Former Formula One engineer Bercan Kilic founded microagi, which raised $55 million in a seed round to train robots for factory work using data from real workers.
Former Formula One engineer Bercan Kilic left his high‑octane role at Red Bull Racing to launch microagi, a startup that aims to train fleets of collaborative robots for factory floors.
From the Pit Lane to the Production Line
Kilic spent several years fine‑tuning the performance of race cars, where split‑second data drives every engineering decision. He says the same data‑centric mindset can unlock efficiency in manufacturing, where human workers still perform many repetitive tasks.
How microagi Trains Robots
The company equips robots with sensors that capture motion, force and timing as skilled operators assemble components. By feeding this real‑world data into machine‑learning models, microagi teaches robots to mimic the nuanced motions of human workers, from tightening bolts to handling delicate parts.
Unlike traditional industrial robots that follow rigid, pre‑programmed paths, microagi’s bots continuously adapt, learning from ongoing human‑robot collaboration and improving their speed and accuracy over time.
Funding and Growth Plans
In a seed round, microagi secured $55 million from venture capital firms focused on automation and AI. The capital will fund the expansion of its data‑collection facilities, the hiring of robotics engineers, and the rollout of pilot programs with manufacturers in Europe and Asia.
- Deploy pilot robot teams in three partner factories
- Scale data‑capture infrastructure to cover 10 different assembly tasks
- Launch a cloud‑based platform for manufacturers to monitor robot performance
Kilic believes that as robots become more adaptable, they will augment rather than replace human workers, handling the most repetitive motions while humans focus on supervision, quality control and complex problem‑solving.
Our goal is to create an army of factory robots that learn directly from the people who already excel at the job.
The startup’s approach reflects a broader shift in the industry toward collaborative automation, where data from the shop floor drives continuous improvement, much like telemetry does on a race track.