Levatas of West Palm raises $5.5M to bring more AI to hard-working robots and drones

Levatas, a developer of AI software that enables robots, drones, remote sensors and fixed cameras to execute operational tasks at industrial sites, announced it has raised $5.5 million in seed funding led by Castellan Group, a Kentucky-based investment firm.

Levatas, based in West Palm Beach, was founded in 2006 by CEO Chris Nielsen, along with partners Ryan Gay, who is CFO, and Daniel Bruce, CPO. After pivoting from a consultancy, today Levatas is a developer of cognitive intelligence for automating industrial inspections.

The company creates and delivers end-to-end solutions that enable robots, drones, remote sensors and camera systems to autonomously and safely perform equipment monitoring, safety checks, and site surveillance tasks in industrial environments.

“We give machines the ability to handle the dirtiest, most repetitive, and dangerous tasks so that our clients’ human employees can focus on problem-solving, thoughtful execution, and company growth,” said Nielsen, in a statement. “Because we enable their machines to handle rigorous tasks, the organizations we serve can see demonstrable ROI, as measured by higher efficiency, more uptime, and safer workplaces.”

For example, Levatas works with clients including Boston Dynamics and its Spot [pictured above], an agile mobile robot well-suited for industrial inspections because it captures data in a standardized, repeatable way, said Tim Dykstra, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Channel Sales at Boston Dynamics. “The Levatas team develops machine learning models that enable the robot to respond to complex tasks based on visual data it collects, so together, we can continuously monitor industrial assets to predict failures earlier and prevent unplanned downtime.”

Currently, Levatas’s platform and industrial AI models create greater efficiency for major chip manufacturers, global automakers, oil refineries, energy producers, and one of the largest breweries in the United States. Specific to each facility, the team builds and deploys fully operational models for analog gauge reading, thermal anomaly reporting, people identification, and detection of environmental changes over time. These tasks are then executed daily by autonomous robots, drones, camera systems, and other visual data collection devices.

The company, which employs more than 80 people, plans to use the funds to scale software development and hardware integrations, and aims to expand into new industries.

In conjunction with the funding, Scott Smith, Founding Family Member of Castellan Group, joined Levatas’ board.

Follow Nancy Dahlberg on Twitter @ndahlberg and email her at [email protected]

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