A leading executive of Neura Robotics, David Reger, has advocated for robots to contribute to pension insurance. To strengthen the social acceptance of robotics, the revenue generated by future humanoid robots should be fairly distributed to finance social systems, particularly pensions, he said in an interview with the Spiegel.
The company’s CEO is optimistic about Germany’s potential to become a market leader in the young industry of humanoid robots. “Germany has a unique know-how in all the disciplines that are decisive for robotics” he said in the interview. “The market potential of cognitive robotics is greater than that of the smartphone.” The industry is on the verge of experiencing its “iPhone moment.”
Neura Robotics, based in Metzingen, produces the humanoid robot 4NE-1, among other machines and aims to build a robot platform along with an app store, enabling the global community to develop and program new applications for the humanoid robots. The company has recently raised 120 million euros in a financing round and Reger believes the industry could become a strong economic driver for Europe, just as the automotive industry was in the past.
The executive has developed a robotics strategy for the location of Germany, which includes an eight-point plan, reported by the Spiegel. He demands that individual foreign companies should no longer be enticed to settle in Germany with billion-euro subsidies. Instead, young, highly motivated companies should be given additional impetus. The founder of the company also advocates for nationwide educational initiatives in robotics and AI in schools.
Reger hopes that his robotics strategy will help create a strategic counterbalance in Germany, countering the large players from the US and China. The US, for instance, has primarily focused on software, while “our particular strength lies in hardware.” Gears and motors, the sensors for the “nervous system” of the robots – Germany is the world’s best-suited location to mass-produce these in high industrial quality.
He sees the first applications for the humanoids in industries with a high shortage of skilled workers. For example, Germany is lacking around 100,000 welders, according to Reger. Standard robotics cannot solve the problem, but the company’s robots will be able to learn welding, with humans only showing where to weld.