NYC- based provider Tangent Robotics, a fine motor skill layer for robotic manipulation, raised $4.5M in pre-seed funding.
Fly Ventures and Toyota Ventures co-led the round, with contributions from Logos Fund and Sparked Ventures. The company will use the funds to expand operations and development.
The company creates high-precision light sensors for robotic fingers, hand devices modelled on human fingertip movement, and machine learning models that form a specialised “fine motor skill layer.” This enables robots to master intricate tasks, like assembly, threading, connector mating, and gear meshing, that currently exceed standard automation capabilities.
“Mastering the fine motor skills required for intricate robotic tasks is an immense technical hurdle, one that the team at Tangent has dedicated their entire careers to solving,” stated Matt Wichrowski, partner at Fly Ventures.
Spun out of Columbia Engineering’s Robotic Manipulation and Mobility Lab, Tangent Robotics was co-founded by Pedro Piacenza, robotics professor Matei Ciocarlie, and electronics expert Ioannis Kymissis. Their academic research produced the DISCO robot finger, which uses light to sense touch, and an optical robot hand recognised as one of Time Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2023.
Rather than mimicking human anatomy, which Ciocarlie compares to “building flying machines with flapping wings,” Tangent focuses on non-human-like components that still achieve superior dexterity. By integrating light-based touch sensors with specialised machine learning, the platform lets industrial robots execute precise tasks like assembly, threading, connector mating, and gear meshing.
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The company plans to use its $4.5 million pre-seed funding, a top-quartile deal size reflecting strong investor interest in fine-motor AI—to deploy these capabilities in real-world manufacturing and cut robot training time from days to hours.
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