Democratizing robotic engineering

According to a University of Oxford study, by 2025 around 48% of jobs in the US will be made obsolete by robotics, artificial intelligence, software and new technologies.

For several years, it was thought that by this time we would already be surrounded by robots in our daily lives, reminiscent of "Robotina" and "R2D2," as depicted in cartoons and movies. Despite robots being predominantly used in industry nowadays, we are at a turning point where this is drastically changing with technologies like drones, autonomous cars, or open-source robots, where anyone can obtain free software to build their robot. This is expected to integrate robots into our daily lives. However, despite robots completely transforming industries and bringing enormous opportunities, the ability to create robots seems to be reserved only for people in developed countries with extensive programming skills and budgets.

In 2014, David Bustos, along with three friends who were mechatronics engineers, decided to found Briko Robotics. "We had the opportunity to travel to Germany and South Korea, where we learned a lot about robotics, and upon returning to Mexico, we realized that there was virtually nothing in this area in the country, and almost all the online learning content was in English," David commented. They designed a kit with which anyone can create a robot without needing any technical skills, in the form of electronic blocks (hence the name Briko), which allow inventions to be created easily and enjoyably, even enabling children to enter the robotics field by creating their inventions.

As the company evolved, they decided to combine this kit with an online diploma to learn robotics in a simple manner without the need for a teacher and entirely focused on practice. The journey hasn't been easy over these two years. "To finance the project, we created a robotics business for large companies, mainly in the automotive industry, which has given us the capital to invest in Briko and continue with the dream, and we launched a campaign to raise capital on Playbusiness," David said. The effort has been worth it as they presented at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where they placed second as an innovative Latin company. Additionally, they were part of the first edition of Shark Tank Mexico, where Rodrigo Herrera (CEO of Gennoma Lab) invested two million pesos in them, bringing in a valuable mentor in the marketing area, something that undoubtedly adds a lot of value to a company where all partners have technical skills.

According to a study by the University of Oxford, by 2025, around 48% of jobs in the US will be rendered obsolete by robotics, artificial intelligence, software, and new technologies. With this new environment of the digital era, startups like Briko, which seek to democratize access to robotics by providing access to the necessary tools for anyone to learn to develop technology on their own, allow these changes to be a great opportunity for new generations rather than a threat, transitioning from being a manufacturing country to a technology creator.