NEURA Robotics

NEURA Robotics GmbH is a German robot maker that describes itself as a Physical AI company. It builds robots that combine cameras, microphones and touch sensing with a learning model, and it sells them alongside the software and data systems needed to put them to work. The company says it was founded in 2019 and is run from Metzingen in Baden-Wuerttemberg. David Reger is its founder and chief executive.

What the product does

The range on the company's site covers a collaborative arm called LARA, the MAiRA arm with built-in perception, MAV, a four-legged explorer, MiPA, an intelligent assistant robot, and the 4NE1 cognitive humanoid, which NEURA calls Europe's first production-ready humanoid. Add-ons include the NEURA OmniSensor, SenseKit, Teach and Touch. Listed applications are gluing and dosing, machine tending, palletising, sanding and polishing, quality inspection and welding.

Neuron AI is the model that drives the robots. It is described as a perception, language and action model that takes in three-dimensional vision, touch, audio, the robot's own joint state and spoken or written instructions, and keeps a memory of what it has seen so a hidden part is still tracked. The company says it runs on the robot itself rather than in the cloud, so production data stays with the customer, and that one model is trained across the 4NE1, MAiRA, MiPA and MAV. Training data comes from NEURA Gyms, which are facilities where robots practise tasks, from simulation, and from people wearing sensor suits. The Neuraverse is the open platform that connects robots, developers and partners.

Who it serves

The site groups customers by industry: food and beverage, logistics, healthcare, metal and machining, and transportation. Bosch and Schaeffler are named as partners and data providers, and NVIDIA and Qualcomm are listed among technology partners.

Company and group

The NEURA Group page lists four further units: NEURA Electronics, NEURA HealthTech, NEURA Automation and NEURA Mobile Robots. The last is described as built on six decades of experience in automated guided vehicles and mobile robots, with more than 12,000 transport robots delivered. The company's Series C page announces an investment of up to $1.4 billion, and says the money goes to scaling production toward several million robots by 2030, opening in the US, China and Japan, growing the Neuraverse and the Gyms, and deploying 4NE1 with industrial clients. The about page states more than 1,500 team members.

Key facts

Legal name: NEURA Robotics GmbH Founded: 2019 Headquarters: Gutenbergstrasse 44, 72555 Metzingen, Germany Founder and chief executive: David Reger Products: LARA, MAiRA, MAV, MiPA, 4NE1; Neuraverse platform; Neuron AI; NEURA Gyms Group units: NEURA Electronics, NEURA HealthTech, NEURA Automation, NEURA Mobile Robots Team (company figure): more than 1,500 people Funding (company statement): Series C of up to $1.4 billion