The Munich startup Agile Robots develops both hardware and software for the next generation of intelligent robots. Tanja Barschow, Head of Communications at the spin-off from the German Aerospace Center, says in her #CoronaUpdate with Munich Startup:
“With our work, we want people to be able to work even closer with robots so robots can be used in even more fields of application.”
One pandemic restriction really got to Agile Robots
Corona has “spared thestartup somewhat,” comments Barschow. The shift to working from home went well and provided enough space for the employees who needed to be in the office to work. Despite the crisis, Agile Robots was able to continue to grow its team over the past few months.
One aspect that did really get to the startup were the travel restrictions:
“We have a second office in Peking, in China, and have worked together quite closely with our Chinese colleagues so far. We were there quite often and conducted tests there.”
That of course has not been possible lately.
“But there is light at the end of the tunnel. We just sent the first team back over, but have obviously taken special safety measures. We hope the situation will become at least a bit more stable in the future.”
The company even sees the crisis as an opportunity for the future of robotics and automation: The pandemic gives a clear example of a dangerous job that robots could take over for people:
“You could imagine a medical robot helping a doctor or their staff by taking swab samples. Then people would no longer be subjected to that risk.”