Making AI Headlines · Page 3
Physicl Trades Perfect Product Images for Floors Robots Cannot Ignore
· New York time
Physicl has raised $10 million in seed funding from Inovia Capital to develop more realistic simulations for robot builders and world model designers. Founder and CEO Alex de Vigan previously built nfinite, a business that helped brands and retailers create 3D product models for online display. The new venture is aimed at the sim-to-real gap: the difficulty of moving from a simulated training environment to the untidy physical world where a robot must actually work. The earlier platform was built to make products look appealing online. Physicl wants to repurpose that experience toward digital environments that are useful for training machines. The change in customers is significant. A retailer may want a convincing image of a product. A robot builder needs a simulation useful enough to prepare a machine for what happens beyond the screen. The two goals share digital tools, but their tests of success are not identical. The funding gives Physicl room to pursue the idea, not proof that the gap has been closed. Its premise is still a comic reversal: after years spent helping products look their best, the technology is being enlisted to make virtual environments behave more like the stubborn real thing. A robot cannot solve a misleading floor by improving the lighting.
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