Mentee Robotics hasn’t exactly been in the limelight. The Israeli company gained some media attention in late 2022, following Tesla’s announcement about humanoid robotics. However, since it was just founded that year, there wasn’t much for them to showcase at the time. Despite that, the company still managed to make headlines because of its co-founder and chair, Amnon Shashua. Shashua is also known for his involvement in Mobileye and the well-funded AI firm, AI21 Labs.
But on Wednesday, Mentee Robotics gave a sneak peek of its own take on the rapidly growing humanoid category, unveiling Menteebot. In its current form, the system stands out as a unique approach compared to other humanoid robots on the market. In fact, it blurs the lines of what exactly defines a humanoid system.
It’s important to note that the robot on display is still in the prototype stage, though its creators believe it has made significant progress to warrant a public debut after two years in stealth mode. And with Shashua’s impressive track record, it’s no surprise that computer vision and generative AI are driving forces behind Menteebot.
“We are on the cusp of a convergence of computer vision, natural language understanding, strong and detailed simulators, and methodologies on and for transferring from simulation to the real world,” the founder says in a release. “At Mentee Robotics we see this convergence as the starting point for designing the future general-purpose bi-pedal robot that can move everywhere (as a human) with the brains to perform household tasks and learn through imitation tasks it was not previously trained for.”
It’s clear that perception and reasoning will play a crucial role in shaping the future of this category, and Mentee has a solid foundation with its team’s expertise. In addition to Shashua, the founding team consists of CEO and former Facebook AI Research director Lior Wolf and Shai Shalev-Shwartz, a professor at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel and current Mobileye CTO. Thanks to this lineup, the company has raised a total of $17 million so far, led by Ahren Innovation Capital.
Mentee is aiming to make a big impact in both the industrial and home markets with its broad scope. Typically, humanoid manufacturers focus on the industrial sector first, as there is a demand for additional labor and deeper pockets, along with more structured environments to work in. However, Mentee has its sights set on both markets from the get-go.
As for when consumers can expect to see a production-ready prototype, Mentee plans to unveil it in early 2025. But in the meantime, the company is showcasing how AI models can assist in completing tasks.
Here’s how Mentee utilizes AI models, according to the company:
- Transformer-based Large Language Models (LLMs) are used for interpreting commands and “thinking through” the required steps for completing the task.
- An emphasis is placed on the ability to integrate locomotion and dexterity, such as dynamically balancing the robot when carrying weights or reaching out with the hands.
With this exciting new development, Mentee Robotics is paving the way for a future of advanced humanoid robots that can perform a variety of tasks and adapt to new situations.
