Anyone who has been following the category will be familiar with this issue. When it comes to robots and automation, investors and businesses are widely in agreement that these technologies will be necessary for remaining competitive in the future. They’re also often regarded as the solution to various short-term staffing shortages.
But the issue of deployment is still present. Larger businesses with apparently limitless resources, like automakers and Amazon, haven’t had any trouble incorporating these technologies into the production and fulfillment spaces. But what about businesses that are unable to hire full-time programmers and engineers to maintain a fleet of robots online?
Several businesses are attempting to solve the problem. The New York City-based Viam Robotics company is preparing its solution, which it touts as providing a more uniform method for setting up and maintaining these devices.
The company was founded in 2020 by former CTO and co-founder of MongoDB Eliot Horowitz. Despite mostly working in secrecy, the company hasn’t had any trouble acquiring money. It has been announced today that Tiger Global would lead a $30 million Series A round. Union Square Ventures and Battery Ventures, who contributed to the company’s $12 million seed round in June last year, are also participating in this round as globaloitzman.
Their objective is to make assembling web services as simple as building and programming a robot. To do this, they are creating several essential parts, including grasping, object identification, and navigation, according to USV managing partner Albert Wenger in a post related to the 2017 seed. Additionally, VIAM is providing a developer-accessible online testbed where novel robot applications may be evaluated on-demand rather than through the pricey upfront purchase of robot gear.
Despite some financing for health, things are still in the early phases. The platform is now referred to as a “private alpha,” but there are plans for a wider rollout later this year. The time is unquestionably ideal.