The German luxury automaker Audi is working with a Swiss robotics startup to automate fine motor assembly work that industrial robots have struggled with for decades.
Zurich-based Mimic Robotics shared footage of its robotic hands precisely installing trim components inside an Audi door frame. The hands boast a reported 21 degrees of freedom (DoF), which puts it in the upper echelon of dexterous end effectors hitting the market, like Sharpa Robotics’ SharpaWave and Wuji Tech’s Wuji Hand.
They’re engineered for tasks requiring fine-finger coordination and complex grasping patterns that traditional parallel grippers can’t handle. In automotive manufacturing, this includes jobs like installing door seals and trim clips, routing wiring harnesses through tight cavities, connecting multi-pin electrical connectors, aligning window guides, placing delicate sensor modules, and snapping interior components into precise mounting points.
According to Mimic, the robot hands can handle payloads up to 7 kg (15 lbs) and operate with submillimeter precision. They mount on to standard industrial robot arms that are already ubiquitous in automotive plants. Mimic says the system adapts to both mobile and fixed stations.
Mimic’s hands are powered by the startup’s proprietary physical AI that’s heavily trained on human demonstrations. Instead of following a fixed set of programmed steps, the system uses cameras and sensors to understand what it’s touching and seeing in real time. If there’s misalignment, Mimic says the AI can correct it rather than stopping.
Mimic Robotics was spun out of ETH Zurich in 2024 by researchers Stefan Weirich, Stephan-Daniel Gravert, and Elvis Nava. Weirich serves as CEO. Early support came from Swiss innovation programs like Venture Kick and the European Space Agency’s Business Incubation Centre. The startup has raised about $16 million in seed funding to date, with backers including Elaia, Speedinvest, Founderful, 1st Kind, 10x Founders, 2100 Ventures, and Sequoia Scout Funding.