This $30M startup built a dog crate-sized robot factory that learns by watching humans | TechCrunch

While many robotics companies are building human-sized robots, or working to automate the entire factory, Small Instead, try to think small by building.

The San Francisco-based small dealer built a universal desktop manufacturing kit, about the size of my Siberian husky dog ​​box. This compact factory consists of two robot arms that can be demonstrated by humans as well as trained through AI.

“Universal robots are good, but it’s not necessary [to] “We decided to design robots from scratch, but it can be easier, simpler, simpler, and easier to do it in both hardware and AI,” said the little man Igor Kulakov in an interview with TechCrunch.

Instead of selling a single robot arm, Microfactory’s system emerges as a closed but transparent workstation that allows users to watch the manufacturing process in real time. Compact factories are designed in Aa-box for precise tasks such as board components, component soldering and cable routing. Users can train robots by physically guiding the arm to perform complex movements – a hands-on approach that Kulakov says is faster than traditional AI programming and is used for complex manufacturing sequences.

“It usually takes a few hours, but this way, the robot better understands what it should do,” Kurakov said. “When you hire people, we still need to spend time (like a week or something) in order to instruct these people and then oversee their work. A manufacturing company, they already have this time and resources to spend, and it would be easier to train the model this way and work this way.”

Kulakov’s experience in traditional manufacturing helped to get small ideas.

He and his co-founder Viktor Petrenko once operated BitLighter, a manufacturer that made portable lighting devices for photographers. Kurakov said it was difficult to train new employees to do the manufacturing process correctly. When advances in AI seem to automate this type of work, they decided to seize the opportunity.

Kulakov and Petrenko have launched small effects in 2024. It took them about five months to build their prototype. Now the company has hundreds of customers who want to use these machines for bookings for various applications, including assembling electronics and even handling snails to ship to France for Escargot to ship.

Micro-collaboration has just raised $1.5 million in advance rounds, which include investors embracing faces and investors from AI companies – entrepreneur Navy Ravikant. The round is worthy of young startups after the stock is valued at $30 million.

Kurakov said the company plans to use the funds to build and transport its units. The company is currently converting its prototype into a commercial product, hoping to start shipping in about two months.

The company also plans to hire some employees and continue to improve its technology, including an AI model running under the hood.

“Our growth is related to building hardware, so we set a goal of 10 times each year,” Kurakov said. “In the first year, we wanted to produce 1,000 robots, [about] Three a day, we have the ability to do so. Then, [we want to] More and more productions are being produced. ”