For six years now, my team and I have repeatedly gone through phases in which we push ourselves to the limit to show the world what is possible. And every time we have thought: This is the most important moment of all! We have to endure this! We have to get through it! Things calm down after that. But it doesn’t calm down. The next big test is coming.

This time it was the weeks leading up to Automatica 2025. We had the largest stand at the world’s largest trade fair for automation and robotics in Munich this year, as we wanted to present by far the broadest application portfolio for robots. This was possible in part because we decided to showcase a wide variety of robot applications together with many partners. Let me tell you why. Because it is also the answer to a question that I was asked again and again in Munich: “What makes you different from all the other robotics companies here in the exhibition halls?”
My answer always starts with an analogy:

The very question makes it instantly clear to everyone: That’s right – no company in the world can develop all the applications and capabilities that robots will need in the future on its own. The defining difference that sets Neura Robotics apart doesn’t lie in individual products or technical specifications. It cannot be measured in micrometers or kilograms. What defines Neura is a philosophy: the belief in the power of collaboration!

That is why by far the most important event for the company, but also for robotics in Germany and Europe, was not the presentation of our humanoid 4NE1 – but the launch of the Neuraverse. Because even 4NE1 could only develop a fraction of its potential if it were not part of this complex technology ecosystem. It is a development environment, enables cloud learning, provides world models and basic skills and serves as a marketplace for apps, developers, users and robots. In short: the Neuraverse connects developers, users and robots and enables everyone to do everything for and with robotics.

What I rarely tell people: In the years before Neura was founded, I saw more than once that the greatest projects and best innovations can fail due to a lack of cooperation. Because closed systems only work until the world out there is faster. I still remember my first smartphone well. It had a few apps. Emails, calendar, tasks … eventually maps. The possibilities were still very limited and people were skeptical. But then – in just a few years – thousands and thousands of companies and programmers developed countless applications for the app store that made the most of the ever-improving hardware. Games, banking, navigation, video and photography – today you no longer need a computer if you have a smartphone. Suddenly, this device was no longer just a phone with a touchscreen, but an indispensable companion. This was made possible by an open system that gave rise to a huge developer community and the rapidly growing range of mobile internet tariffs and the corresponding network infrastructure.

I’m thinking of a young developer who wants to program an application for treating autism in children. Robots would have to recognize certain facial expressions and body language and respond in calm, clear language. The developer does not want to build robots. But she knows how to design communication. The Neuraverse provides her with the basics.

However, the Neuraverse is more than just an open development environment in which people can turn their ideas and experience into robotics applications. It provides connected robots with the training data they urgently need to develop and improve. And this applies to all designs – whether they ride on rollers, walk on legs or work as a one-armed industrial helper. AI systems have been using the entire internet as an inexhaustible source of data to learn for years. Until now, robots have not had access to such a network of information about the physical, real world. There is a difference between recognizing a water bottle – and actually picking it up, lifting it and slowly pouring its contents into an empty glass.

Our children need many years and have to overcome numerous setbacks to develop their motor skills – and every child starts more or less from scratch.

We don’t have that time with robots. Europe alone will have around 7 million fewer human workers available by 2030 than it does today. In China, there will be a shortage of over 80 million workers. So we will have to automate a lot of work worldwide very soon. And in many cases, this will involve complex tasks that are currently performed by skilled workers. Only cognitive robots that work safely alongside humans and act proactively and independently can be used here. These machines have to learn a great deal in a short space of time. And it is most efficient if they can immediately share what they have learned with other robots. This is also possible thanks to Neuraverse.

Admittedly, I also encounter reservations in conversations with the press: “Is my data secure? Will my knowledge be copied?” Understandable and legitimate questions – but they don’t reflect what I perceive in personal conversations: Most people are open-minded because the internet age has also shown: Sharing does not automatically mean loss of control, but often leads to real added value. Compared to an ordinary online purchase, the issue of data protection is not a big issue with the Neuraverse.

This is because robots can learn from each other without disclosing sensitive information. They don’t share raw data or complete profiles – only what has proven itself. Let me put it this way: your robot gets better because another robot somewhere in the world learned something yesterday. No one needs to know who the other one was. For me, that’s the epitome of cooperation: making progress together without giving up control.

I walked through our live demos at the trade fair and saw how differently people reacted to our robots. There was an elderly man who said: “We needed one of these when my wife fell.” And a 16-year-old apprentice from a car repair shop said: “I would immediately program an app that would enable the robot to remove hail damage from the car body.” That moved me. Because it shows: People don’t just see technology in Neura Robotics. They recognize what can be done with it – the significance for our society and our future. At Automatica this year, I often thought about the potential we could unleash if all the robotics companies at the trade fair really worked together. But to do that, we have to let go. Have to allow others to join in. I don’t believe in this old way of thinking about competition, where everyone works for themselves and no one is allowed to know about the others. I believe in systems in which you become better because others dare to share their knowledge. And in robots that become better at supporting us humans through many hands.

If we manage to do this, robots will soon not only become more intelligent, but also more relevant because of what they can do for us: In everyday life. In home care. In industry or in eliminating our environmental sins around the world. Simply wherever we face major challenges today and in the future.

In my vision, we look back and say: that was another revolution, in the 2020s! Like the steam engine, electricity, the internet or the smartphone. When the collaboration of many bright minds ushered in an era in which robots made everyone’s lives a little easier and better.