Micropsi Industries announces the successful closing of its $30M Series B funding round. The company provides the ready-to-use AI system MIRAI for controlling industrial robots to enable the automation of manufacturing processes that so far could not be automated. MIRAI is successfully deployed in assembly, material handling and quality control applications in a wide range of industries. Companies like Siemens Energy, ZF Group and BSH are already using MIRAI in their production halls.

New investors Metaplanet, VSquared and Ahren Innovation Capital co-led the funding round. Existing investors Project A Ventures and M Ventures also participated in the round.

Industrial robots can compensate for labour shortages and secure supply chains.
The manufacturing skills gap in the U.S for example could result in 2.1 million unfilled jobs by 2030. But before factories can put robots into service, a lot of preparatory work is necessary: specialists develop software code to trigger the individual movements of the machines. This is complex, expensive, and makes robots inflexible, as variance in positions or materials throw the robots off.

MIRAI changes this: Using AI, workers are able to train the robot through demonstration. A human guides the robot arm through the work task, which then learns and carries out the movements autonomously. In doing so, it is able to handle variance and changes in the environment and the robot’s target at execution time. This expands the commercial potential of industrial robots, as it allows them to handle complexity and keeps them flexible even as conditions change.

The new funding is going to be used to expand operations in the US, ramp up sales efforts and expand to more robot platforms. Micropsi Industries has recently hired robotics expert Prof. Dominik Bösl as managing director to be in charge of the company’s ambitious technology roadmap. Prof. Bösl previously held positions at Festo, Kuka, and Microsoft.