Eka Robotics hits $1.45B with superhuman robot grasping

eka robotics, founded by mit professor pulkit agrawal and former google deepmind researcher tuomas haarnoja, closed $150m series a funding round led by a16z and f-prime, valuing the company at $1.45b. their robot features a force-sensitive gripper and a new deep-learning model that enables it to pick up 1,500 objects weighing up to 1 kg in an hour with 95% reliability, exceeding superhuman performance in certain tasks. experts like kris hauser and a frontier lab roboticist praised the robot's capabilities, citing its adaptability and 'humanness'. eka's approach uses a vision-force-action model, focusing on force inputs and actions, which critics like rodney brooks say is necessary for success in generative ai robotics models.