A Swiss university spinoff has received funding of CHF150,000 (USD170,170) to develop plug-and-play robot “workers” that can package, sort and unload goods.

Venture Kick, a Swiss philanthropic initiative dedicated to supporting young entrepreneurs with high-potential business ideas on their journey from science to market, awarded Flink Robotics the funding as the last “kick” of its nine-month program.

Venture Kick says Flink Robotics is revolutionising industrial automation by transforming robots into adaptable, plug-and-play workers suitable for a variety of dynamic material handling tasks. 

The key to this transformation is FlinkAutonomy, a software with built-in physical intelligence that enables robots to perceive and react to changes in their environment and collaboratively solve materials handling tasks. 

By combining advanced machine perception with a differentiable physics engine, FlinkAutonomy empowers a new generation of plug-and-play easy-to-use robots that can be installed within minutes without altering existing environments.

Venture Kick says making robots capable of understanding their environment and making decisions autonomously represents a multi-billion-dollar opportunity. 

Flink Robotics’ initial customers are in the parcel delivery and end-of-line packaging industries, where labour shortages are most acute.

Flink Robotics will use the CHF 150,000 from Venture Kick to accelerate its go-to-market strategy and undertake additional pilot projects.

Flink Robotics is a spinoff from Swiss university ETH’s Computational Robotics Lab and affiliated with the ETH Artificial Intelligence Centre. 

“The support from Venture Kick is a recognition of our work and our potential to transform the robot automation industry,” says chief executive officer Moritz Geilinger. 

“The funding has been instrumental in launching our company, providing the necessary resources to secure our first customers and develop the initial version of our product.”