Machina Labs’ RoboCraftsman is an AI-driven manufacturing cell that may flip digital designs into production-grade steel components. | Supply: Machina Labs
Machina Labs Inc. this week mentioned it has closed a $124 million Sequence C spherical and deployed its first large-scale clever manufacturing unit. The corporate mentioned the funding will assist it scale from innovation to deployment of software-defined manufacturing infrastructure. Its purpose is to help manufacturing of mission-critical steel buildings.
“The world’s most superior designs are being held again by Twentieth-century factories,” mentioned Edward Mehr, co-founder and CEO of Machina Labs. “This spherical permits us to scale manufacturing infrastructure that strikes on the velocity of software program. We’re not simply making components; we’re reprogramming the manufacturing unit itself to serve aerospace, protection, and automotive clients who can’t afford to attend.”
Woven Capital, Toyota’s growth-stage enterprise arm, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Balerion House Ventures, and Strategic Improvement Fund (SDF) invested within the spherical.
Based in 2019, Machina Labs mentioned it’s “constructing the subsequent era of clever, adaptive, and software-driven factories.” The Los Angeles-based firm‘s RoboCraftsman platform integrates superior robotics and AI-driven course of controls to quickly manufacture complicated steel buildings.
Machina Labs facility targets a variety of complicated buildings
Machina Labs plans to make use of a good portion of the funding to launch its good manufacturing unit within the U.S. This will probably be a 200,000-sq.-ft. (18,580.6 sq. m), production-ready facility. It should home as much as 50 RoboCraftsman cells and produce hundreds of structural assemblies yearly for protection and aerospace clients, the corporate mentioned.
From missile buildings to airframes, Machina Labs designed its clever manufacturing unit to manufacture a variety of complicated steel buildings, with out important retooling or reconfiguration. Powered by the corporate’s RoboCraftsman platform, the clever manufacturing unit will allow clients to maneuver from digital design to manufacturing inside the identical facility, compressing timelines from months to days.
“We consider Machina Labs’ AI-driven manufacturing strategy will play a key position in shaping the way forward for aerospace manufacturing,” mentioned Chris Moran, vp and normal supervisor at Lockheed Martin Ventures. “The launch of their new manufacturing unit marks a serious step ahead, demonstrating how clever, robotic manufacturing can deliver higher velocity, precision, and scalability to the business.”
Programs deliver collectively forming, machining, welding, and meeting
Machina Labs is actively supporting U.S. authorities and industrial packages the place velocity of manufacturing has grow to be a strategic constraint. The corporate has secured contract awards from the U.S. Air Power Analysis Laboratory and the U.S. Air Power Speedy Sustainment Workplace. It’s working with a number one protection prime on steel buildings manufacturing for missiles and hypersonics.
By integrating forming, machining, welding, and meeting right into a single clever manufacturing unit, Machina Labs mentioned it lays the groundwork for a future by which manufacturing capability could be deployed, scaled, and tailored as dynamically as software program.
“Fashionable protection methods are sometimes restricted not by design, however by how briskly they are often manufactured,” mentioned Phil Scully, normal accomplice and co-founder at Balerion House Ventures. “Machina Labs is constructing the manufacturing spine required to shut that hole and function as a real Tier 1 accomplice.”
Whereas protection stays a core focus, the RoboCraftsman platform is inherently dual-use, supporting industrial innovation alongside nationwide safety wants. The corporate continues to work intently with Toyota to develop production-quality automotive panels that unlock design freedom and allow speedy customization at scale.
“The automotive business has lengthy been the proving floor for manufacturing innovation,” mentioned Ro Gupta, managing director at Woven Capital. “Machina Labs is pioneering clever forming expertise that brings craft-level precision to industrial scale, enabling the versatile, responsive manufacturing that next-generation mobility calls for. That is precisely the form of innovation that can form superior manufacturing’s future, and we’re proud to help their journey.”
