Again to high school: robots study from manufacturing facility employees

By Anthony King

What if coaching a robotic to deal with soiled, harmful work on the manufacturing facility flooring was so simple as exhibiting it how? Czech startup RoboTwin is doing precisely that, serving to manufacturing facility employees educate robots new expertise by demonstration.

As a substitute of writing advanced code, employees carry out the job as soon as and RoboTwin’s expertise turns these actions right into a robotic programme – opening the door to automation for smaller producers.

Based in Prague in 2021, RoboTwin builds handheld units and no-code software program that seize human actions and translate them into directions for industrial robots. The goal is to make automation quicker, easier and extra accessible to producers that do not need specialist robotics programmers.

“The robotic principally copies the human demonstration,” stated Megi Mejdrechová, RoboTwin’s co-founder and chief expertise officer. “Folks with no coding expertise can switch their know-how and expertise to robots.”

Mejdrechová, a mechanical engineer skilled on the Czech Technical College in Prague, developed the core expertise behind RoboTwin throughout her work in robotics analysis and business. Her expertise in robotic management utilizing AI and pc imaginative and prescient impressed her to create one thing sensible for European producers.

“Czech engineering is kind of conventional and targeted on scientific papers,” stated Mejdrechová. “Visits to Singapore and Canada and different work experiences led me to concentrate on making a product that folks might use.”

Getting began

In 2021, Mejdrechová entered a leap‑starter programme and gained first prize within the manufacturing class. “We noticed then that there was potential for the expertise,” she stated.

This inspired her to start out RoboTwin with colleagues Ladislav Dvořák and David Polák, who shared her enthusiasm for human‑robotic partnerships. Mejdrechová acquired backing from Ladies TechEU, an EU scheme supporting ladies founders of deep‑tech startups. 

The RoboTwin group shared their outcomes on the Horizon Outcomes Platform, a web based showcase for EU‑funded improvements, which led to an invite to the EU’s Empowering Begin‑ups and SMEs initiative. 

This helped fund their journey to Hannover Messe 2025, a significant international manufacturing commerce honest, and opened doorways to new enterprise contacts and offers.

By way of a mixture of private and non-private funding, RoboTwin has secured funding to refine its expertise and increase to producers in Central Europe, the Netherlands, Mexico and Canada.

In 2025, Mejdrechová was named in Forbes Czechia’s 30 Below 30 record for her work in making the coaching of robots accessible to extra producers.

Education robots

On the coronary heart of RoboTwin’s system is a handheld system outfitted with sensors. When a employee performs a job, for instance spray portray a metallic part, the system information the motion and converts it right into a robotic programme that may be reused in manufacturing.

As a substitute of requiring a specialist engineer to manually code each motion, the system captures the employee’s pure method and interprets it into exact directions a robotic can comply with.

“We began with jobs which can be ugly, soiled and unhealthy for employees to do manually,” stated Mejdrechová.

Due to the no‑coding system, the course of could be accomplished in a couple of steps and sometimes takes a couple of minute. For factories producing small batches or ceaselessly altering merchandise, this pace could make automation way more sensible than conventional robotic programming.

Making automation simple for all

Robotics in manufacturing will not be new. The automotive business already leads the way in which with about 23 000 new robots added to manufacturing strains in 2024. However whereas massive firms can make investments closely, automation stays difficult and costly for a lot of SMEs.

That is the place RoboTwin lends a hand. It has assisted companies within the floor‑therapy business – firms that powder coat, paint or polish metallic or plastic components for automotive factories.

“Even when the batch of merchandise you’re producing is small, with our method you’ll be able to create a robotic programme quick and simply,” stated Mejdrechová.

For instance, RoboTwin has assisted RobPainting, a Dutch firm that robotises portray for SMEs to enhance high quality, cut back prices and minimise rework. 

“With our system we will educate the robotic exact trajectories which can be wanted for a product and about its environment,” stated David Vobr, a robotics specialist at RoboTwin who typically assists prospects.

Harmful jobs

RoboTwin’s system can work with a variety of business robots, together with collaborative robots designed to function safely alongside people.

“We will have manipulators or portray robots and likewise collaborative robots, which might work alongside people as a result of they’ve sensors that inform them when to cease transferring if somebody might get harm,” stated Vobr.

RoboTwin initially targeted on floor therapy in manufacturing, the place duties comparable to spray portray require employees to put on protecting clothes and carry out repetitive actions.

“These jobs are troublesome to automate as a result of there’s typically loads of hidden motion concerned,” stated Mejdrechová, referring to small changes and gestures that employees make instinctively.

The sector additionally faces labour shortages.

“Persons are typically not comfortable doing these items and there’s a lack of employees prepared to take these jobs. So there’s a excessive demand for automation.”

Clients report that many robotic programmes can now be created with out shutting down a manufacturing line.

RoboTwin has already labored with a lot of firms, together with Surfin Expertise, a Czech firm specialising in robotic coating options, and Progressive Ending Options in Canada, which brings its expertise to North American prospects.

Scaling up

EU assist for RoboTwin is ongoing. A €2.3 million grant from the European Innovation Council secured in 2025 will assist speed up product improvement and market enlargement.

The funding will assist the following technology of RoboTwin’s expertise. As a substitute of relying solely on handbook demonstrations, the system will more and more use saved expertise and information to generate robotic programmes routinely primarily based on the form of an object.

The corporate says this might make automation viable for a lot of manufacturing duties that have been beforehand too advanced or expensive to automate.

For Europe, applied sciences like RoboTwin might play an necessary position in strengthening digital sovereignty and good industrial innovation. They might help smaller producers undertake superior robotics without having specialised programming experience.

As factories turn into extra versatile and data-driven, the power to rapidly educate robots new duties might show more and more helpful.

Mejdrechová believes this shift will assist carry automation inside attain of a a lot wider vary of firms.

“Our objective is to make robotic coaching one thing that employees can do themselves,” she stated. “If we succeed, automation will not be restricted to massive factories with specialised engineers. It can turn into a software that any producer can use.”

Analysis on this article was funded by the EU’s Horizon Programme. The views of the interviewees don’t essentially mirror these of the European Fee. If you happen to appreciated this text, please contemplate sharing it on social media.

This text was initially revealed in Horizon, the EU Analysis and Innovation journal.