Eka Robotics raises $150 million for robots with a sense of touch
Redacción IvokaOct 22, 6:00 PM 3 min
The startup, valued at $1.45 billion, uses vision, force and action so its robots can handle objects with dexterity.
Robots that handle delicate objects remain a challenge, and this startup is betting on teaching them to feel how hard they grip.
The news
Eka Robotics raised $150 million in a Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz and F-Prime, valuing the company at $1.45 billion post-money. Obvious Ventures, E14 Fund, MFV Partners, Bison Ventures, Glasswing Ventures, Samsung Next and unnamed Fortune 500 strategics also took part.
What makes Eka different
The company was founded by MIT professor Pulkit Agrawal and former Google DeepMind researcher Tuomas Haarnoja. It is building general-purpose robots that start with dexterous manipulation. Instead of a vision-language-action model, it uses a vision-force-action approach, meaning the robot senses how much force it applies to things. The money will scale its technology and customer deployments.
What it means
This is business news rather than a tool you can use today: it shows where robotics money is flowing. If you'd like to build something with your own hands, Papercraft and Origami are a good place to start.
