Icarus raises $6.1M to take on space's "warehouse work" with embodied-AI robots | TechCrunch

"Icarus Robotics cofounders Ethan Barajas and Jamie Palmer spent hours interviewing astronauts about what it was like working in space as they homed in on their startup idea. Their big takeaway: the work was often more cargo logistics than cutting-edge science. "We're Amazon warehouse workers with PhDs," one astronaut said. If an experiment takes two hours on station, the person continued, the first ninety minutes are spent just moving around cargo and preparing tools."

"It's a dismal waste of top talent. "These astronauts that are trained for two years, that come from some of the craziest military backgrounds and some of the smartest, most trained people on Earth, spend 14 days unpacking, repacking those back, just moving them around," Barajas said. The logistical burden is tied to cargo resupply. Every 60 days or so, roughly three-and-a-half tons of cargo arrive at the International Space Station, and all of it must be unpacked and stowed."

"Barajas and Palmer, who met at the Entrepreneurs First organization, knew there had to be a better way. Their pitch: use intelligent, dexterous robots to take over these time-sucking chores. But they're not starting with humanoid robots. Instead, Icarus is taking an iterative approach and starting with a simpler, fan-propelled robot with two robot arms outfitted with jaw grippers. Icarus just raised a $6.1 million seed round led by Soma Capital and Xtal, with participation from Nebular and Massive Tech Ventures to get there."

Icarus Robotics founders Ethan Barajas and Jamie Palmer found that much of astronauts' time on the ISS is consumed by cargo logistics rather than experiments. Astronauts often spend large portions of experiment time unpacking, preparing tools, and moving cargo; some crews spend up to 14 days handling supplies. Cargo resupply cycles deliver roughly 3.5 tons every 60 days, which must be unpacked and stowed. Icarus proposes dexterous robots to perform unpacking and stowing tasks. The company is building a fan-propelled robot with two arms and jaw grippers, arguing bimanual manipulation with jaw grippers provides about 80% of needed dexterity. The startup raised a $6.1 million seed round to develop it.

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