FLUX-mimic: Robots learn via video in use at Audi

"FLUX-mimic" by Mimic Robotics ETH Spin-Off Brings AI-Assisted Fine Motor Skills to Audi Production

2026-08-07 Source: Press release | Translated by AI 2 min Reading Time

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The Zurich start-up Mimic Robotics is revolutionizing robot programming: With the new model "FLUX-mimic," industrial robots learn complex tasks directly from video demonstrations. At Audi, the Swiss technology is already in use, taking on tasks previously considered nearly impossible to automate.

Autonomous execution of workflows in the assembly of car doors at Audi.(Image: Mimic Robotics / Audi) — Autonomous execution of workflows in the assembly of car doors at Audi.
(Image: Mimic Robotics / Audi)

For the Swiss MEM industry, the shortage of skilled workers in programming automation solutions is a persistent issue. The ETH spin-off Mimic Robotics now presents an approach that could fundamentally change traditional teaching or programming. In collaboration with the AI company Black Forest Labs, Mimic has developed the so-called Video Action Model (VAM) "FLUX-mimic."

Learning by Watching

The principle: The robot is no longer programmed line by line but learns by analyzing video demonstrations. Based on the architecture of the multimodal model "FLUX 3," the system translates visual information into direct motion commands. The model anticipates how a scene will evolve and independently derives the physical laws from it.

For industrial users, this means that to adapt a robot to a new product or changed components, a few new video demonstrations will suffice in the future instead of laboriously rewriting existing code. A paradigm shift that is likely to become particularly exciting for Switzerland's highly flexible manufacturing landscape.

Trial by Fire at Audi

That this is not merely a lab study is proven by its use at Audi. The automaker highlights the handling of flexible materials and deformable components ("soft-body manipulation") with "FLUX-mimic." Such tasks were previously considered uneconomical with conventional automation due to constantly changing geometries.

We have seen how these robots handle complex tasks in the field of soft-body manipulation that would simply have been impossible with conventional robotics. For us, collaboration with pioneering companies like Mimic Robotics and Black Forest Labs is crucial to push the boundaries of physical AI and validate these innovations in real production environments.

Christoph Schneider, Audi Production Lab

According to Mimic Robotics, the system achieves a success rate of 95 percent in grasping and kitting tasks with flexible parts "out of the box"—without elaborate, task-specific fine-tuning.

On-Premise for the Factory Floor

A crucial factor for industrial use: the solution does not require a permanent cloud connection, which is viewed critically in many companies for data security reasons. The system runs entirely on-premise. A single "NVIDIA RTX 5090" graphics card is sufficient to achieve response times of around 101 milliseconds (end-to-end). This enables "FLUX-mimic" to meet the strict cycle time requirements of modern production lines.

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