Despite our acclimation to technological advances, many of us remain vaguely terrified of the concept of humanoid robots.
Sure, it could be great to have autonomous machines that may clean the house, collect and prepare food, run warehouses, and perform a variety of generally menial and tedious tasks. But do they also have to appear to be us?
For many startups, the answer to this query is no.
While humanoid robot startups like Character AND Apptronic have been making headlines in recent months financing offers and sensible prototypesa number of corporations working on less anthropomorphic projects have also secured significant investment. These include four-legged models, AI-enabled add-ons, and expert swimmers.
Non-humanoid bot startups receive funding
To illustrate this, we used Crunchbase data to create a sample list of 26 non-humanoid robotics startup corporations that have raised rounds over the last few quarters. It is a diverse area with various areas of activity, from agriculture to swimming pool cleansing to massage.
Bots throughout town
There’s also a mix of consumer and industrial use cases on the list, so we thought we might start by highlighting the first category. It’s not that these bots are necessarily more useful, but fairly that being in public places makes contemplation a bit more enjoyable.
If recently funded startups have their way, some of the bots we see in motion could take on more of the on a regular basis responsibilities that currently fall to humans.
Cleaning is one of the larger areas. Based in China Narwhal Roboticswhich closed its $100 million Series E in April, produces vacuuming and mopping robots and touts its “AI adaptive hot water mopping“, LiDAR navigation and built-in pollution sensor. Headquartered in San Francisco Bot company.Meanwhile, it has raised $300 million since last 12 months to make its vision of homework robots a reality, but has yet to release a prototype.
Pool cleansing, an area long dominated by autonomous machines, will also be modernized in the age of artificial intelligence, with two Chinese corporations raising rounds of $140 million each this 12 months. Xingmai Innovationwhich closed its round in September, is selling its $3,000 Beatbot model as “the world’s first 5-in-1 AI-powered pool cleaning robot.” Compete aiper charges $1,700 for Scuba Max Pro, which offers smart pool mapping and a dedicated app.
And for those that need a bit of pampering after a long day without cleansing the pool, turn on the massage robot Escape offers one other spending option. The New York-based company secured $83 million in March increase its customizable offering of “fully autonomous AI-powered massage.”
Bots behind the scenes
While we may enjoy gawking at the still unusual sight of a bot in a public place making a latte or delivering a meal to a restaurant, most funded corporations operating in the non-humanoid bot space are working on models that may do the work behind the scenes.
Surgical robots have long been one of the more heavily financed areas, and this also applies to recent investments. The biggest fundraiser on our list, based in the UK CMR surgerycreator of a robot for soft tissue surgery, has secured $1.1 billion in funding so far, including $200 million in April financing. based in Israel ForSight Roboticsdeveloper of a robotic ophthalmic surgery platform is also scaling up, closing a $125 million Series B in June.
On the industrial front, a Swiss startup Anybotics has raised over $150 million to develop a four-legged bot optimized for inspections, capable of climbing stairs and avoiding obstacles.
AND Flexiblewhich closed a $100 million Series C this summer, is working on add-on-like robots with artificial intelligence that might be adapted to a wide selection of industries.
Agtech has also turn into a preferred investment area. Ecobotixbased in Switzerland has raised several hundred million for precision crop spraying while based in Seattle Carbon robotix is working on technology for killing weeds using lasers.
I won’t mistake him for a human
Of all the startups mentioned above, none of them are working on something that could possibly be confusing to a human, even from a distance. This seems logical, on condition that so many of the jobs people have had in the past didn’t seem perfectly suited to our particular mold.
If all goes well for non-humanoid robot startups, perhaps it would leave us humans free to spend more time doing activities that appear optimally suited to our form. Sitting on the couch can be high on this creator’s list, although I’m sure others could find much more productive things to do.