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Machina Labs, a company that uses robotics to manufacture advanced sheet metal products, announced that Lockheed Martin Ventures (LMV), the venture arm of Lockheed Martin Corporation, completed its investment in the company. The investment brings Machina Labs total funding to date to $21.8 million. 

Machina Labs plans to use the funding to accelerate company growth to meet customer demands, and expand research and development to include more processes and metallurgical offerings. 

“At Machina Labs, we are creating the factory of the future; one where a variety of designs and physical products can be produced on-demand and at scale,” Edward Mehr, CEO and Co-Founder of the company, said in a release. “With Lockheed Martin’s investment, we can accelerate [the] development of our sheet metal Roboforming to better serve the need of the defense sector and give the United States a competitive advantage in speed of development for national security and defense products.”

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“We aim to operationalize and scale solutions with speed and effectiveness so the U.S. and our allies can stay ahead of emerging threats,” Chris Moran, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Ventures, said in a release. “We are excited to work with Machina Labs in bringing their advanced and agile manufacturing platform to our customers.”

Machina Labs’ robots use an array of AI-driven sensors to gather data and manipulate sheet metal to form parts. For each unit the company makes, it creates a digital twin with all relevant process information. This provides accurate process characterization and part qualification information. 

The company creates metal parts for the automotive, aerospace, defense, heavy machinery, electrical and architecture industries.