Trener Robotics Raises $32M for Robot Skills Platform

$32 Million to Democratize Robot Programming

San Francisco and Trondheim-based Trener Robotics has closed a $32 million Series A round, bringing total funding to more than $38 million. The round was led by Engine Ventures and IAG Capital Partners, with strategic participation from Cadence and Geodesic Capital through Nikon's NFocus Fund. Founded in 2024, the company has moved quickly from concept to commercial deployment, establishing over 15 systems integration partnerships across Europe and the United States by 2025.

How Acteris Works

Trener's core product, the Acteris platform, is a robot-agnostic skills system that replaces traditional procedural programming with a natural language interface. Instead of writing code or configuring waypoints, operators describe the automation task they want performed in conversational language. The platform then translates that description into executable robot behavior. Acteris is trained on visual, haptic, language, and action data using physical AI approaches, enabling it to identify parts, handle objects under adverse conditions, optimize motion paths in real time, and avoid collisions autonomously.

The platform runs on existing manufacturer equipment and currently integrates with robot brands including ABB, Universal Robots, and FANUC. A real-time production dashboard provides operators with visibility into task execution and system performance. CEO Dr. Asad Tirmizi describes the vision as "transforming robots into intelligent, adaptable teammates by replacing procedural programming with a control system."

Addressing the Flexible Automation Gap

The flexible automation market is growing at a 14.3% compound annual growth rate according to Mordor Intelligence, driven by labor shortages and demand for automation that can adapt to changing production requirements. Traditional industrial robotics has been confined to repetitive, single-purpose tasks in highly controlled environments because reprogramming robots for new tasks requires specialized engineering talent that most small and mid-sized manufacturers lack. Acteris aims to eliminate that barrier by making robot programming accessible to shop floor operators without robotics expertise.

Investor Confidence and Scaling Trajectory

Reed Sturtevant of Engine Ventures cited Trener's "execution and ability to rapidly scale" as the basis for the investment, describing Acteris as "the intelligence layer for physical automation." Dennis Sacha of IAG Capital Partners emphasized the focus on making industrial automation accessible to small and mid-sized manufacturers, a segment historically underserved by robotics vendors. With CTO Lars Tingelstad leading the technical roadmap from the company's Norwegian R&D base and a growing North American commercial presence, Trener is positioned to capture a share of the expanding flexible automation market as manufacturers seek faster, simpler paths to deployment.

This article is based on reporting by The Robot Report. Read the original article.

Alphabet subsidiary Intrinsic, which spun out in 2021 to develop AI-powered robotics software, is being folded back into Google. The move signals Google's growing ambition in 'physical AI' — systems that can perceive, reason about, and manipulate the real world.

DT Editorial AI·Feb 27, 2026·via therobotreport.com

Perplexity has launched Perplexity Computer, a $200-per-month agentic system that combines AI models from Anthropic, Google, xAI, and OpenAI into a single platform designed to carry out complex workflows independently. The product represents a new approach to AI orchestration.

DT Editorial AI·Feb 26, 2026·via the-decoder.com

Alibaba has introduced its new Qwen 3.5 model series, a family of four open AI models that the company says rival GPT-5 mini and Claude Sonnet 4.5 at a fraction of the cost. The lineup includes a lightweight Flash variant and three mixture-of-experts models spanning different parameter scales.

DT Editorial AI·Feb 26, 2026·via the-decoder.com

AI2 Robotics has closed a Series B funding round to advance its AlphaBot platform, a humanoid robot designed for embodied artificial intelligence in real-world environments. The investment signals growing venture confidence in humanoid robotics as the sector races toward commercial deployment.