AI, robotics and the spin-off moment

Telekinesis is a start-up that traces its origins to two decades of academic research in robot learning at Technische Universität Darmstadt. The founder describes the company as an effort to turn breakthroughs in AI for robotics into a single commercial platform called Brainwave. The story recounted at the EIC Summit 2025 and later in an EIC Coffee Break interview underlines a familiar pattern in European deep tech. Researchers and students convert specialised lab expertise into products and services with the help of dedicated public funding, private investors and a small number of high-profile awards that signal validation to the market.

From lab to platform: the Telekinesis origin story

The founder says the idea emerged after a masters thesis under Professor Jan Peters in Darmstadt. Peters is a recognised researcher in robot learning. What started as a student initiative evolved into a formal spin-off. The company credits advice from academic mentors and funding from the European Innovation Council Transition programme with enabling the transition from proofs of concept to a product and a commercial team.

What Brainwave is and how it is presented

Telekinesis markets Brainwave as a no-code physical AI platform for high-mix, low-volume manufacturing. According to company material, Brainwave lets factory workers design, simulate and deploy automation cells without specialist robotics expertise. The platform combines vision AI models, action sequencing, simulation and automated bill of materials generation. Telekinesis says Brainwave integrates with a wide range of hardware and includes a library of pre-built computer vision models for tasks such as detection, classification, segmentation, position estimation and anomaly detection.

Claims, metrics and evidence

Telekinesis publicly claims up to 70 percent operational cost savings and return on investment in 12 to 18 months for metal manufacturing use cases. These figures appear prominently on the company website and in EIC materials that describe project exhibition participants. The EIC interview repeats those claims while also recounting a customer anecdote about an operator named Hanna who adopted the system quickly.

A measured reading is necessary. Start-ups often present headline savings to attract customers and investors. Independent evaluations or customer references, ideally with raw pre and post deployment metrics, are needed before such claims are accepted by procurement teams. That is especially true for hardware heavy solutions where installation, safety certification and ongoing maintenance can change the total cost of ownership.

Recognition and visibility in European robotics

Telekinesis was selected as a finalist for the euRobotics Tech Transfer Award in 2025. The company presented its Cortex physical AI orchestration model at the European Robotics Forum where the award finalists pitched. The firm also exhibited at the EIC Summit 2025 Project exhibition. Those platforms are meaningful for visibility. Tech transfer awards signal that an innovation has credible academic roots and a route to industry uptake. They also help attract talent and investors.

Talent, hiring and the role of grants

The founder attributes early hires to the EIC Transition grant. He mentions recruiting a head of robotics with outstanding academic grades and the CTO using Transition funding. Recruiting top controls and AI talent in Europe is competitive. Public grants can be decisive in forming initial teams when private capital is scarce or when investors are wary of hardware development risk.

That said there are follow-up challenges. After building a small core team, companies must scale engineering, customer success and manufacturing support. For robotics start-ups this often means establishing supply chains for robot arms and end effectors, creating repeatable integration processes and developing training materials for customers.

Workforce reactions and the Hanna anecdote

The interview includes an adoption story about an operator named Hanna who initially resisted the robot but quickly learned to deploy it using three clicks. Telekinesis uses this story to argue that robots augment rather than replace human operators, shifting tasks to higher skilled work and improving productivity. The company frames the experience as evidence that fears of job losses are often overstated in practical deployments.

That narrative is common in automation discourse but should not be taken as conclusive. A recent Eurobarometer survey referenced in the interview shows that only 62 percent of Europeans view robots and AI positively at work. That leaves a significant minority with concerns about job displacement, deskilling or surveillance. Real world outcomes vary by sector, contract types and local labour market conditions.

Broader implications for the EU innovation ecosystem

Telekinesis exemplifies several trends in European deep tech. First, strong academic labs remain a primary source of robotics innovation. Second, public programmes like the EIC can accelerate spin-offs by funding early team formation and market validation. Third, recognition through awards and exhibitions matters for signaling and matchmaking with customers and investors.

However, hardware-software companies face harder scaling paths than pure software firms. Raising venture capital for robotics requires convincing investors on manufacturing economics, long term service margins and the ability to achieve reliable installations across customers. The European market offers industrial anchor customers but procurement cycles are long and safety and compliance requirements add time and cost.

Risks, open questions and what to watch next

Key questions remain about Telekinesis and similar vendors. Do the headline savings and ROI figures hold up across multiple independent deployments? How much custom engineering is required to handle new parts and lighting conditions on the shop floor? What are the total integration and maintenance costs over a three to five year period? Will the company secure the manufacturing and service capacity needed for scaling beyond pilot sites?

Policymakers and buyers should also consider workforce transition plans. If robots change job content, companies and public bodies will need training programmes, social dialogue and in some cases reskilling funds to ensure transitions are equitable.

Conclusion

Telekinesis is a clear example of academic research moving toward commercial robotics products with the help of targeted EU funding and ecosystem visibility. The company has gained recognition and early traction. At the same time, the most consequential claims about cost savings and rapid ROI need independent verification and detailed customer evidence. The next stage for companies like Telekinesis will be to demonstrate reproducible performance at scale, manage the complexity of hardware deployments and address workforce and regulatory realities in EU manufacturing.

Additional notes and sources

This article draws on an EIC Coffee Break interview published July 30 2025, Telekinesis company materials, EIC Summit 2025 project exhibition listings and euRobotics Tech Transfer Award materials from the European Robotics Forum 2025. Company performance claims quoted here reflect Telekinesis public statements and marketing. They should be treated as vendor claims until independently validated.