Industrial robots aren't really good at handling textiles—at least not yet. If Sewts has its way, that's about to change. Founders Till Rickert, Tim Doerks, and Alexander Bley revealed exactly how in an interview.
Munich Startup: Till, Tim and Alexander, please introduce yourselves briefly.
Sewts: We are Till Rickert, Tim Doerks, and Alexander Bley. We met in 2012 at the beginning of our studies here at the Technical University of Munich and have been close friends ever since. During various industrial internships between our bachelor's and master's degrees, it became clear to all of us that we didn't see ourselves as small cogs in a large company, but rather wanted to work on our own ideas. This is how the idea of building our own company began to take shape in our minds.
Munich Startup: What exactly do you do at Sewts?
Sewts: At Sewts We are developing the brain for the industrial robots of tomorrow. Many industrial processes, such as the production of car seat covers, the sewing of our clothing, or even work steps in large-scale industrial laundries, cannot yet be automated. The problem lies in the material properties of textiles. Robots cannot predict how a textile will behave during a process or what wrinkles it will develop. For humans, this is an absolutely natural task.
New applications for industrial robots
Tim and Alex's background in fiber composites gave rise to the idea of using highly precise finite element simulations of textiles to – simply put – control robots. Using our artificial intelligence, we train robots to develop a human-like understanding of textile behavior. And because we don't want to generate thousands of training images ourselves, we've found a way to use textile simulations for this purpose.
In the long term, our technology opens up a wide range of new application areas for industrial robots. Our vision is the market-oriented, sustainable, and fully automated production of clothing textiles.
Munich Startup: Are you alone in the market with this idea?
Sewts: Of course, there are several startups and established companies working on the intelligent control of industrial robots. Our focus on the processing of textiles or, more generally, easily deformable materials puts us in a unique position. The production of vehicle seat covers or clothing is almost exclusively done by hand. We want to change that.
Munich Startup: What are you struggling with the most right now?
Sewts: In fact, one of our biggest challenges right now is attracting motivated and talented individuals with a focus on robotics and artificial intelligence. Competition is fierce here in Munich. So if anyone would like to get to know us, please get in touch!
Munich Startup: And hand on heart, how is business going?
Sewts: Because we also have to take on part of the hardware development, or rather, the integration of software and hardware, in the first application area of our technology, the whole process will take a bit longer. We plan to launch new pilot customer projects over a longer period in the first quarter of 2020. We will launch our product for automation in large-scale industrial laundries at the end of 2020. We recently completed our pre-seed round in the mid-six-figure range. We plan to use these funds to grow our team from the current seven to twelve people.
Munich Startup: What does Munich mean to you?
Sewts: The three of us have all lived in Munich since 2012. We're particularly drawn to the proximity to the mountains. Through TUM and LMU, we have access to world-class talent. On the other hand, the sheer number of prestigious companies makes it difficult to compete with their salary structures.
Unique ecosystem in Munich
Very early on we learned about the UnternehmerTUM We received excellent support. From the initial consultation, through the Xplore boot camp, the high-tech incubator Xpreneurs, to our first investor, the Initiative for Industrial Innovators. Despite our proximity to the TU, we naturally also maintain a close network with LMU and participated in the Entrepreneurship Center Accelerator there. In our view, Munich offers a unique ecosystem from which we have benefited enormously and continue to do so.
In addition to the excellent university and industrial network, we are of course also happy to find a location with an excellent density of beer gardens.
Munich Startup: And one important question to finish: How does your startup become the next unicorn? Or will we see you soon at Epic Fail Night?
Sewts: Honestly, nobody knows. A breakthrough will depend on many external factors, some of which aren't always in our control. But regardless, it won't be our willpower that will stop it. If, starting in 2022, T-shirts and other clothing items are being produced fully automatically here in Munich using our technology, we'll certainly be on the right track.
Beyond the classic evaluation theme, it is particularly important to us to build a company that has real benefits for society and our environment.
Thanks for the interview.
