Robotics startup Lyte AI Inc. launched today as it announced that it has raised $107 million in funding.

Founded in 2021 by former top members of the team behind Apple Inc.’s Face ID, Lyte is trying to solve the problem of how robots perceive and understand their environment. The company is creating a unified perception platform that combines multiple sensing technologies into a single, integrated system that differs from traditional robotic systems that rely on basic sensors or separate components for vision and motion.

Lyte’s LyteVision integrates three types of data sources — visual imaging (cameras), inertial motion sensing and an advanced 4D sensor — into one cohesive perception engine. The 4D sensor does more than just detect distances but also measures how objects are moving over time to give robots a richer understanding of spatial and dynamic environments than systems that treat these data streams separately.

The system is described by Lyte as a “visual brain” for robots, in that it offers more than just eyes versus being a combination of sensory input and processing power that enables higher-level understanding. The functionality allows robots to not only see objects but also interpret motion, anticipate obstacles and make real-time decisions based on what they detect.

Lyte’s tech is designed to scale across a wide range of robotic platforms, including mobile robots and robotic arms to humanoids and autonomous vehicles like robotaxis. The unified sensor suite and artificial intelligence layer also aim to make robotic vision robust enough for messy, real-world conditions, not just controlled environments.

“We are trying to take the best things that Apple taught us – on attention to detail, operational excellence and how to excite and wow the customers – in order to bring this to the robotics market,” co-founder and Chief Executive Alexander Shpunt said in an interview with Bloomberg. “Apple was definitely a good school. We realize that perception and more generally, having robots understand what they do, be safe and immediately react to the world — not be a zombie robot — is something that we would like to solve. So we went to solve that problem.”

Investors in Lyte include Fidelity Management & Research Co., Atreides Management LP, EXOR Ventures B.V., Key1 Capital Management LP, VentureTech Alliance and a number of private investors.

Photo: Lyte