Eka Robotics completed a Series A financing of $150 million at a valuation of $1.45 billion, led by a16z and F-Prime

According to market news, the robotics startup Eka Robotics announced the completion of a $150 million Series A funding round, with a post-money valuation of $1.45 billion, co-led by a16z and F-Prime. The company was founded by MIT professor Pulkit Agrawal and former Google DeepMind researcher Tuomas Haarnoja.

Eka has developed a control architecture that combines force-sensitive grippers with a "vision-force-action" model, distinguishing it from the mainstream "vision-language-action" model. This model utilizes physics simulators and large-scale reinforcement learning training to generate thousands of hours of robotic experience in just a few minutes. According to the company, its robots can grasp approximately 1,500 objects weighing no more than 1 kilogram per hour (compared to about 600 for humans), with a success rate exceeding 95%. The hardware cost of its grippers is less than $1,000, with a rated lifespan of 5 million cycles, aiming to reach the 20 million cycle standard of industrial robotic arms.