The quest for more sophisticated humanoid robots has intensified due to the potential of generative AI, which offers the promise of more intelligent machines that can adapt to new situations and obstacles.
Amidst escalating global rivalry, Switzerland-based imitation is also vying for attention. The company has secured $2.5 million (€2.3 million) in a pre-seed round to launch the first collaborative robot driven by artificial intelligence.
Mimic is a spinoff from ETH Zurich that was established in 2024 by three researchers whose areas of expertise are robots and artificial intelligence.
The team’s creation, a robotic humanoid hand that can be integrated into current manual labor processes and undertake hard or repetitive jobs, aims to alleviate the labor shortage.
Co-founder Stephan-Daniel Gravert stated, “Most use cases are stationary and do not require a full humanoid robot with legs.”
“That’s why we focus data-collection and hardware ingenuity on a universal robotic hand that is compatible with off-the-shelf industrial robotic arms for positioning.”
Combining Generative AI with Human-like Robots
To give the humanoid hand thinking and learning capabilities, the tiny business has also created its own foundation AI model.
copy claims that by using generative AI, a robot may learn to comprehend and copy any behavior by observing a human perform it. This increases the range of jobs that a robot can complete. It also lessens the requirement for frequent reprogramming, which saves money.
“Conventional automation leaves a huge gap of tedious, low to medium volume manual labor tasks that often fall under the table because they are too complex or not economical to automate,” co-founder Stefan Weirich of mimic stated.
Weirich states that these issues can be successfully resolved by robotic manipulation powered by AI.
Later this year, Mimic intends to release its humanoid. It is aimed for sectors of the economy that have repetitious, difficult-to-automate jobs requiring sophisticated motor skills.
The startup operates within Switzerland’s robust robotics ecosystem. In terms of the number of robots per worker, Switzerland is in the top 10 countries, according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). ABB and Swisslog, two of the most well-known robotics and automation companies in the world, are located in the county.
