00:00New York based startup Standardbots has raised 200 million dollars in a new round of funding to scale its AI
00:05powered robots.
00:06As a company tracks to secure 10 percent actually of all robots deployed in the United States.
00:12CEO is actively advising Congress on banning Chinese competitors over national security risks.
00:18We can talk it all now with Standardbots co-founder CEO Evan Beard.
00:21Congratulations on the raise. Let's start there. Series C one billion dollar valuation.
00:25What do you need the 200 million for? Thanks so much. Thanks for having me back.
00:28So we're using this funding to quadruple our manufacturing footprint. We've got a huge backlog of demand.
00:34We're growing very quickly and to also invest in more R&D. So it's going to be in Long Island.
00:38I understand. How much sort of square footage. What sort of talent and R&D hardware do you need.
00:45Yeah. So we have an engineering office in New York City and our manufacturing space is 70,000 square feet.
00:50It's about an hour outside New York City. But we think is the best city on earth. The best place
00:53to build robotics business.
00:54And Standardbots now we believe is America's largest AI native industrial robot manufacturer.
00:59So and we're just getting started. And by stealth almost.
01:03How many do you already have deployed? How many are out there in the wild?
01:08What makes you such a significant force in robotics already?
01:10Yeah. Well I can say we have basically in every state we have small and medium businesses using our robot.
01:15And we have iconic companies in aerospace, automotive, oil and gas, data centers.
01:19So really we're working with the full gambit of folks that use robots.
01:24My favorite customer makes parts for the Long Island Railroad.
01:27And the reason I like that. You shouldn't pick favorite children.
01:29Yeah. They were our first customer. Still a customer after a few years.
01:33And it's really emblematic of everyone who uses our robot, which is they're making the things that make America.
01:38Whether it's the infrastructure or the products that we use.
01:42So the railroad. Are they kind of playing at using robots and understanding how they're going to work with them
01:48in the future?
01:48Are they really giving an awful lot of hard duty work to these humanoids?
01:54Are they able or arms that you make? Are they able to hire less for example?
01:57Yeah. It's a good question. Investors ask that.
01:59But 85% of our robots are doing production work.
02:02So these are not pilots. These are not just testing things out.
02:05They're actually doing a job. And we think of robots as the power tool of the 21st century.
02:10So they really enable a worker to do much more work before.
02:14They improve the efficiency of our country and our workforce.
02:16And Caroline, the problem that we see and what we said to Congress was the United States right now is
02:21not competitive in manufacturing.
02:23If you look at the United States against China and other countries, it can be 5 to 10x cheaper to
02:27make your parts in those countries.
02:29And so we think robots are this foundational technology that we as a country need to be more competitive, to
02:34be able to compete, and to ultimately bring back jobs and bring back our manufacturing base.
02:39Foundational technology. Now, you need the models to be able to drive these robots.
02:44I'm interested as to what you've done. I mean, many would say, NVIDIA in particular, are saying that we're not
02:48quite there yet with physical AI.
02:50We're going to have this chat GPT moment.
02:51But how are you seeing these models evolving or, indeed, your robots able to change and diversify?
02:57Yeah, it's a great question. And it's a reason why the U.S. can take a lead in robotics right
03:01now.
03:01And the answer there is we're focused on training robots through demonstrations.
03:05So you show them what to do. We have a handheld device for that.
03:07And you can just perform the task. And you don't have to be an expert.
03:10And what it allows us to do is take an average assembly worker, a manufacturing worker, and they can now
03:15program a robot and train an AI model.
03:17And this allows the robots to handle variability that they couldn't before. It allows them to do jobs that you
03:21just couldn't automate before.
03:23Because today's robots, most people don't know, they really just replay motions.
03:26You program them millimeter by millimeter, and they can play through and paint and weld that way.
03:30But they're so limiting. And so this is a fundamental change in what's possible and what you can automate with
03:35your robots.
03:36And so, Evan, many would say, well, you're getting people to train their replacements.
03:42How are those that are working at the railroad feeling about helping train these robots?
03:46What do you see as the future of manufacturing workforce?
03:48It's a fair question. It's one we think about a lot.
03:51And my favorite anecdote in this regard is really from Milton Freeman.
03:54And he visited a job site in the 70s.
03:56And he asked, why aren't they using earth moving equipment?
03:58It was in a developing country, and they were digging with shovels.
04:01And they said, well, this is a jobs project.
04:03So if we gave them shovels, if we gave them earth moving equipment, it would create way fewer jobs.
04:07And he said, well, why don't you just give them spoons?
04:09And the point that Milton was making was you earn the right to create high-paying jobs by creating something
04:14of economic value.
04:15And I think the United States, in this next transition, wants to be on the right side of that.
04:19And we want to use the tools, which in the physical world, it's robots.
04:23And we really view them as this power tool, like a drill for workers to be more efficient and be
04:28able to do more.
04:29And we want to be on the right side of that.
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