Key facts
- Enigma has raised $70 million in seed funding.
- The startup is developing AI models for robots with a focus on human interaction.
- A large-scale online experiment will allow users to interact with over 100 AI robots.
- The goal is to create intuitive interfaces for controlling robots, akin to adjusting a car's volume knob.
- Enigma's robots are capable of diverse tasks including drawing, simulated combat, and chemical mixing.
- The company is collaborating with partners in healthcare, logistics, and entertainment.
Enigma, a newly emerged robotics research lab, has secured $70 million in seed funding to develop AI models that enable intuitive human-robot interaction. The startup aims to make controlling robots as simple as adjusting a car's volume knob, moving beyond traditional approaches that focus solely on model capabilities.
The funding round was led by Index Ventures and Ribbit Capital, with participation from Conviction Partners. Enigma plans to use this capital to finance its mission of studying human engagement with robots to create novel interfaces and potentially a new type of robotic intelligence.
To test its theories, Enigma is launching a large-scale online experiment where individuals worldwide can interact with over 100 of its proprietary AI robots. These robots, located in Israel and California, are designed to perform a variety of tasks, including drawing, simulated combat, and chemical experiments. Enigma claims to have developed both the robotic hardware and the AI models in-house.
Enigma was co-founded by Jonathan Jacobi, Microsoft's youngest-ever employee, and Gal Niv. The pair, who met during hacking competitions and served together in Israel's Unit 8200, decided to apply their technical expertise to robotics, a field where they acknowledge lacking direct experience but see significant potential for innovation.
Shardul Shah, a partner at Index Ventures, noted that Enigma's outsider perspective as non-roboticists allows for greater originality in their approach to embodied intelligence, prioritizing the user experience.
Jacobi explained that the goal is to eliminate the frustration users currently face when trying to instruct robots, likening the ideal interaction to the simplicity of a car's volume control. The data gathered from the public experiment will help Enigma discover superior interfaces and refine its foundational AI model training. While specific business use cases remain undisclosed, Enigma is already collaborating with companies in the healthcare, logistics, and entertainment sectors.