This Hungarian Startup is Braiding the Future of Robotics | Benedek Tasi

In this talk

1. 1:42

   From biomimetic robotics to textile braiding

   Tasi says his research group worked on biomimetic robotics, including prosthetics, and struggled to make soft structures that could bear loads. Attempts to join tendons with glue, crimps, or stitches created weak points, so the team looked to rope and composite braiding for ideas.

2. 6:18

   A flexible braiding platform

   Conventional rope machines tend to make continuous patterns, with different products often requiring different machines. Alanic is developing a machine with interchangeable braider modules that can change, combine, split, and merge patterns and fibers. Tasi says the goal is to manufacture a finger within minutes, though the platform is still being built.

3. 8:38

   Load distribution, materials, and precision

   Tasi says braiding spreads loads from tendons or ligaments across fibers over a wider area, reducing stress at soft-to-rigid attachment points. The team is testing materials intended to limit creep while retaining strength and low friction, and can vary patterns, cores, coatings, or lubrication by region. He argues that sensory feedback can help with precise control, while smaller fibers and printed bones may ease miniaturization.

4. 15:04

   Initial focus on robotic manipulators

   The technology could extend to arms and legs, but Tasi says Alanic is prioritizing manipulators where it may offer the most value. Automated production could, he says, bring a manipulator's cost from thousands of dollars to a few hundred or less. The $7.2 million pre-seed round will fund the next platform version, a library of robotic features, testing, and early commercial validation.

5. 18:50

   A manufacturing layer for safer robotics

   Tasi sees difficult hardware manufacturing and supply chains as constraints on robotics across industrial, warehouse, workplace, and home settings. He wants Alanic's platform to reduce the time, capital, and R&D needed to build robotics for new problems. He also hopes compliant robots can make close human interaction feel safer and more comfortable.