Formic
Canvas Category Machinery : Industrial Robot : Machine Tending
Continuing the Legacy of American Innovation. We didn’t invent automated systems, but we democratized them. Because technology doesn’t change the world until you make it accessible to those who need it most. Automation is a necessity, not a luxury. And our mission is to continue the American legacy of innovation by making it your reality. Our team has deployed over 500 systems, and our 100+ System Integrator partners have more than 5,000 deployments under their belts, making us the ideal partner for any automation job.
Assembly Line
Mitsubishi Electric, ME Innovation Fund Invests in Formic Technologies
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) announced that its ME Innovation Fund has invested in Formic Technologies Inc., a U.S.-based startup company that designs, develops, and maintains industrial robots, offered through a subscription-based sales model. This is the eighth investment that the fund has made to date.
Through its investment in Formic Technologies, Mitsubishi Electric aims to develop a new business model that evolves its automation solutions into more accessible formats for its customers going forward.
Formic Raises $27.4 Million to Bring Automation to More Manufacturers
Formic, a provider of Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) automation for U.S. manufacturers, announced it has raised another $27.4 million in Series A financing led by Blackhorn Ventures with participation from Mitsubishi HC Capital America, NEC, Translink Capital, Alumni Ventures, FJ Labs, Lux Capital, Initialized Capital and Lorimer Ventures. This new funding brings the total Series A round to more than $52 million since January 2022.
With the new financing, Formic plans to:
- Expand its fleet of standardized equipment to provide more automation to more manufacturers, offering rapid deployment and shorter lead times (75% of Formic customers are automating their material handling processes for the first time)
- Increase its network of support experts across the U.S., enabling even faster customer response while continuing to uphold industry-leading maintenance service level agreements (SLAs)
- Enhance its equipment-agnostic robotic automation software that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) for motion planning, predictive maintenance and system design, as well as more intuitive customer interfaces and dashboards
Jacobi Robotics and Formic Team Up to Rapidly Configure Robotic Cells Using AI
Jacobi Robotics, a new company pioneering AI-driven motion planning for robot systems, and Formic, a leading robotics-as-a-service provider accelerating the adoption of automation across American manufacturing, today unveiled a strategic partnership to bring high-performance AI-powered robotics to manufacturers. Jacobi’s technology empowers robot solution providers like Formic to program and deploy the next wave of automation technology in less than one day compared to one month with existing tools, setting a new benchmark for operational efficiency.
The Jacobi-Formic alliance initially targets robotic palletizers that stack cases onto pallets for storage or shipment. More than $400 billion worth of American trade is exported annually on pallets. But the physically demanding task of manual palletizing ranks as the leading cause of worker compensation claims in the manufacturing sector. This challenge, coupled with a daunting labor shortage, drives the growing demand and deployment of robotic palletizers.
Formic: Automating Abundance
Formic doesn’t make robots. It makes it easy for manufacturers to adopt robots. Given the huge gap between their potential impact and actual deployment, I think it’s the most important part of the stack. If Formic succeeds, we’ll manufacture more, better things, more cheaply, in the US.
Formic is delivering Robots by the Hour to customers who don’t care who makes the robot or how, just that the job gets done well. Their customers don’t even want robots, really, they want reliable labor. That’s what Formic gives them. The model, and the company, is the brainchild of Saman Farid and Misa Ilkhechi. Misa’s LinkedIn model puts the societal value proposition clearly: Robots = Unlimited Labor.