Traditional industrial robots are built for heavy payloads, high accuracy, and fast execution. Though these robots are well suited for many automation tasks, the next generation of robots will be smaller, lighter weight, easier to use, and more cost-effective. This talk will explore the ways Energid Technologies is advancing control and machine-vision software to compensate for limitations in lower-cost hardware. We will discuss a new lightweight kinematically redundant robot arm being developed through Energid subsidiary Robai that takes advantage of these software advances.