we developed in internet, uh, we, uh, sometimes I have clients that ask, um, they don’t have the time or the resources, so they ask us to make something for them, uh, inside the software.

Laurent Ravagli:
So basically that’s my role in the company. So, uh, there was of Miranda basically, like right now, am I on a project like this? I incorporate, uh, robots from the, our reseller, they are keynote software. So this is how I do, and the outdoor teacher or the parents can do themselves. So you create a base of your robots. And after that, you can mask, uh, elementary. Don’t want to see, for example, the tube that Selma the chassis. And you can import that we did add a skill you should add as a scheme, uh, for the robot. So basically you have already all the functional function inside the software, so yeah, and you put them on the base and you put the skin on the, on this, you can, the put ready and being around it, that’s, uh, it’s possible. Um, but two, we don’t limit this system, uh, to robots. You can both do 3d or for example, of a tree and the tree, you can, uh, use it to build your scene. So you can, uh, really what you want. Uh, you don’t have to worry about, uh, for example, now I’m building with a gate, a backing gate, or this is a system that, uh, that, uh, uh, the reseller, we are working with strain to implement the system that work with, uh, uh, Arduino com, uh, that we can program, uh, from yonder.

Philip English:
Well, I see. And then, so I was having to read about the software is in the cloud as well, where, so, so, so you can stall your models and everything it inside the cloud, and then you can just access it from any device. Is that

Laurent Ravagli:
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So this is a big point also for schools because, uh, uh, I don’t know, in the world, but in France, uh, in studying the software on the network, this tool is a pretty long process, uh, because they don’t deal, uh, with the, is this themself does, uh, uh, original uh, so it takes months for software to be installed. So we wanted it to be online. So from the red buzzer, from the tablets, uh, much cannot. So in study it so directly, uh, from Microsoft store or directly to the PC, um, that’s, um, something that we want to implement for our other software. So the first one, uh, we thought the automation for the PLC, we are trained to make an online version also. So there’s a really good feedback about that.

Philip English:
Yeah. And obviously it makes it a lot easier like to access and, and what I loved about it was the challenge, like creation. So obviously if I was a teacher and I had a group of kids, then, then I could give each of them a challenge, is that right? I can build in challenge that they would have to do that, they would have to code. Um, and then is that depending on the robot that, , that I’ve selected for them, I suppose, I suppose, you know, th this is your challenge for this robot. And then can I set them another challenge for a different robot? Is that how it works or,

Laurent Ravagli:
Yeah, basically you, you build the scenes, uh, and that’s, uh, the, to show that, uh, implement the robots, they can be, uh, for example, uh, you create your Parco, you add a specific robots you can give to the students. Uh, uh, and after that, uh, maybe I want to produce the same Parco. So I just asked the teacher to change the robot. It’s a good to go. Uh, some feed that’s, uh, could be that we didn’t do for now. That’s the, maybe a better response, some robots, uh, at the start line, and then the students, somebody on the cutting of it, I think, uh, let the student choose which robots you want to program. That’s also a possibility. Um, and, uh, basically you create a senior with the robot. So we have, uh, predefined challenges for each robot sometimes. Yeah, that’s the same Parco for example, for the same parco the follow, the line, uh, challenge pretty simple.

Laurent Ravagli:
But, uh, after that, we really, uh, go on, um, the tree at the editor and, uh, show the teacher how to modify the difficulty, for example. So other stakeholder in the middle of the line, put a section without relying on the ground. Uh, so that can be really easy. So that’s the first step. Uh, I, um, teach them, so I do so far some, uh, trainings, uh, with the teacher. Um, and that’s, that’s the thing. I show them it’s after that, actually I show them how to create their home. So basically you have all the tools that I can set, uh, to when the lights, the scene, but also what you want to do with the challenge is, um, the scenario. Uh, so you have to go to first Gates, et cetera. So this is something that you can code also directly from the city, uh, in scratch or Python.

