Luma AI Opens Robotics Lab to Outside Engineers and Labs

Luma AI announced Monday that it is opening a robotics lab where outside engineers and labs can train robots on its software. The lab is described as an open science effort that will let visitors build their own systems on top of Luma’s technology. CEO Amit Jain said critical robotics software and infrastructure should not be controlled by one or two or three companies.

Luma, based in Palo Alto, is not developing hardware. The company raised $900 million last year at a $4 billion valuation. Its backers include Saudi-owned HUMAIN and Andreessen Horowitz. Until now Luma has focused on AI-enabled video products for advertising agencies and major corporations.

Jain said the startup wants to apply its video training data to program robots that can operate in unpredictable, real-world environments. “We’ve finally built enough conviction to believe that the technology has gotten good enough where it can actually be allowed to manifest into the physical world,” he said.

” Jain added that robotics training data should not be controlled by a single country or company.

He said the United States and China should share some technology, including chips and AI capabilities, but called for “quite a bit of discernment, quite a bit of separation” in critical systems such as robotics, healthcare, and defense.