NEURA Robotics and Italian embedded computing company SECO are partnering on the development and production of electronic compute modules for NEURA’s cognitive robots, including its 4NE1 humanoid robot. The companies also plan to develop Physical AI applications for semiconductor and electronics manufacturing.
The compute modules will use Qualcomm Technologies’ Dragonwing processors and form part of NEURA’s distributed computing architecture. SECO will contribute engineering, industrialization and manufacturing capabilities, with the hardware intended for series production in Europe.
NEURA uses what it calls a Brain + Nervous System architecture, in which sensing and computing resources are distributed through the robot rather than concentrated in a central computing unit. Its Smart Limb concept places processing closer to joints and sensors so that control and AI functions can operate near the point of physical interaction.
Qualcomm’s Dragonwing Robotics processors provide the computing platform for this architecture, while SECO will engineer and industrialize the corresponding modules. SECO already develops embedded computing platforms based on Dragonwing processors for industrial applications.
The companies also plan to establish a NEURA Gym in Italy, which would be NEURA’s first training hub in Southern Europe. Such facilities are intended to provide environments where robots can collect data and develop capabilities from physical tasks.
NEURA and SECO also intend to collect production data from industrial deployments and use it to develop automation systems for semiconductor and electronics manufacturing. The aim is to train robotic systems on production processes and turn the resulting capabilities into reusable automation functions that can be deployed across multiple manufacturing environments.
David Reger, founder and CEO of NEURA Robotics, said the collaboration is intended to combine robotics, computing and industrial manufacturing capabilities. “Together we will use real industrial processes to generate data and develop Physical AI solutions for semiconductor manufacturing that can ultimately be deployed anywhere in the world,” Reger said.
SECO CEO Max Mauri said the partnership covers both the industrialization of NEURA’s robotics platforms and the use of Physical AI within SECO’s industrial operations.
Nakul Duggal, executive vice president and group general manager for automotive, industrial and embedded IoT, and robotics at Qualcomm Technologies, said the companies are combining Qualcomm’s Dragonwing processing technology with NEURA’s distributed robotics architecture, with SECO contributing capabilities for large-scale production.
The partnership is also intended to expand NEURA’s European manufacturing and technology supply chain. The compute hardware developed by SECO for NEURA’s robots will be developed and produced in Europe, while relying on Qualcomm Technologies’ processing platforms.
