Israeli humanoid robot startup, Mentee Robotics, raised $17 million in funding led by Ahren Innovation Capital. Other investors in the startup include Hookipa AG and Doron Sagie.
Mentee Robotics was founded in 2022 by distinguished AI scientists: Amnon Shashua, chairman and a prominent figure in AI and computer vision; Lior Wolf, CEO and former Facebook AI Research scientist; and Shai Shalev-Shwartz, a noted computer science and machine learning expert.
Over the past two years, the company has developed MenteeBot, integrating AI across all operational layers, enabling it to perform a wide range of activities with exceptional dexterity.
Today’s unveiling of the humanoid MenteeBot prototype marks a milestone in robotics, demonstrating a full end-to-end operational cycle—from receiving verbal commands to executing complex tasks such as navigation, locomotion, scene understanding, object detection, localization, grasping, and natural language processing. This cycle showcases the robot’s ability to understand and interact with its environment in real time.
The prototype employs cutting-edge technologies, including:
- Sim2Real Learning: Utilizes a simulation-based reinforcement learning framework to train the robot with vast amounts of data, followed by efficient real-world application.
- NeRF-based Mapping: Creates dynamic 3D cognitive maps from the environment for accurate item and place recognition, facilitating sophisticated navigation and obstacle avoidance.
- Transformer-based LLMs: Powers the robot’s advanced natural language understanding capabilities, enabling it to process and execute verbal commands effectively.
The production-ready version of MenteeBot, expected to be available by Q1 2025, will feature proprietary electric motors and camera-only sensing technology. These innovations provide the robot with unparalleled dexterity and cognitive abilities, making it a powerful tool for enhancing productivity and operational efficiency in both households and industrial warehouses.
