This AI Breakthrough Could Put the Same Brain in Every Robot

Skild AI is not building robots — the startup is building the AI that could make every robot instantly smarter.

Pittsburgh startup Skild AI just secured $300 million to build what it is calling a “shared, general-purpose brain” for any robot. The Series A funding round, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coatue, SoftBank Group, and Jeff Bezos’s Bezos Expeditions, values the company at $1.5 billion, making this one of the largest early-stage robotics investments ever.

Why every robot needs this universal brain

Traditional robots are essentially one-trick ponies. Each machine requires specialized programming for narrow tasks. A warehouse robot can’t suddenly help with surgery, and a cleaning bot can’t navigate construction sites. But robots equipped with Skild’s brain can already perform tasks for which they were never trained. Skild’s single, off-the-shelf AI brain can be plugged into any robot and give it the ability to ...