Tangent Robotics Raises $4.5M in Pre-Seed Funding to Develop Fine Motor Skills for Robot Hands
aiinsider ·
Tangent Robotics has secured $4.5 million in pre-seed funding to advance the development of robotic manipulation systems for high-precision industrial tasks. The investment round was led by Fly Ventures and Toyota Ventures, with additional participation from Logos Fund and Sparked Ventures. As a spinout from Columbia Engineering’s Robotic Manipulation and Mobility Lab, the New York-based company aims to solve challenges in fine motor control for robots. Their technology integrates specialized robot hands, light-based touch sensors, and machine-learning methods to enable delicate operations such as assembly, threading, and gear meshing. The team intends to drastically reduce the time required to teach these skills from days to hours through improved data collection and autonomous learning techniques. Co-founder Matei Ciocarlie emphasizes that their approach does not attempt to mimic human anatomy but instead focuses on achieving dexterity through non-human-like components. This strategy is designed to support local manufacturing at scale by automating intricate tasks that current robots cannot perform effectively.
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