After 14 years of developing within semiconductor giant Intel, RealSense is striking out by itself.
RealSense sells cameras that use stereoscopic imaging, a process that mixes two images of the identical object from different angles to create depth, enhanced with infrared light. This technology helps machines like robots, drones, and autonomous vehicles have a greater perception of the physical world around them. The tech can also be used for facial authentication.
“The common denominator of all of them is that they live in the actual, physical world,” CEO Nadav Orbach told TechCrunch. “They need to know the environment in 3D and based on that, take and plan actions right on the planet. And for that, they need a real-time, high-accuracy ability to know the encircling in 3D. And that’s what we do best.”
Orbach joined Intel back in 2006 as a CPU architect in Israel. He began working on vision technology in 2011 before becoming the overall manager of incubation and disruptive innovation in 2022 and moving to San Francisco last 12 months.
“We knew and understood that 3D perception was going to be big,” Orbach said in regards to the early days of RealSense. “To be honest, we weren’t quite sure during which domain. We tried that across different market segments and different applications, all the way in which from gesture recognition with computers, phones, until we actually found our sweet spot over time, mostly in robotics.”
The corporate works with quite a few industries outside of robotics, too. Orbach said they’ve heard from fish farms seeking to track the amount inside their pens. Chipotle has also used RealSense cameras, in a partnership with AI restaurant software company PreciTaste, to trace when food containers are low.
RealSense has greater than 3,000 customers and has seen a surge in latest interest during the last three to 4 years as AI has improved. With that, the applications for robotics, especially, have scaled.
The corporate realized it can have a greater probability maintaining with demand — and scaling itself — if it spun out of Intel and raised its own capital, Orbach said.
The spinout plans hatched last 12 months and got the approval from former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger. The corporate is now independent and raised a $50 million Series A funding round from Intel Capital and other strategic investors to start by itself.
“For me, it was exciting, to be honest,” Orbach said. “I’m a veteran executive in the corporate, nevertheless it’s first time that I’m, , I used to be on the opposite side of the table. It was a really humbling experience for me as a first-time CEO to go and and lift money.”
RealSense will put the capital toward constructing out its go-to-market team and improving its technology. The corporate is especially focused on improving the tech so it could help improve safety during humans and robot interactions and to enhance access control.
“There’s a learning curve of, , stepping out,” Orbach said. “I’m extremely enthusiastic about that. I’m fortunate to have a really strong team with plenty of people in my team that which have entrepreneurial experience. I feel that with my background, along with with some strong teammates, I believe we now have the proper mix for achievement. And for me, it’s a dream coming true.”
