Lyro Robotics capital raise to fund 20 robots

Robotics developer Lyro Robotics will fund the manufacture of 20 of its robots that are optimised for handling delicate produce, replacing repetitive, labour intensive tasks.

The Brisbane company has raised $1.5 million in early stage funding to increase production of its robot systems which neatly integrate computer vision, machine learning and robotic grasping algorithms.

The raising was backed by an original investor in the technology, Japan’s Toyo Kanetsu as well as new investors Artesian/Boab AI and AgFunder.

The robot has been extensively demonstrated to the food industry supply chain, including an appearance a week ago at the Pineapple Field Days 2022 at Wamuranin on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

However it is equally suited to a range of manufacturing industries, as well as the logistics sector – the company has the motto: any produce, any pattern, any time.

Lyro says: “Lyro machine intelligence tightly integrates the brain, the eyes, and the hands enabling your robot to pick and pack any item, even if it has not seen it before.”

The company’s business model is particularly attractive to farmers as they do not have to pay for the robot upfront.

Instead, Lyro supplies the robot and farmers only pay for what is packed, while this allows the robotic system to be updated over time to improve its pick and pack performance. The capital raising will fund 20 installations.

Lyro recently took its technologies international, signing a licensing agreement for its software with US based IMI Precision Engineering.

The two companies will now develop a full suite robotic solution to satisfy the rising global demand for automated bin picking in various industries, such as agriculture, logistics and e-commerce.

Lyro’s Managing Director Dr Juxi Leitner said: “Lyro machine intelligence is the brain which detects objects, makes a decision about how to pick it up and commands the hands to pick up the objects.

“The hands or the mechanical tool that can pick up a wide range of objects.”

Leitner told @AuManufacturing that the company “develops grippers/hands in-house and uses off the shelf one depending on needs. We also have partnerships… with IMI Precision Engineering, and the CSIRO’s Data61 for future gripper design to further improve capabilities.”

Picture: The Lyro Robotics gripper picks up a pineapple

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