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Skild Brain model enhances robot versatility across environments

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Robotics faces a unique data scarcity challenge, says CEO Pathak

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Model includes measures to ensure safe human interaction

By Akash Sriram

July 29 (Reuters) -

Robotics startup Skild AI, backed by Amazon.com ( AMZN ) and Japan's SoftBank Group, on

Tuesday unveiled a foundational artificial intelligence model designed to run on nearly any

robot - from assembly-line machines to humanoids.

The model, called Skild Brain, enables robots to think, navigate and respond more like

humans. Its launch comes amid a broader push to build humanoid robots capable of more diverse

tasks than the single-purpose machines currently found on factory floors.

In demonstration videos, Skild-powered robots were shown climbing stairs, maintaining

balance after being shoved, and picking up objects in cluttered environments - tasks that

require spatial reasoning and the ability to adapt to changing surroundings.

The company said its model includes built-in power limits to prevent robots from applying

unsafe force.

Skild trains its model on simulated episodes and human-action videos, then fine-tunes it

using data from every robot running the system. Co-founders Deepak Pathak and Abhinav Gupta told

Reuters in an exclusive interview that the approach helps tackle a data scarcity problem unique

to robotics.

"Unlike language or vision, there is no data for robotics on the internet. So you cannot

just go and apply these generative AI techniques," Pathak, who serves as CEO, told Reuters.

Robots deployed by customers feed data back into Skild Brain to sharpen its skills, creating

the same "shared brain," said Gupta, who previously founded Meta Platforms' ( META ) robotics

lab in Pittsburgh.

Skild's clients include LG CNS - the IT solutions arm of LG Group - and other unnamed

partners in logistics and other industrial applications.

Unlike software, which can scale quickly, robotics requires physical deployment, which takes

time, but Skild's approach allows robots to add new capabilities across different industries

quickly, said Raviraj Jain, partner at the startup's investor Lightspeed Venture Partners.

The two-year-old startup, which has hired staff from Tesla, Nvidia and Meta, raised $300

million in a Series A funding round last year that valued it at $1.5 billion. Its investors

include Menlo Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Amazon.com ( AMZN ) founder Jeff

Bezos.