总部位于芝加哥的 Formic 公司向美国工厂出租机器人，该公司已筹集 5000 万美元资金。目前其机器人是为特定任务而制造。这笔资金将助力其转向通用型机器，使其能承担更多种类的工厂作业。《Axios》周四率先报道了这轮融资，此前首席执行官 Saman Farid 接受了 Natalie Breymeyer 的采访。Formic 当天也正式宣布了该消息。
Formic, a Chicago company that rents robots to American factories, has raised $50M. Today its robots are built for specific tasks. The money will help it move to general-purpose machines that can take on more kinds of factory work. Axios first reported the round on Thursday, after chief executive Saman Farid spoke to Natalie Breymeyer. Formic announced it the same day.
这笔资金由 Mercato Partners 领投的 B 轮融资与 S2G Investments 提供的债务融资组成。Formic 未披露这 5000 万美元在两者间的具体分配比例。Light Ray Ventures、Lightscape Partners 和 Citi 也参与了投资。早期投资人 Stephan Cizmar 在 X 平台上透露，Lux Capital、Initialized Capital、Blackhorn Ventures 和 Lorimer Ventures 追加了投资。
The money combines a Series B led by Mercato Partners with debt financing from S2G Investments. Formic did not say how the $50M splits between the two. Light Ray Ventures, Lightscape Partners and Citi also invested. Lux Capital, Initialized Capital, Blackhorn Ventures and Lorimer Ventures put in more money too.
“制造一台性能强劲的机器人，和让它在真实工厂里高效运转，是两个完全不同的挑战，”Farid 在声明中表示。
Early investor Stephan Cizmar named them on“Building a capable robot and making it productive in a real factory are two very different challenges,” Farid said in a statement.
按月付费使用机器人 Formic 成立于 2020 年，销售其所谓的 “机器人即服务”。客户支付一笔月费，即可获得机器人、软件、维护和融资服务，无需前期成本。Formic 负责确保机器持续运行。
Robots for a monthly fee Formic, founded in 2020, sells what it calls Robot-as-a-Service. Customers pay one monthly fee for the robots, the software, maintenance and financing, with no upfront cost. Formic takes responsibility for keeping the machines running.
该公司称，其在 30 多个州的 100 多家工厂运行着数百台机器人。这些机器人为食品、包装、化工、航空航天和国防客户执行码垛、装箱、看护机床和组装套件等任务。Formic 表示，其机器人队列已累计记录超过 75 万小时的实际生产运行时间。公司报告称正常运行时间达 99.6%，并称 97% 的客户选择续约。《TNW》未核实这些数据。
The company says it runs hundreds of robots in more than 100 facilities across over 30 states. They palletise, pack cases, tend machines and assemble kits for food, packaging, chemicals, aerospace and defence customers. Formic says its fleet has logged more than 750,000 hours of live production. It reports 99.6% uptime, and says 97% of customers renew. TNW has not verified those figures.
“随着机器人变得更聪明，瓶颈已从实验室转移到装卸码头：如何在真实工厂中部署、维护和为机器人提供融资，”Mercato Partners 常务董事 Ryan Sanders 表示，他将加入 Formic 董事会。
“As robots get smarter, the bottleneck moves from the lab to the loading dock: deploying, servicing and financing robots in real plants,” said Ryan Sanders, managing director at Mercato Partners, who joins Formic’s board.
从单一任务到多任务 下一步是通用机器人技术。Formic 正与 Physical Intelligence 合作，利用 Formic 的生产数据，将该公司的机器人基础模型改造用于工厂作业。Physical Intelligence 在其 API 进入公测时提及了这项工作。
From one task to many The next step is general-purpose robotics. Formic is working with Physical Intelligence to adapt that company’s robot foundation models for factory work, using Formic’s production data. Physical Intelligence mentioned the work when it opened its API in beta.
随公告发布的视频显示，一个人形机器人正将袋子装入箱子。它在一台 Formic 码垛机旁作业。Formic 称这是这一转变的早期展示。公司还计划进军金属加工领域，并在航空航天、太空、国防、医疗和能源领域拓展更多业务。
A video with the announcement shows a humanoid robot packing bags into a box. It works next to a Formic palletiser. Formic calls it an early look at the shift. It also plans to move into metal fabrication and to do more in aerospace, space, defence, medical and energy.
公司在伊利诺伊州 Bolingbrook 的新工厂组装和测试机器人，在加利福尼亚州 Oakland 开展研究。公司表示，现在将机器人投入生产的速度比一年前快约三倍。
The company assembles and tests its robots at a new site in Bolingbrook, Illinois, and runs research in Oakland, California. It says it now puts robots into production about three times faster than a year ago.
谁获得价值 物理 AI 热潮引发了一个问题，Axios 指出：价值在于制造机器人和模型，还是在于让它们投入工作。Agility 等机器人制造商正在为人形机器人配备 Nvidia 计算机，Google 正在为工厂机器人开发软件。其他公司出售数据，如 Maxinsights，本周刚融资 3000 万美元。Formic 称其业务是让机器人投入工作。
Who gets the value The physical AI boom raises a question, Axios noted: whether the value lies in building robots and models or in putting them to work. Robot makers such as Agility are fitting Nvidia computers into humanoids, and Google is building software for factory robots. Others sell the data, such as Maxinsights, which raised $30M this week. Formic says its business is putting them to work.
Shawn Fitzgerald 是 Formic 的首席营销官。他在 LinkedIn 上写道，今年每两个美国公民中就有一个吃过或用过由其机器人包装或码垛的产品。TNW 未核实该数字。
Shawn Fitzgerald is Formic’s chief marketing officer. He wrote on LinkedIn that one in two US citizens has eaten or used a product packed or stacked by its robots this year. TNW has not verified that figure.