$14.8 Million Boost: Inside RLWRLD's Blueprint for the Future of Robotics!
RLWRLD Gets $14.8M Funding to Create Foundational Model for Robotics.
Technology is advancing, and so is robotics, with the industry steadily introducing more robots to automate many kinds of work. To that end, over 540,000 new industrial robots were installed worldwide in 2023, taking the number of total industrial robots active to above 4 million, per IFR.
Industrial robots typically excel at repetitive tasks, but they find it challenging to perform precise tasks, handle delicate materials, and adjust to changing conditions — a robot in a restaurant’s kitchen would get in the way more than be helpful, for example. That is why many industrial processes are still manual.
RLWRLD Solutions
South Korean startup RLWRLD has stepped up. It aims to solve this problem with a foundational AI model that it has built specifically for robotics by combining large language models with traditional robotics software. The company says this model will enable robots to make quick and agile movements and perform some amount of “logical reasoning” as well.
“Using RLWRLD’s foundation model, processes that require a lot of manual work can be completely automated by learning and copying human expertise, making work environments more efficient,” said Jung-Hee Ryu, founder and CEO of RLWRLD, in an exclusive interview with TechCrunch.
The startup is now coming out of stealth with 21 billion KRW (about $14.8 million) in seed funding. The round was led by venture capital firm Hashed, and Mirae Asset Venture Investment and Global Brain also invested. Notably, the startup has attracted a long list of big strategic investors — Ana Group, PKSHA, Mitsui Chemical, Shimadzu, and KDDI from Japan; LG Electronics and SK Telecom from Korea; and Amber Manufacturing from India.
Advanced Technology
RLWRLD said the seed funding will be used to fund proof-of-concept projects with its strategic investors; secure computing infrastructure like GPUs; purchase robots and devices to collect extensive data; and hire top research talent. The startup will also use the new money to develop advanced hand movements involving five fingers — a capability that’s not yet been demonstrated by its competitors like Tesla, Figure AI, and 1X, Ryu said.
Ryu further said that RLWRLD is also working with its strategic investors to explore ways to automate different human-centric workflows using its AI model. They are together preparing a humanoid-based autonomous action demonstration, scheduled for later this year, Ryu said. In addition, the company is working to develop a platform that can support various kinds of robots, including industrial, collaborative, autonomous mobile robots, and humanoids.
The startup’s long-term goal is to cater to factories, logistics centers, and retail stores, and even robots that can be used in domestic environments to help with household chores. In the meantime, the priority is to target industries since they are willing to pay the most and have a strong demand for automation.
