Acumino
"Scalable Physical AI"
Physical AI startup founded 2021; hardware-agnostic dexterous robot models for industry. Raised $11.7M seed Jun 2026 via Google DeepMind accelerator.
Acumino is a physical AI company founded in 2021 that develops hardware-agnostic AI-powered robot models for dexterous tasks in industrial automation. The company is incorporated in the United States and maintains operations in New Zealand and Greece. Acumino was co-founded by Minas Liarokapis, who serves as CTO and Chief Scientist and is also an Associate Professor at the University of Auckland.
Acumino's core technology focuses on enabling robots to perform complex, dexterous manipulation tasks that have historically been resistant to automation. The company positions its models as hardware-agnostic, meaning they can be deployed across a variety of robotic hardware platforms rather than being tied to a single robot manufacturer's ecosystem. Target applications are in industrial environments where precise dexterity — fine manipulation, variable part handling, adaptive grasping — is required but conventional automation has struggled to deliver consistent results.
In June 2026, Acumino raised an $11.7 million seed funding round, as reported by Sifted. The round followed the company's selection by Google DeepMind for its inaugural European robotics accelerator cohort, a program announced in June 2026 selecting 15 early-stage robotics companies for three months of intensive mentorship and technical support integrating AI into core robotics products.
Prior to the seed round, Acumino had been scaling deployments with industrial customers, validating its physical AI approach across real production environments. The company signed an investment and exclusive distribution agreement with MegaChips Corporation for the Japanese market, representing an early international commercial milestone. Acumino is also part of the Endeavor Greece network.
Acumino's value proposition centers on unlocking dexterous automation ROI at scale — addressing the gap between general-purpose industrial robots and the precision manipulation requirements of specific production workflows such as assembly, parts kitting, and quality inspection tasks that demand human-like hand control.
Acumino's broader research context is grounded in academic work on dexterous robotic hands and soft robotics, given Liarokapis's academic background at the University of Auckland's Robotics Group. The company's approach emphasizes data-efficient learning — training robot models that generalize across tasks without requiring massive amounts of labeled demonstration data per task. This differentiates Acumino from companies that rely on large-scale teleoperation data collection for each new application. The platform targets SME and enterprise manufacturers seeking to automate variable-part workflows without the prohibitive setup cost of traditional fixed automation.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
Acumino robot foundation models
AI robot models enabling dexterous industrial automation with teleoperation-based skill learning.
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Contact Acumino
WEBSITE
https://acumino.ai/HEADQUARTERS
United States
Company Facts
Founded
2021
Primary Role
Software/Algorithm
Company Size
-
Primary Region
North America
Annual Sales
-
Funding Stage
-
Funding Total
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