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Vayu Robotics, an AI firm that goals to offer high-quality, low-cost robotic programs, has emerged from stealth with $12.7 million in seed funding. The corporate plans to make use of the funding to scale product improvement for AI robotics throughout completely different markets, together with last-mile supply, manufacturing unit automation, and automotive.
The spherical was led by Khosla Ventures and included participation from Lockheed Martin Ventures, ReMY Buyers, and others.
Vayu is a non-traditional robotics firm that’s taking a principles-first strategy to automation. It prioritizes value and ease of deployment with two key applied sciences: a basis mannequin for mobility, and a disruptive, low-cost sensing know-how that might substitute LiDAR in lots of mid-range functions.
The corporate’s know-how sits within the convergence of two main developments within the trade proper now. The primary is the rise of recent AI applied sciences which have enabled robots to carry out extra common duties in a manner that they couldn’t earlier than. The second is that US firms are looking for to grow to be much less reliant on abroad manufacturing by revitalizing home manufacturing capability and competitiveness. With this alteration, the demand for robotics and automation continues to develop.
Vayu’s know-how goals to allow the following wave of sustainable and accessible robots, most instantly for last-mile supply.
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“Vayu is poised to disrupt the market by creating the bottom value possession for robots with one of the best operational economics,” Anand Gopalan, CEO of Vayu Robotics, mentioned. “We’ve got constructed an extremely robust crew of engineers with experience in {hardware} and software program. With this newest spherical of funding, our crew is positioned to convey Vayu’s novel know-how to the market by way of our first clients.”
Vayu’s know-how is predicated on three pillars: biology-inspired sensors, scalable machine studying, and purposeful design. These knowledgeable the creation of the corporate’s first merchandise, which embody Vayu Drive, a basis mannequin for mobility, Vayu Sense, a sturdy and cost-efficient sensor, and Vayu One, a full-scale supply robotic as-a-service.
The corporate’s founding crew contains Gopalan, the previous CEO of Velodyne Lidar, Mahesh Krishnamurthi, who has expertise at Lyft and Apple, and Nitish Srivastava, who has expertise at Apple and the College of Toronto.
“At Khosla Ventures, we wager early on daring concepts that might be impactful to society,” mentioned Kanu Gulati, accomplice at Khosla Ventures. “In Vayu, we see a crew that is without doubt one of the first to leverage superior sensing know-how for machines to have the ability to navigate the world in a manner they might not beforehand, taking robotics to a brand new place.”