RIDC SIGNS NEW TENANT AT MILL 19

Carnegie Mellon University spin-off Instinct Robotics is joining tenants including the Advanced Robotics in Manufacturing Institute and the Manufacturing Futures Institute, both created by CMU, as well as Motional, YKK AP, and Catalyst Connection at RIDC’s Mill 19 at Hazelwood Green.

Though a small, early-stage company, Instinct Robotics adds to the array of technology and robotics companies at the site. Adjacent to Mill 19, CMU is building a new Robotics Innovation Center and the University of Pittsburgh is building BioForge.

Instinct Robotics’ five-year lease is for 3,000 square feet of previously unoccupied space on the third floor of Mill 19’s Building A.

Instinct Robotics develops end-to-end robotic systems that automate “contact-rich” manufacturing tasks such as grinding, welding and polishing. The company’s generalist models use advanced computer vision, optimization and reinforcement learning theories to automatically scan workpieces, conduct expert level treatment. This “scan and plan” AI eliminates most manual robot programming and makes plug and play automation feasible even for complex, high?mix manufacturing environments.

“Mill 19 has become the heart of Pittsburgh’s innovation economy. Moving here puts us next door to world-class partners and talent from CMU, the ARM Institute and the broader robotics community,” said Weiye Zhao, co-founder and CEO of Instinct Robotics. “Our mission is to free manufacturers from tedious, dangerous finishing work through AI-driven robots that handle arbitrarily complex shapes and materials. For the next milestone, we will deploy pilots with local and global manufacturers and expand our team – adding multiple field engineers and full stack robotics engineers along our commercial rollout. Mill 19 provides the ideal space and community to grow.”

Founded by CMU PhD graduates Weiye Zhao (CEO), Tianhao Wei (COO), Rui Chen (CTO), and Robotics Institute faculty member Changliu Liu (Chief Scientist), Instinct Robotics has secured a multi-million-dollar seed funding round led by Valor Equity Partners, who is also the lead investor in Tesla and SpaceX. The start-up is initially focusing on the rapidly expanding material-removal market, with a platform designed to lower costs while enhancing quality and worker safety.

RIDC Senior Vice President Tim White noted how, “with Mill 19 as its centerpiece, Hazelwood has become a focal point for development, particularly in AI, robotics, life sciences and other tech sectors that are part of the region’s innovation economy. With residential, recreational and community-oriented development also underway, the site is becoming a vibrant, mixed-use asset for the community and the region.”