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Construction may well prove to be the next major focal point for robotics investing . Here in the States , the $ 2 trillion industry employs around eight million people — that ’s nearly one New York City . Even in financial boom times , however , these jobs can be hard to keep meet , owing to forcible need and other potential risk .
Industrial painting is well primed for automation . After all , a estimable bit of overweight machinery is imply in bombastic projects . As evidenced from videos released by PaintJet , those sorts of sometime engineering remain integral here — albeit with an automated braid . foretell in October , the Nashville startup ’s Bravo machinelike painter look more or less like a mobile elevated work platform ( cherry chooser ) .
chief executive officer Nick Hegeman tells TechCrunch , that in spitefulness of looking like a fairly received piece of heavy motorcar , “ We have make 100 % of the robotic system . The parts that are from industry suppliers are thepainthoses , nozzles and pumps . ” He adds , “ We connect non - invasively to the platform and are able-bodied to control both the ski lift and our robotic arrangement . This appropriate us to scale with the wide established net of equipment letting supplier . ”
Today , the firm is foretell a $ 10 million Series A , led by Outsiders Fund and sport Pathbreaker Ventures , MetaProp , Builders VC , 53 Stations and VSC Ventures . The round follows a $ 3.5 million seeded player led by Dynamo Ventures and bring its to - day of the month financial backing up to $ 14.75 million .
carbon monoxide - beginner and CEO Nick Hegeman is — course — framing ongoing staffing issues as the heart of the rise . “ It ’s not just about automation ; it ’s about redefining industry touchstone , addressing labor dearth , and introduce cost - efficacious solutions that break the mould of traditional painting , ” he say in a release . “ I ’m grateful to our investor for endorse our foreign mission and enabling us to expand both geographically and across newfangled sectors . ”
Alongside the Bravo first appearance in October , the startup also announced its Alpha Shield paint , which it claims can reduce received wear and snag from the component , while increasing time between repaints .
Of course , PaintJet is far from the only company vying to introduce robots to the creation of industrial painting . Gray Matter offers painting arms at a number of different scales . Japanese robotic arm giant Fanuc has also introduced root , though they ca n’t presently attain the heights of the sorts of building PaintJet is tackling with Bravo .
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The inauguration is target construction companies as its primary userbase . Its client leaning currently includes Prologis , Clayco , Layton Construction and Brinkmann Constructors .
PaintJet still has a low headcount , at 24 full - meter employee . Some of the new funding will go toward staff up sale and cognitive process . It also finds the company propel its HQ from Nashville to Virginia , “ to defend our entry in the shipboard soldier business , and increase engineering headcount to descale our technology stack for wider distribution , ” allot to Hegeman .
