Gravis Robotics secures $200 million to automate construction machinery

Gravis Robotics, an ETH Zurich spin-off, has secured $200 million in Series A funding from Softbank to accelerate the international expansion of its autonomous construction technology. The company develops a retrofit system using sensors and artificial intelligence software to enable conventional excavators from various manufacturers to operate autonomously.

The technology utilizes cameras and sensors to create three-dimensional environmental models, allowing machines to detect people, vehicles, and obstacles while assessing soil and machine performance. This automation aims to address labor shortages, such as the projected retirement of 13 million workers in Germany by 2040, by allowing a single operator to remotely monitor multiple machines and perform dangerous or precise tasks more efficiently.