Laurent Ravagli:
So this is really easy for them. Uh, and, uh, as, uh, explain them out to modify, they can start from an already built in change and modify it to their needs. And after an hour, I’m used to the software, they can start building now, um, and, uh, for the, is for the teacher to see, see, this is good. You can also give these tools to the students, but to be the program mandate for the, for the start. And, uh, so this, uh, we also, uh, introduced some tubes for the children to use. Um, but, uh, this, um, pop-ups, for example, that can appear off to tell them what they have to do, uh, uh, the video also, but, uh, basically you, will you stop the scene in, uh, yeah, you have to start putting the, the lots next. It would say you have to connect this back to the other one, but he’ll start progressively, uh, and not, uh, uh, give a challenge like this and, uh, yeah, programmer, you’re trying to do something and not just give the tools. And, uh, let’s say, uh, um, what this, uh, by yourself, uh, we are trying to reintroduce, uh, everyone, uh, teacher and students to the result.

Philip English:
So you got that connection there. Yeah. Okay. No, sounds good. I mean, I was also looking at some of the different packages that, that, that you had, can you give us a run through, so I think you had the, you know, it was a mixture, you had sort of a, the number of users, but then you had sort of a bronze, silver and gold, um, same thing going on. What was that?

Laurent Ravagli:
So basically we have a four robots, so the first one is a for outsource. So just one user. Okay. So it’s all the functionality inside there. And the trio does. So you have unlimited number of users, and also you can follow the progression of them, uh, basically with the distributions, what functionality you have access to. So sometimes a teacher don’t want to have them. Uh, so for example, uh, you have the primary option. It’s pretty much the same of the destination. You have access to everything. So for schools, the origin is the same thing without the word budget. So you only work with what you have in the library. So you have a 10 or 15 robots that you can use, and you can create your scenes. And just below that is, uh, the one robot edition. So you choose between the robot are, so for example, if you want to win, but you just have to input and you can create your scene with it. Right.

Philip English:
So differences there. Yeah. Okay. I mean, so just, just, just, just changing gears aside. So what’s the sort of the bigger picture for like you guys, I mean, is it, is it basically to get on more and more robots and then do just, just have bit build more of a community, um, where teachers and everyone can, can interact. I mean, w what’s the sort of the next steps and sort of big, big vision.

Laurent Ravagli:
So for now we just launched a stock. Uh, so the user can share, uh, there are creations, uh, before we, we try to do a forum, but, um, doesn’t work where people didn’t seem to post very much. We had some teacher that, uh, re uh, create a lot of change. Uh certain chage but, uh, isn’t very well. So we are trained to, with the, to hopefully change that. So I’ll serve your, creating a robot and also dock six ways, for example, um, tides, uh, that’s used, or in the world challenges or competition, uh, robotics, uh, that’s uh, in real, we are incorporating it to the store for free. So all the things we incorporated ourselves, we put it for free, but, uh, as a teacher or as a user, you can put a price on it if you wanted. Um, so for now, everything is free on the, on the store. So you can, the, no, the, uh, it will be added automatically to your account.

Laurent Ravagli:
So, yeah, this is what we are already trained to do is build a community around this, because we know the debate is that, uh, there was a lot of creations. They are really gaining some, uh, um, uh, population every day. We see the number of connection is growing. Uh, so we are, we, we know there are some creations and, uh, the big point is, uh, the, to share with the suffer, I think, and not be on your side. Um, that’s really real. We are trained to, to create, uh, this, and, uh, of course we are also as a, all the time trying to, uh, to get, uh, other countries. So trying to find some resellers, basically we, we work like this. We are rarely, uh, contacting client directly, uh, only, uh, secret sellers in the, in the, uh, the world for France. We are also trying to seek them directly because we, we have, uh, uh, an agenda, uh, uh, uh, a list of contacts and, uh, the scores because of our software.

