Startup Of The Week: Skild AI Inc

  • Skild AI is a robotics software startup that is setting out to develop a “robotic brain” – an AI model that can help a robot take on any task.
  • The startup recently raised $1.4 billion in funding, from investors including Jeff Besoz and Nvidia.
  • The company is based in the US but also has a presence in Bengaluru, India.

Website: Skild.ai

 

Skild Brain

 

What Is Skild AI?

 

Skild AI is a robotics startup founded in 2013 that is setting out to improve how AI is used to power robots.

Instead of coding robots for specific actions, like cleaning, lifting, or sorting, Skild AI is creating an AI model called the Skild Brain that can operate any robot to do any task. It does this by training it on human video footage, meaning it can mimic human movement and then continue learning in real-time. In this way Skild AI isn’t just building better robots, it’s building the brain that will allow robots to operate better, think and adapt in real time in the real world.

Backed by over $2 billion in funding from investors like SoftBank, Nvidia, Jeff Bezos, and Salesforce, Skild AI is quickly becoming a big name in the world of robotics.

 

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What Makes Skild AI Unique?

 

Skild AI is building what it calls a “unified, omni-bodied brain”. What this means is that it is creating an AI model that doesn’t need to learn different tasks and movements for each type of robotics, but is able to be used across a variety of machines.

Currently, robots will be trained using models specific to them. Humanoid robots that walk will be trained on different models than those on wheels used to transport items. According to Skild AI, it doesn’t have to be this way.

Instead, their Skild Brain views and learns from videos of humans and is then able to operate over 100,000 robot types. Unlike other models, it’s also unique in that it learns on the go. So, once it’s installed, it continuously learns and refines based on sensors, in order to quickly correct any mistakes. This ability to ‘think’ is Skild’s most unique feature, and one that has attracted a lot of attention.

 

Is There A Market For Physical AI?

 

Absolutely. The robotics market is becoming more popular every year, and companies are not only looking to build robots at scale, but adopt models that mean robots can quickly learn and adapt to multiple environments.

More and more, companies are looking for ways to integrate robotics into their systems. Whether it’s for packaging, warehouse sorting, cleaning or delivering packages.

According to a McKinsey study called ‘Agents, robots, and us: Skill partnerships in the age of AI’, robotics could reduce human labour hours by up to 50%. However, one of the biggest issues that the robotics industry faces is the fact that it is so time and cost intensive to train each machine for a specific task.

Skild AI is looking to combat this by creating an AI model that can work across many robot types, whilst learning and improving on the go. Because of this, Skild AI isn’t just building a way for robotics companies to operate better, but it allows them to scale faster too.

 

Where Can You Find Skild AI?

 

Find Skild AI at their website Skild.ai.