Drones are Taking Over the Dangerous Jobs Nobody Wants to Do
Lucid Bots just grabbed $20 million in new funding to prove that robots are better off washing windows than trying to dance like humans. While most of the robotics world is obsessed with building expensive humanoids that can do backflips, Andrew Ashur is focusing on the unsexy reality of industrial maintenance. His company builds drones that actually work for a living. This latest cash injection brings their total funding to $34 million, and it comes at a time when the demand for their technology is outstripping their ability to keep up.
The idea for Lucid Bots started with a simple observation. Ashur was a college student when he saw window washers struggling against high winds on a building. The platform they were standing on was slamming into the glass, creating a terrifying scene for anyone watching. He realized that modern technology could make this job much safer. Instead of putting a human on a swinging platform hundreds of feet in the air, a drone could stay on the ground and do the work from a distance.
Lucid Bots launched in 2018. They didn’t start by building a high-tech lab. They started as a cleaning company. They took on actual contracts to learn the industry from the inside. They dealt with chemical burns and the physical toll of the work so they could understand exactly what their robots needed to solve. This hands-on approach is why their Sherpa drone and Lavo robot are now being used across the country. These machines aren’t just prototypes. They are out in the field, making money and keeping people safe.
The company is based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They design and manufacture their own robots right there. The growth has been steady but fast lately. It took five years to sell their first 100 units, but they are now closing in on 1,000. Ashur says the biggest bottleneck right now is just having enough people to handle the demos and build the machines. They have run out of parking spots at their facility, which is a good problem to have in a tough economy.
The market for this tech is massive. Infrastructure is one of the largest asset classes on the planet, but it is aging. We have more buildings and structures than ever before, but fewer people are willing or able to do the dangerous maintenance work required to keep them standing. Lucid Bots fills that gap. They are also expanding beyond just washing windows. Their drones are now being used for pressure washing, painting, waterproofing, and sealing. They even recently worked on a massive university stadium that needed a fresh coat of protection.
Investors are finally seeing the value in “unsexy” robotics. While a dancing robot might get a lot of clicks on social media, a drone that can waterproof a stadium or clean a skyscraper provides immediate value. It reduces insurance costs, speeds up the job, and eliminates the risk of a fatal fall. This is the future of work where robots handle the dull, dirty, and dangerous tasks so humans don’t have to.