Industrial feed lines in mining, food production, and recycling have a blind spot: they can see materials, but they can’t feel them. Zabidou has raised $3.5M in seed funding to close that gap, with Black Nova Venture Capital and Antler backing the round.
The company’s laser sensing system captures over 100,000 points per second, each one carrying tactile data about composition, texture, or density. That’s a meaningful upgrade over conventional robotic vision, which struggles to tell apart materials that look alike but behave differently-a distinction that can decide whether a product is accepted, rejected, or rerouted. For an industry where subtle differences drive process savings and waste reduction, the pitch is straightforward: machines that can feel, not just see.
