- A startup that makes skin for robots has just raised $4.8 million from Octopus Ventures.
- Touchlab expects its technology to impact everything from grocery picking to nuclear decommissioning.
- Insider got an exclusive look at the 12-slide pitch deck it used to raise the funds.
A startup that makes skin for robots just raised $4.8 million from Cazoo-backer Octopus Ventures.
Touchlab, founded in 2018, has tasked itself with “giving robots human touch” in an effort to further unlock their potential.
“In human terms, skin is a vital organ and it’s the largest organ,” founder and CEO Zaki Hussein told Insider. “If we think about that, the largest vital organ, one of the most important senses that we have. How can we expect the robot to perform what we can without it?”
It has created sensor-packed electronic skin that can be retrofitted on existing robots and machinery, enabling machines to roll pens, grasp soft objects, and detect slip. Its 3D sense direction means it can tell which way an item is going to fall if does slip, while the materials used can withstand hostile environments such as acid, extreme temperatures, and radioactive environments.
The tech could have big implications across sectors, from grocery picking to prosthetics to nuclear decommissioning. “At the moment you literally just have robots crushing raspberries, strawberries, and cucumbers,” Hussein said.
Plastic bags add greater difficulty, given they are thin, light, and require dexterity to handle. “The robot won’t even know that it’s touching plastic,” Hussein added.
The Edinburgh-based university spin-out is also working on a robot that will allow an operator to hear, see, speak, and touch through it. Hussein hopes this will revolutionize the medical sector and has a pilot with a Finnish hospital scheduled for later this year.
The pandemic pushed social distancing into the norm but hospitals have long had issues with hospital-acquired infections, where illnesses are spread among patients via hospital staff, Hussein said. For immunocompromised patients, hospitals could break this chain with a robot.
While the robot is fully controlled by an operator – in this case, a doctor or nurse – wearing a special suit to transfer touch, gloves, and a VR headset, it does have built-in safety measures. It can physically support a person who rests on it, move out of a person’s way, and stop moving when it bumps into things.
It’s important to the team that Touchlab’s tech is only used for “ethical considerations.”
“We are aware of a variety of other scenarios where it could be used, interrogation robots or other types of even more sinister applications,” Hussein said. “We don’t want to be that company that does anything for a paycheck.”
The seed funding will be used to double or triple headcount in the next 18 months, which is currently at six, with a focus on its commercial and tech teams.
Creator Fund and Techstart Ventures also participated in the round. It brings Touchlab’s total raised to $5.6 million.
Check out the 12-slide pitch deck the startup used to raise the fresh funds below.
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