Swiss startup Ascento has announced a $4.3 million funding round led by Wingman Ventures and Playfair Capital. The funding will be used to scale their fleet of autonomous security patrolling robots called Ascento Guards. These robots are currently deployed on large industrial sites and perform repetitive tasks such as perimeter checks and sending alerts to human security guards when needed. So far, Ascento’s robots have covered 3,000 kilometers for outdoor security since the beginning of this year.
The Ascento Guards are distinguished by their wheel-leg design, allowing them to navigate various types of terrain. They can move at walking pace and perform tasks such as verifying perimeters, checking for openings in fences, scanning for thermal anomalies, and detecting floods or fires. If a security threat is sensed, an alert is sent to human security guards via the Ascento App, which also integrates with existing video management systems.
Ascento was founded in 2018 by CEO Alessandro Morro, CTO Miguel de la Iglesia Valls, Ciro Salzmann, and Dominik Mannhart. The company started as a project at ETH Zurich and now has 10 employees. They are currently hiring for their sales and operations team to support the expansion of their Ascento Guards fleet.
According to Morro, Ascento is the second wheel-legged balancing robot in the world after Boston Dynamics. The company received numerous requests to use their robots for different industries after a couple of videos showcasing the robots went viral. Morro and his team decided to get jobs as security guards to validate the idea and confirm that their robots can perform all the necessary checks and controls that a human security guard would.
Ascento’s target users are companies with large assets that require daily patrolling, such as manufacturing, logistics, pharmaceutical, and luxury companies. Their robots are now offered on an hourly basis to large premises, in conjunction with security companies that provide human guards.
Ascento’s closest competitors are Cobalt and Knightscope, but their focus on large industrial areas and their robots’ ability to handle different terrains set them apart. Ascento has future plans to expand their technology and offer complementary applications, such as indoor and aerial integration, to analyze captured data with AI to identify problems and patterns.
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