Neura Robotics CEO David Reger Wants Robots to Rival Cars

From 180 to more than 1,800 employees

Two years ago Neura had 180 employees; today it has more than 1,800. Investors now value the company at over 7 billion euros. Reger demonstrates the approach on a laptop: a camera scans a chair into a 3D model, and the same method can capture entire production lines as digital twins, where robots practise before entering real factories.

Reger grew up with ten siblings in Metzingen in Swabia and left school after Hauptschule. He trained as a pattern maker in a foundry and later worked as a social worker in San Francisco. Back in Europe, he took an engineering job in Switzerland without a university degree and taught himself the rest. He says he wants to become "Europe's biggest taxpayer" and to help preserve the welfare state.

Jobs, China and a robot levy

Neura aims to build millions of robots by 2030. One unit, currently priced at around 60,000 euros, can replace several skilled workers because it works around the clock. Reger points to hundreds of thousands of retirements in the coming years and a shortage of skilled trades workers, but admits it is hard to say what many people will do in the long run.

An analysis by the FERI Cognitive Finance Institute and the Fraunhofer IPA sees Germany as well positioned with firms like Neura, but says China is gaining a major edge through speed and scaling. Public acceptance will be decisive, the researchers say. Reger proposes that pension and health insurance contributions be paid on robot labour, an idea Bill Gates floated years ago.