RoboForce, a startup founded by Leo Ma, has secured $10 million in early-stage funding to bring its vision of hyper-accurate robot workers to life. The company aims to revolutionize industries such as solar panel installation by replacing human workers with robots capable of performing menial and potentially dangerous tasks with precision and accuracy.

Ma, who has visited hundreds of factories and industrial sites, was inspired to create RoboForce after witnessing humans performing tasks that could be automated. "These are the kind of jobs that we shouldn't need people to do anymore," Ma said in an interview with TechCrunch. The company's inaugural product is a robot designed to perform tasks like solar panel installation with an accuracy of one millimeter, allowing it to perform fine motor tasks like tightening screws.

The funding round, which includes investors such as Nobel Laureate economist Myron Scholes, well-known Chinese fund VC Gary Rieschel, and Ma's alma mater Carnegie Mellon University, will be used to build out Ma's robot worker dream. RoboForce is starting with the solar panel market, where Ma says there is a huge labor issue already. According to data company Wood Mackenzie, about 53 gigawatts of solar projects were delayed in 2024 due to worker shortages and long waits for equipment.

Ma plans to launch one to two pilot solar projects with RoboForce's robots this year, with the goal of demonstrating the accuracy and efficiency of its technology. While RoboForce faces competition from well-capitalized companies like AES Corporation, which introduced a massive robot called Maximo that can install solar panels twice as fast as a human, Ma is confident in his product's superiority. "RoboForce, proudly, is the first and the only one in the market that achieves both the AI model and the robot with the final action as one millimeter accuracy," he said.

RoboForce's ambitions extend far beyond the solar panel industry, with a moonshot goal of helping to build a moon base on the moon. While this may seem like a far-fetched dream, Ma's background in autonomous driving software and his experience co-founding CYNGN, an automated driving company that went public, suggest that he has the expertise and vision to make it a reality.

The implications of RoboForce's technology are significant, with the potential to transform industries and create new opportunities for economic growth. As the company continues to develop and refine its technology, it will be interesting to see how it impacts the job market and the way we think about work. For now, RoboForce's $10 million funding round marks an important milestone in its journey to revolutionize industrial robotics.