Wandelbots raises another $84 million to teach robots without code

Dresden, Germany-based Wandelbots has raised a healthy sum in the years since it appeared on our Disrupt Berlin stage, way back in 2017. The following year, the no-code robotic software firm raised $6.8 million, followed by another $30 million in June 2020, as excitement around automation continued to build as COVID slowed manufacturing to a crawl.

Today the firm returns with a healthy $84 million Series C, putting its funding well north of $100 million to date. This latest round was led by Insight Partners and featured a slate of existing investors, including 83North, Microsoft, Next47, Paua, Atlantic Labs and EQT.

Wandelbots’ mission is a deceptively simple one, and something a number of firms are pushing to solve in the space. Can a robotic software layer lower the barrier of entry for deploying robotics in a factory setting? Specifically, how can a firm deploy a robotic army without the need for a lot of outside help, significant sums of money and/or robotic coding know-how? The company’s solution involves a “Trace Pen,” which an instructor uses to mimic a motion and train the robot in the process. The motion can then be fine-tuned on the software without coding.

Image Credits: Wandelbots

“I’m very proud to see Wandelbots mission become a reality,” co-founder and CEO Christian Piechnick said in a release. “Our platform will help to accelerate human-centered robotics solutions in the industry.”

This latest funding finds the company working to build a developer community around its robotic instructing software. Specifically, developers are invited to create their own teaching applications on the Wandelbots platform. The company says it’s also working to bring interoperability to a wider range of systems, a list that currently includes Universal Robots and Yaskawa, powering robots for clients like BMW and VW.

Wandelbots is also set to do additional hiring and expand global operations into markets like the United States and Asia.

from https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/25/wandelbots-raises-another-84-million-to-teach-robots-without-code/