Former Microsoft engineering leader's robotic arm business is fundraising
Robotic arms are the focus of a new business venture in the Seattle region that is betting they can assist businesses like restaurants and construction sites to improve their productivity and manage manpower shortages.
Ally Robotics was established earlier this year, and it is currently working on the development of a hardware and no-code software product that is intended to simulate the physical tasks that have historically been performed by humans. These tasks include things like grabbing cups, frying french fries, and sanding wood.
A letter of intent worth $30 million has already been signed by the company with Miso Robotics, the restaurant automation company in the Los Angeles area that is behind Flippy. Additionally, the company has robotics-as-a-service contracts worth $400,000 in place with a bubble tea company and a manufacturing equipment provider.
In addition to this, it has amassed a total of $10 million in investment from a variety of sources, including Miso, individual investors, and crowdfunding websites.
Mitch Tolson, the company’s CEO and co-founder, formerly oversaw an engineering services team at Microsoft and has also worked for PACCAR in the past. The company currently has only fourteen employees. Together with Jennifer Wichman Christensen, who had previously worked as an industrial engineering manager at UPS, he established Ally.
At the most recent TechCrunch Disrupt conference, which is where Ally presented their device, Tolson stated that the Ally arm is the most intelligent, most inexpensive, easy-to-service, and simple-to-train robotic arm currently available.
Artly, a company based in Seattle that manufactures robotic baristas and has just secured $8.3 million, is one of the many businesses that is working on producing similar robotic arms. Picnic is another Seattle-based company that has just entered into a partnership with Domino’s Pizza to introduce automation to the food business with its robotic pizza maker.
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