Laurent Ravagli:
We have a lot of, uh, screws, uh, that we know, uh, in our company, but for, for the world, you are going to resell us, uh, to do that. And basically, uh, the, the functionality we had is basically what, the reason, I think, what we be the best for the country. So we are the world beneficent, uh, from it. Uh, so for example, there’s, uh, uh, for the changes, you can do a multiplayer. So put a separate students on a simpatico with several words. Maybe this is something that’s, uh, come from, uh, an ID from, uh, China.

Philip English:
Okay. Okay. So it sounds like you expanded out quite quickly, quite well. Socially, if you you’ve got artists, people from China, people from America and obviously France as well and around Europe. So, yeah, I mean, so that’s, that sounds like you’ve got some good growth plans there really, and there’s a, you know, there’s a path, you know, to sort of grow and build that, that bigger communicate, uh, that bigger like community. Um, I get everyone. So do you deal with like industrial robots and stuff like that?

Laurent Ravagli:
Hold on, clean me on that based on, on the other software. So the actual commissioning one that’s called virtual so that we can need to PRC and, uh, import 3d, et cetera. So what we can do with this software is that you can import, uh, from a library, uh, basically robot from a manufacturer. So as IBD, uh, hookah, et cetera, uh, and what’s ever too, is that, uh, real time, uh, copied the movements from the simulating, uh, software. Uh, so that can be useful if you’re trying to see, uh, what the robots out of the robots we, uh, interact with the other machines of your line, for example. So you feel the PLC can really see what’s what’s going on. And it’s a, it’s a robot starting the cycle at the right time and what will happen next. So that’s a really good tool for, for this. So as we know that, uh, robots, software, you can simulate your robots, but you don’t really see what’s going on, uh, that they incorporate 3d. But now we can see what’s, what’s going on with the ball liner and you see, you have a bigger view of your system.

Philip English:
Um, and then, so does this, the Miranda software linking with the older Pitt PLC software that you guys use? Is it, is it, is there a link between them so you can use both of them, like, like together.

Laurent Ravagli:
Yeah. You can use them together. Uh, this is primary too. So don’t, you really usually do that, but if, sometimes you want to use the, uh, the program that you made inside the automation. So before sending it to the PLC, you can use this program through, uh, uh, your main, uh, twin digital twin, but what’s, uh, we picked from this software is that, uh, we use all the drivers. Uh, so the, the digital twins can directly connect to, uh, the PRC, all the simulated periods here. So, so with IP, with OPC, uh, everything you want, uh, so it’s really easy on the side. So this way, some of, sometimes in the, in the industry, most of the time they don’t take a vendor or software, they just take the virtual commissioning because it do, but they, they need,

Philip English:
Okay. No, that’s good to understand. Um, yeah, I mean, I think for next steps, I mean, um, I think that’s quite a good overview actually. You know, you, you, you showed us the history of the business and where you’ve come from and all those bits. So that’s really good. I mean, I mean, if, uh, if someone wants to get in contact with you, then what’s the best way to do that.

Laurent Ravagli:
So folks, the best ways to contact us on our website for Miranda, that’s MIRANDA, software. Okay. Oh, it’s for the company all around it’s irai.com. So we will be redirected to the iReady france.com site. That’s normal. It’s a, our main website. So maybe that’s a, that’s why you didn’t see our other products because we made a separate site because it’s, uh, for different industry. Uh, so the first one is more on the industry and merchandise purely, uh, um, for the robotics.

Philip English:
Right. Okay. Yeah. Well, I’ll have to go and check that out to see the differences, but, um, but on the random side, yeah. I mean, obviously on the robotics side, which is what we’re keen on. I mean, that, that, that’s a great overview and, uh, and yeah. I mean, yeah, yeah. Guys, if you have any questions for like, um, like Miranda or like Laurent, then please feel free to send them over. And, um, yeah, no, that was a great interview, like, and really, really appreciate your time. So thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you very much.