Mimic Robotics Raises $16M for AI-Powered Dexterous Robots

Switzerland-based mimic has raised $16 million to deploy frontier bodily AI for robots that may deal with advanced, dexterous duties in manufacturing and logistics – positioning itself because the main European participant within the international race in the direction of normal function robotics.

mimic, a Zurich-based robotics firm, has raised $16 million in funding led by Elaia, alongside Speedinvest, to deploy its frontier bodily AI throughout industries, enabling robots to deal with advanced, dexterous duties that standard machines can not. This closely oversubscribed seed spherical additionally included participation from Founderful, 1st form, 10X Founders, 2100 Ventures and Sequoia Scout Fund, bringing mimic’s complete funding to over $20 million. The new capital will speed up the event of mimic’s basis AI mannequin and humanoid robotic palms, and advance deployments with main international business gamers. 

Delicate Manual Assembly Automated with mimic’s Robot.

On manufacturing facility flooring all over the world, hundreds of thousands of intricate guide duties nonetheless rely upon human ability. These duties stay out of attain for conventional automation throughout industries together with manufacturing, meeting and logistics. With labour shortages rising and industries reshoring manufacturing amid international uncertainty, the necessity for versatile and clever robots has by no means been clearer. Traditional robots excel at repetitive, pre-programmed motions in managed environments, however require pricey setup and customized coding for every job. At the identical time, the race to construct humanoid robots has drawn billions in funding, led largely by corporations within the US and China, however adoption stays very restricted. Safety and regulatory considerations, excessive prices and restricted dexterity have all slowed real-world deployment.

“Humanoids are thrilling, however there aren’t many industrial situations the place the full-body type issue really provides worth,” says Stephan-Daniel Gravert, co-founder and CPO at mimic. “Our method pairs AI-driven dexterous robotic palms with confirmed, off-the-shelf robotic arms to ship the identical capabilities in a means that’s a lot easier, extra dependable and quickly deployable. 

mimic’s Humanoid Robot Hands Learn from Human Action.

mimic builds frontier bodily AI fashions educated on real-world human demonstrations, utilizing revolutionary strategies to beat the info shortage downside in robotics. Skilled operators put on mimic’s proprietary knowledge assortment gadgets whereas performing their each day work on manufacturing facility flooring, capturing detailed motion knowledge from dwell manufacturing settings with out disrupting operations. These demonstrations are then used to coach AI fashions through imitation studying, enabling mimic’s humanoid robotic palms to reliably reproduce human approach. The firm’s bodily AI fashions be sure that robots autonomously react to altering positions and orientations of objects, deal with disturbances and self-correct their actions, seamlessly working in environments designed for people. 

“Our normal function AI fashions permit us to automate guide labour in a means that merely was not potential earlier than,” says Elvis Nava, co-founder and CTO at mimic. “Thanks to our distinctive give attention to human-like dexterity and human knowledge, we’re aggressive on the robotic basis mannequin layer in addition to the applying layer.” 

Labour markets throughout industrial economies are beneath sustained stress. Aging workforces, rising manufacturing prices and efforts to cut back dependence on international provide chains are driving a shift in the direction of reshoring and automation. Analysts venture the worldwide humanoid and dexterous robotics market alone might attain $38 billion by 2035, inside a broader robotics market estimated between $200 billion and $1 trillion by 2040. 

mimic’s expertise is already being piloted with top-tier producers, together with Fortune 500 corporations and international automotive manufacturers. mimic can be partnering with main multinational logistics suppliers and seeing sturdy buyer demand throughout many different labour-intensive sectors. 

mimic Robotics crew. 

Founded in 2024 as a spin-off from ETH Zurich, mimic brings collectively a multidisciplinary crew of 25 engineers, researchers, and operators. Over the previous 12 months, the corporate has secured non-dilutive funding from Switzerland’s federal innovation company and was chosen for the AWS Generative AI Accelerator, a program supporting early-stage corporations making use of superior AI to real-world challenges.

“We’re at an inflection level in robotics the place learning-based methods meet actual industrial wants,” says Stefan Weirich, co-founder and CEO at mimic. “We make dexterity deployable at scale, closing the hole between what AI can do within the lab and what factories really want. Europe has the expertise, the infrastructure, and the demand, and we’re constructing the corporate that brings all of this collectively.”

Clément Vanden Driessche, Partner at Elaia, says “Elaia is thrilled to steer the seed spherical in mimic. The world-class crew at mimic is addressing one of the crucial difficult issues in bodily AI: dexterous manipulation. mimic’s breakthrough method integrates a proprietary robotic hand, state-of-the-art basis fashions for robotics, and novel knowledge acquisition and coaching strategies.” Vincent Faber, Investment Manager at Elaia provides “This permits autonomous, versatile manipulation and unlocks a beforehand untapped section of the automation market, the place the demand for versatile options continues to develop.”

Andreas Schwarzenbrunner, General Partner at Speedinvest, says, “At Speedinvest, we’ve at all times believed that Europe’s power lies in marrying world-class engineering with foundational analysis. With mimic, we see precisely that: a platform that unlocks human-level dexterity with frontier AI and solves billion-dollar issues on manufacturing facility flooring as we speak. This is the second Europe steps ahead to compete and lead within the new period of AI and robotics”

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