axonnic

We help manufacturers automate dexterous tasks by recording how their best workers perform them — and using that data to train robots.

Our EMG sleeve captures physical information that cameras miss.

EMG + video + hand trackingHand completely unobstructedRobot needs no EMG at inference

Backed by

  • CombinatorY Combinator
  • Boost VC
  • Sterling Road
  • Oxford Seed FundOxford Seed Fund

Cameras show what happened. EMG reveals how.

Video tells you where the hand moved. EMG gives another signal for what the human was physically doing to make that movement happen — muscle activation, inferred effort, the preparation before contact. We measure further upstream in the control signal than a glove, and the hand stays completely free.

MUSCLE ACTIVATION · 32-channel EMG
2,048 Hz
Flexors
Extensors
Deep
Lateral

Illustrative signal. Real data streams from the wearable sleeve on the worker's forearm.

How it works

Record the expert. Deploy the robot.

Your line keeps running. We record how the work is actually done — then train a robot to do it.

01

Record

Your best workers do the task wearing our EMG sleeve, on camera, with hand tracking. The sleeve leaves the hand completely unobstructed.

02

Build the dataset

EMG, video, and hand pose are aligned into a task-specific dataset — including the muscle activation and inferred effort cameras miss.

03

Train

Demonstrations aren't copied one-to-one. They're retargeted into the robot's action space to train a policy for your task.

04

Deploy

The robot runs on its own sensors — it never wears the sleeve. The EMG guides training, then drops away.

Every deployment produces physical-interaction data that exists nowhere else. That data makes the next deployment better.

Validation

In factories now.

A European manufacturer identified delicate, force-sensitive sewing as one of its hardest automation problems — and signed an LOI for us to support robotic implementation.

Manufacturing · Italy

We're also on construction sites, recording electricians, plumbers, and demolition crews — completely different work, captured with the same sleeve.

Construction · Pilot

We started with sewing because it's brutally hard for a robot: the fabric stretches, the grip changes constantly, and one clumsy move ruins the piece. Crack that, and easier tasks follow.

Who it's for

Built for tasks that resist automation.

If a robot integrator has already told you no, that's our starting point.

Sewing & deformable materials

Fabric, cables, gaskets — material that moves when you touch it and punishes a clumsy grip.

Delicate assembly & finishing

Insertions, fits, and surface work where inferred effort matters more than position.

Machine tending & tool use

Tasks built around how a skilled operator handles the tool, not just where it goes.

Construction & field work

Skilled manual work outside the cage — recorded where it actually happens.

For robotics and AI labs — generalised datasets of human physical interaction, recorded during real production work: EMG, video, and hand pose, aligned.

Get in touch

Watch it work.

The sleeve decoding real muscle activity, as it happens.

Real-time decoding

Live control from muscle signals alone

Forearm EMG decoded into input as it happens — the sleeve reads what the hand is doing while it does it.

Object recognition

It knows what the hand is holding

Decoding the held object from EMG alone — the kind of grip and contact information a camera can't see.

Live demos as posted on LinkedIn.

The Team

Meet the founders.

Maxim Williams

CEO & Co-Founder

Oxford MBiol research — signal processing · EMG calibration paper in preparation (1st author)

Built with a hardware company from the ground up · Seen a unicorn scale from the early days

Arsh Patankar

CTO & Co-Founder

Oxford medic — research in machine learning and AI in cancer and stroke imaging

Published multiple papers · Repeat founder — medical LLM used at scale · Worked on Oxford's first quadruped robot

AdvisorsVoxblock & Skyscanner FoundersOxford · Harvard · UC Berkeley ResearchersTop Neurosurgeons

FAQ

Common questions.

Waitlist

Join the waitlist.

Manufacturers, robotics teams, researchers — or anyone who wants in early. Tell us what you're working on and we'll be in touch.

Manufacturer pilotsLab datasetsEarly access

No spam. Early access and updates only.