Munich Startup: Who are you and what do you do? Please introduce yourselves briefly!
Angsa Robotics: We are Lukas Wiesmeier (25), Karl Schulz (28), and Bilal Tariq (25). Together we are the founders of Angsa Robotics. team We have a broad academic background as alumni of the TUM programs Management & Technology (Lukas), Mechanical Engineering (Bilal) and Robotics, Cognition, Intelligence (Karl).
We met in April 2019 at the "Makeathon" Think. Make. Start., organized by TUM together with UnternehmerTUM. In short, the goal is to identify real-world problems in 10 days and solve them using hardware prototyping. Karl and Lukas' team came together around the topic of sustainability, and Bilal was on board as a coach.
Sustainability itself sounds vague and a bit like a buzzword at first. However, the team's hard work quickly validated that the identified problem not only exists on the ecological side, but also causes economic headaches for our clients. The team's expertise quickly demonstrated that we create tangible added value through the targeted use of artificial intelligence can.
Munich Startup: What problem does your startup solve?
Angsa Robotics: Small-sized waste on lawns and gravel areas poses both an ecological and economic problem. Unlike on asphalt surfaces, conventional sweepers cannot be used here, so these areas must be cleaned manually. This laborious process incurs considerable costs after major events and for operators of parks and other green spaces.
“This has not yet been solved sustainably and economically”
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time!
Angsa Robotics: You might think so, because there are several interesting projects in research and industry with which we have interfaces. Examples include the detection of garbage objects on conveyor belts using neural networks or the navigation of autonomous sweepers and lawnmowers. However, the AI architecture we have developed for detecting garbage on heterogeneous terrain and its combination with our targeted removal using the hardware we have developed is new and has not yet been implemented in this form in a sustainable and cost-effective manner.
Munich Startup: Has there ever been a point where you almost failed?
Angsa Robotics: I think we're not the only ones feeling this way, but the coronavirus crisis has presented us with a few challenges. As a startup that also develops hardware, we had to react quickly to the situation. Not only working from home, but also our market posed some questions for us, as we had agreed on several pilot projects in the festival sector. However, we rethought all areas of the company and found ways to further develop our product with minimal delay and even acquired new pilot customers during this time.
Market launch for Angsa Robotics is summer 2021
Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, where in five years?
Angsa Robotics: Over the course of the next year, we will bring our robot to product maturity for launch in summer 2021. In addition to the German market, we also aim to attract more customers abroad in the fall and winter. As the "Roomba for outdoors," we see great potential for continued rapid and sustainable growth in the coming years.
Munich Startup: How do you rate Munich as a startup location?
Angsa Robotics: Extremely strong. The network surrounding TUM and UnternehmerTUM, including all the accelerators, incubators, and contacts with other startups in the Munich area, has helped us on several occasions. The community and network of startups in Munich are also closely linked beyond TUM and UnternehmerTUM. Ultimately, the world is usually smaller than you think, and you often see each other through multiple channels. At the same time, the infrastructure, the connections to suppliers, and the proximity to customers are something we wouldn't want to miss in this form. This combination creates ideal conditions for us to grow strategically from Munich.
Munich Startup: Bicycle or e-scooter?
Angsa Robotics: Definitely the bicycle! Technology for technology's sake isn't part of our idea. The tried-and-tested bicycle requires fewer resources and offers more flexibility than an e-scooter.
