Building an AI-first Robotics Platform for Artists

Kuju is a robotics platform for artists, informed by how artists work, instead of the other way around. Modern automation and tooling software were engineered strictly to serve factory production and assembly lines, we are reimagining the technology to serve artists. Including rewriting the system to be intelligent, contextual, easy and automated where you need it to be. This means factoring in wisdom that has survived artists for centuries, while building native solutions that tackle the biggest challenges facing artists today.

Throughout history, artists have faced extraordinary physical tolls. The Renaissance showed us that great sculptors required dozens of helpers for the grueling, backbreaking tasks of the work. This history showed us that even solo greats often worked to the point of starvation and physical exhaustion. They showed us that it took years to complete a single piece. Leaving behind great works, including many unfinished, and many kept only in the dreams of the artist. Today, those challenges have only marginally improved.

The technology of the past times was chisel and hammer. Knowledge was held by mentors and artists. The agency that artists held then is as important as the agency artists hold today. Our vision is to serve the artist, preserve their agency and put powerful assisted capability in their hands, so they can release their art dreams and do more.

From seamless learning loops, art making toolpaths that understand the medium, the process of prototyping in soft material, finishing in hard material, easily learned assembly operations and an OS that understands the demands of your craft. We’re inventing a system that learns from you as an extension of you, while giving you the agency to decide whether to share your wisdom or maintain maximum privacy for which only you have the keys.

And the best part about it is you don’t have to be a technician or a robotics engineer to use the system. If you sculpt prototypes by hand, the system is designed to help you translate those prototypes into toolpaths that can carve or assemble art pieces the way you envision. If you work in 3D, the system will translate your 3D into toolpaths. If you change your mind a lot, the system allows you to jump in and collaborate by hand for as many rounds as desired.