robust.ai Raises $15M Series A to Enhance Collaborative Robot Problem Solving

Robust.AI has announced the completion of a $15 million Series A funding round, spearheaded by Jazz Venture Partners. The investment round also included participation from existing investors such as Playground Global, Liquid2, Fontinalis, Jaan Tallinn, and Mark Leslie, increasing the total funding for the Bay Area-based robotics AI company to $22.5 million.

Established in the middle of 2019, the company’s leadership team includes Rodney Brooks. The co-founder of iRobot holds the position of CTO at the startup, after the unanticipated shutdown of Rethink, a company that introduced the Baxter and Sawyer robots but ultimately faced financial difficulties. (Helen Greiner, also a co-founder of iRobot, has recently joined a different new enterprise). Gary Marcus, the CEO, is also recognized as the co-founder of Geometric Intelligence, which was purchased by Uber in 2016.

The central focus of Robust.AI is the development of “the world’s first industrial-grade cognitive engine for robots,” with the goal of equipping collaborative robots with the necessary problem-solving abilities to work effectively with people.

Although a relatively young company, Robust.AI has seen increased interest, mirroring a broader trend of accelerated investment in robotics and automation, largely prompted by a pandemic that has significantly impacted the availability of human labor. The company’s core objective is to modernize the software infrastructure powering these machines, enabling them to perform more effectively in challenging and varied settings.

“Achieving product-market fit is crucial for robots and AI systems, just as it is for any other product,” stated Brooks. “We are developing a solution that we anticipate will be highly appealing to most robotics companies, evolving systems from tools designed for specific tasks in controlled settings to versatile systems capable of operating within the complexities of the real world.”