{"id":27051,"date":"2023-07-19T07:42:39","date_gmt":"2023-07-19T07:42:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/19\/neura-robotics-picks-up-55m-to-ramp-up-in-cognitive-robotics-techcrunch\/"},"modified":"2023-07-19T07:42:39","modified_gmt":"2023-07-19T07:42:39","slug":"neura-robotics-picks-up-55m-to-ramp-up-in-cognitive-robotics-techcrunch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/19\/neura-robotics-picks-up-55m-to-ramp-up-in-cognitive-robotics-techcrunch\/","title":{"rendered":"Neura Robotics picks up $55M to ramp up in cognitive robotics | TechCrunch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"speakable-summary\"><a href=\"https:\/\/neura-robotics.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Neura Robotics<\/a>, a German startup that since 2019 has been building cognitive robots \u2014 machines that possess memory, the ability to operate across a complex and changing mix of variables, and can collaborate with people (\u201ccobots\u201d as Neura calls them) \u2014 has raised $55 million. It plans to use the funding to fuel more R&amp;D and to expand its business in Asia and the U.S., and it will also be using some of it to beef up manufacturing: the company says its order book is now at $450 million over the next five years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe actual demand of our customers is much higher, but currently still limited by our production capacities,\u201d David Reger, Neura\u2019s CEO and founder, told TechCrunch. (Reger is pictured above with some of Neura\u2019s robots.)<\/p>\n<p>The funding is coming from Lingotto \u2014 an investment management company that is part of PE firm Exor N.V. \u2014 plus Vsquared Ventures, Primepulse and HV Capital. The valuation is not being disclosed, but the deal represents a shift for the startup.<\/p>\n<p>Neura previously raised around $80 million, with all of that coming from a strategic backer, Han\u2019s Group, the China-based conglomerate known best for property development, but also with holdings in hotel operation and property management, equipment manufacturing and healthcare. Before this latest investment, Reger said the company decided to buy out the previous backer to clear the cap table and make way for pure financial investors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn today\u2019s deglobalized world, we have decided that Neura as an independent company has much more potential worldwide and that a partnership is more beneficial for both companies,\u201d he told TechCrunch in an interview, over email due to time constraints.<\/p>\n<p>While there is definitely a lot of vapourware, and \u201ccoming soon\u201d-ware in the world of advanced autonomous systems, robotics startups have actually delivered more than others, and Neura is among them.<\/p>\n<p>The company currently has three models covering both robotic arms and more \u201chuman\u201d forms \u2014 the MAV mobile robot, the LARA \u201chigh end cobot\u201d and MAiRA, which it describes as the \u201cworld\u2019s first cognitive robot.\u201d The company\u2019s model appears to be primarily B2B, and potentially B2B2C, for now. For example, Reger said that one of its customers, Japan\u2019s Kawasaki, \u201care already selling their own cobot series based on our platform.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2571269\" style=\"width: 690px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2571269\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Image Credits:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/neura-robotics.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Neura Robotics <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">(opens in a new window)<\/span><\/a> under a license.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Prices for the industrial models range between \u20ac5,000 and \u20ac40,000, while an upcoming MiPA service robot, aimed at offices, care facilities, and homes, \u201cwill be priced well below ten thousand euros.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Before founding Neura, Reger had already spend seven years in the space of robotics, both in management roles and in developing robots for industrial applications. If you look at his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/dregerofficial\/?originalSubdomain=de\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn profile<\/a>, it appears that he\u2019s been less on the technical and more on the conceptual side of that R&amp;D, but that may have given him an advantage in building a robotics business himself, since he had a strong idea of what customers were looking for.<\/p>\n<p>In almost all industrial projects, he said, \u201cwe had to adapt the existing environment to the robot \u2014 usually in a very complex and expensive way \u2014 in order to meet the high safety requirements.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe industry had always done this for decades without anyone questioning it much. But I was sure that in the long run, it would make more sense to modify the robots themselves so that they could be used safely in any environment alongside humans,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was clear to me, even in 2019, that it was possible to equip robots with senses and give them the ability to process perceptions quickly and safely. But as is often the case in a mature industry, it\u2019s difficult to leave the comfort zone and enter uncharted territory. Otherwise, we would have had an alternative to the internal combustion engine much longer ago. So, I ended up founding my own company to realize my idea of cognitive robotics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Reger\u2019s \u201ccasual\u201d description of what cognitive robots means says something about the functionality that the company aims to create with its machines. \u201cI would say that smartphones are coming with arms and legs,\u201d he says of Neura\u2019s devices. \u201cIn other words, assistants that relieve us not just virtually, but in very real terms. Physically.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The platform that Neura has built can be trained and operated in any language and dialect, he said, and they work online and offline, and cobots have additional features on them so that they can work with and alongside humans, with sensors and safety features that allow them to stop or adjust their movements if a person comes into contact with them, Reger said.<\/p>\n<p>The company\u2019s big bet is that making the entire package \u2014 software plus hardware \u2014 is the way forward in this space. That includes not just fashioning all the sensors and other components, but building the AI that powers it. This also means that Neura can collaborate better with its customers, with a platform that partners can use to jointly develop specialized apps in areas like welding, warehousing, gluing, sanding, and assembly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you are serious about software, you need to embrace hardware,\u201d said Dr Herbert Mangesius, general partner at Vsquared Ventures, in a statement. \u201cThis is particularly true for robotic automation and has been a bottleneck in bringing cutting-edge machine learning and cognitive capabilities into the industrial and services world for many years. Neura Robotics is the first company we met that combines this technological vision and leadership with an open partnership model and such driving progress globally at a never-seen pace within robotics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the future, Neura wants to expand more directly into the consumer market, Reger said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are focusing on the industrial applications such as welding, warehousing, gluing, sanding, and assembly but all our know-how and technology goes into our MiPA service robot platform, which can help in offices, in care and even in the home,\u201d he said. The aim is to keep up the pace it\u2019s set so far, and deliver that cognitive \u201cone-device robotic platform\u201d in two years. \u201cHumanoid robots by Neura that collaborate with humans across various societal domains and within human-designed environments could be real in just a couple of years \u2013 and provide a solution to the general shortage of skilled workers,\u201d Reger said.<\/p>\n<p>That said, the company is not vertically integrated to the extent that it will not work with third parties: its AI can be used on any robot via an API it provides, and the hardware it makes has both the app ecosystem but also the willingness of Neura to work with customers to create whatever is needed by them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe provide a technology platform to which partners from around the world, not just robotics, can connect. Our components and robots combine with the countless ideas and know-how from a wide range of industries,\u201d he continued. \u201cThis makes many special applications possible in a very short time that we couldn\u2019t serve alone. The best way to compare this is with a smartphone and its operating system, which has only really come to life and become indispensable thanks to millions of apps from all sectors.\u201d He says the company has even branded this ambition: \u201cthe Neuraverse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a market that does have a lot of proprietary approaches, it\u2019s indeed an ambitious concept, but investors seem to believe Neura can deliver. \u201cNeura operates at the confluence of AI and hardware development. Germany and Europe have a particular advantage here\u201d, said Nikhil Srinivasan, managing partner at Lingotto, in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2023\/07\/19\/neura-robotics-picks-up-55m-to-ramp-up-in-cognitive-robotics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Neura Robotics, a German startup that since 2019 has been building cognitive robots \u2014 machines that possess memory, the ability to operate across a complex and changing mix of variables, and can collaborate with people (\u201ccobots\u201d as Neura calls them) \u2014 has raised $55 million. It plans to use the funding to fuel more R&amp;D [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-27051","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tech"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}