These Industrial Robots Get More Adept With Every Task | WIRED - 0 views
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John Rich on 11 Mar 20"Vicarious buys standard industrial robots, enhances them with its software, and contracts them out the way a temp agency does workers-charging per task completed or at an hourly rate. In Baltimore, Vicarious robots assemble sampler packs for makeup company Sephora, work previously done exclusively by humans. Vicarious CEO and cofounder D. Scott Phoenix says the deal demonstrates his business model: Create artificial intelligence software that makes industrial robots smart enough to perform jobs previously done only by people. Vicarious hasn't previously discussed its customers or robots publicly but has earned itself an air of mystery among AI and robot experts since its founding in 2010. The startup has raised more than $130 million, according to data service PitchBook. Its investors include some of Silicon Valley's most famous names and deepest pockets-venture firm Founders Fund, cofounded by early Facebook investor Peter Thiel, and billionaire entrepreneurs Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos. "