Munich Startup: Who are you and what do you do at Robominds? Please introduce yourselves!
Robominds: We are the Robominds founders Tobias Rietzler (29), an electrical engineer who studied electrical engineering at TU, and Andreas Däubler (33), a professionally trained software developer and autodidact. During his studies, Tobi lived in a shared apartment with his cousin – and because his cousin and Andi are a couple, they inevitably shared lots of evenings (and beer) while talking about countless ideas, among them the idea for Robominds. One thing is certain: We’ll never run out of ideas.
Munich Startup: What problem does your startup solve?
Robominds: We make robots smart – which makes industrial robotics future-proof for companies of all sizes. Because robots with our software can independently see, understand, grasp objects and have their own hand-eye coordination, long periods of training are eliminated – along with coordinate-based robotics. Our solution can easily learn entire processes, for example order picking: From order processing to path finding or even controlling the robot arm and vision system, it all functions automatically in the end. For SMEs in particular, this will transform the much discussed topic of Industry 4.0 from a buzzword into reality.
Munich Startup: But that’s nothing out of the box!
Robominds: It is in this depth and breadth. We’re definitely not the only ones researching and working in this area, but our work does not depend on specific robot and component manufacturers or their interfaces. Virtually anyone can integrate our robobrain suite into their production or logistic environments, (almost) regardless of how the company is positioned in the area.
Munich Startup: Was there a point when you nearly failed?
Robominds: Life is a highway – sometimes things come at you from all sides. But what we concentrate on first and foremost is not being pushed aside. A reliable investor and good expert contacts are amazingly helpful for just that.
Constant growth with room for more
Munich Startup: How is business going?
Robominds: We’re seeing constant growth, but of course there’s room for more. We’ve also managed to make it into a museum: Since early this year at the Deutsches Museum, a cobot has been on display, a collaborative robot. They can work in close quarters with people as opposed to conventional industrial robots. Although it was built by a Danish company, we were the ones who wrote the software and taught the robot how to grab objects.
Munich Startup: What do you think about Munich as a startup location?
Robominds: Munich’s major advantages for us are how it attracts talent and the strong role Bavaria plays in business, research and networking. The business and research associations are strong and recruiting employees is also relatively easy for us here. Of course in terms of investments, you often find yourself looking enviously across the pond, and there are certainly more affordable cities when it comes to things like office rent – but as a whole, we are wholehearted Munich residents and very happy to be here.
Munich Startup: Get up early in the morning or pull all-nighters?
Robominds: Andi gets up early, Tobi pulls all-nighters – and our team is complementary in just the same way. We also make sure everyone has good coffee.