Bengaluru Startup Lets Anyone Train Robots Without Code

Teaching a robot to work outdoors used to take months and a team of specialists. NeuralZome Cybernetics just made it as simple as showing someone a new task.

The Bengaluru startup raised $2.6 million to bring robot automation to places that need it most: farms, orchards, and outdoor work sites where labor is hardest to find. Their secret is NeuralPilot, an AI agent that learns by watching instead of being programmed line by line.

Most robots work great in factories where everything stays the same. But put them in a field where light changes, terrain shifts, and obstacles appear randomly, and they freeze up. Fixing that problem traditionally cost so much that only big companies could afford automation.

NeuralZome founder Mohan Sivam spent over a decade wrestling with this challenge at previous startups. His solution was to create a virtual training ground called RedPill, where robots learn in photorealistic simulations before ever touching real soil.

Users teach the robot what they want done in the digital twin environment. The AI figures out how to handle variations and unexpected situations on its own. Then the robot transfers that knowledge to the real world, already trained for messy conditions.

The company tests everything on Chitti, an all-terrain vehicle that can be fitted onto standard ATVs. It handles jobs like checking soil quality and hauling materials across uneven ground.

The Ripple Effect

NeuralZome sells robots as a service rather than selling the machines outright. Customers pay for work completed instead of buying expensive hardware they'd need specialists to maintain.

That changes who can use robots. A small orchard owner or landscaping company can now rent automation without hiring a robotics team or making a huge upfront investment. If it doesn't work out, they can simply stop the service.

The August 2025 funding round, led by 8X Ventures, is pushing the technology into North America and Europe. The money also supports research into getting multiple robots to work together and improving how machines see and navigate outdoor spaces.

Indian deeptech investors are betting that robotics for agriculture and industry represents a chance to build truly original technology. NeuralZome's approach suggests the future of automation isn't building smarter robots, but making the ones we have easier to teach.

Thousands of businesses that could benefit from robots never try because the barrier seems too high. NeuralZome is lowering that wall one simulation at a time.