Trener Robotics has secured a major boost as it pushes to redefine how industrial robots are programmed and deployed on factory floors. The company, formerly known as T Robotics, announced a 32 million dollar Series A round to accelerate the development of its AI driven robot skills platform for manufacturing, marking a significant step in its ambition to make robots more adaptive, intuitive, and scalable across complex production environments.
Funding fuels rapid scale up
The Series A round was co led by Engine Ventures and IAG Capital Partners, with participation from strategic investors Cadence and Geodesic Capital through Nikon’s NFocus Fund. The raise follows closely after Trener Robotics’ seed round, bringing total funding to more than 38 million dollars. The new capital will be used to expand the company’s T Labs research and development, train new robotic skills, hire global talent, and grow its partner ecosystem and market presence.
Replacing rigid code with conversational automation
At the centre of Trener Robotics’ offering is Acteris, a robot agnostic skills platform designed to move industrial automation beyond brittle, code heavy programming. Instead of relying on fixed scripts, Acteris allows operators to describe tasks in natural language, transforming conversational input into executable automation. The platform uses physical AI to combine vision, language, and motion, enabling robots to adapt in real time to changing parts and unstructured environments.
Trained on visual, haptic, language, and action data, Acteris allows robots to self learn and operate more like human coworkers. Manufacturers using the platform gain access to natural language programming interfaces, vision based part identification even in challenging conditions, adaptive motion planning, intelligent collision avoidance, and real time dashboards for monitoring production performance.
A practical platform for the shop floor
Unlike research focused generalist systems or narrowly scripted automation tools, Acteris is designed to work with the robots manufacturers already own. The platform runs on existing equipment and improves continuously through real production feedback. This approach lowers barriers to adoption and shortens time to value, particularly for factories dealing with high mix, low volume production.
Dr Asad Tirmizi, co founder and CEO of Trener Robotics, said industrial robotics has long been constrained by dynamic complexity, limiting robots to repetitive tasks in tightly controlled settings. He explained that the company is replacing procedural programming with a control system built around a growing library of production ready skills, allowing robots to become intelligent, adaptable teammates rather than fixed purpose machines.
Growing traction in Europe and the US
In 2025, Trener Robotics gained strong momentum across Europe and the United States. The company has worked with more than 15 solution and integration partners and has integrated leading robot brands such as ABB, Universal Robots, and FANUC into the Acteris platform. Strategic backing from Cadence and Nikon highlights the importance of combining embodied intelligence with advanced vision, compute, and simulation to scale physical AI in industrial settings.
Engine Ventures, which also co led the company’s seed round, pointed to Trener Robotics’ execution speed and partner led distribution as key strengths, positioning Acteris as a foundational intelligence layer for physical automation.
Meeting a growing market need
Demand for flexible and adaptable automation is accelerating, driven by labour shortages, rising costs, and the need for faster returns on investment. The market for these solutions is growing at over 14 percent annually. According to IAG Capital Partners, Trener Robotics is well positioned to serve manufacturers of all sizes, particularly small and mid sized enterprises looking to expand automation beyond traditional use cases.
Founded in 2024 by Dr Asad Tirmizi and Dr Lars Tingelstad, Trener Robotics draws on deep expertise in robotics, manufacturing research, and AI. The company has already earned industry recognition, including a Machine Tool Innovation Award at EMO Hannover and winning the ABB AI Startup Challenge, reflecting a broader shift toward AI native robotics that can learn, adapt, and operate with greater autonomy.