The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research has awarded Circus SE a grant worth about $2.3 million to research and develop a fully autonomous nutrition system designed for dependable meal delivery in high-risk defense environments.
Circus said the ministry will provide recurring annual funding to the company’s CA-M artificial intelligence robot. The robot is designed to eliminate manual labor from complex military meal supply systems. According to the company, the system enhances operational resilience by enabling personnel to be released to more critical defense tasks.
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A Boost for New Defense Unit
Circus noted that the ministry’s funding will accelerate its CA-M R&D, further boost its newly formed defense unit, and expand Circus’ defense-focused engineering teams.
According to Circus, the core technology of the company’s CA-1 flagship commercial AI robot provides the platform for accelerating the development of CA-M. To deliver scaled end-to-end nutrition, CA-M integrates advanced AI-based software in its automated meal preparation.
Fabian Becker, Circus chief financial officer, said he expects the federal research grant to significantly expand the company’s technological capabilities and “decisively accelerate” the market launch of the CA-M AI robot. He stressed that the system highlights the company’s goal of shaping the future of autonomous nutrition systems for both commercial and defense use.