Plora AI, founded by Soós András and Kádár Attila, redirected its machine‑vision technology from logistics applications to automating dangerous, hard‑to‑scale physical tasks. A failed demonstration and months of industry research led the Budapest startup to focus first on disassembling high‑voltage batteries from electric and hybrid vehicles.
Early work: machine vision for stores and warehouses
The founders had previously worked on autonomous‑vehicle software at Continental and later developed retail camera systems and visual search tools for used‑goods marketplaces. Although the applications differed, they shared a common technological stack: 3D sensing, object‑ and scene‑recognition, and task and motion planning.
Warehouse validation and industrial hardware
Plora’s first substantial product opportunity emerged in a logistics warehouse operated by iLogistic Kft., which later merged into GLS. Csereklyei Bálint, then CEO of iLogistic, gave the team access to the site, where they demonstrated object recognition and box‑packing optimization. Hesse Trade Kft. lent a robotic arm for development; Hesse Trade sales manager Mester Dániel highlighted the startup’s enthusiasm and noted opportunities for automation in the Hungarian market.
A failed demo, lessons learned, and the pivot
At one packaging demo the system calculated an optimal packing arrangement, but the on‑site customer packed the same items into a smaller box, revealing a practical flaw. That direct feedback helped the team improve the product. As development costs and integration complexity mounted, the founders questioned whether the business case justified such investment for tasks where human labor remains relatively cheap.
Plora had planned a €1.5–2 million funding round to scale the logistics product, but investor discussions signaled that the solution might be overengineered for that market. The team therefore searched for problems where technical complexity would translate into clear commercial advantage — in particular, hazardous or otherwise hard‑to‑automate physical jobs. Existing investors largely welcomed the decision to pivot.
Why EV battery disassembly?
Disassembly of high‑voltage battery packs presents multiple factors that favor automation. Modern packs may operate at voltages up to around 800 volts, making manual disassembly hazardous. Packs also vary widely in size, construction, module layout and cell chemistry across manufacturers, so a fixed, repeatable robotic routine is insufficient. Each new pack design requires understanding connector locations, permissible disassembly sequences and safe access to components.
Plora is developing a system that identifies incoming battery packs, plans a safe multi‑step disassembly sequence and executes it via industrial robotic components. Automating this process could reduce labor costs and safety risks, and enable recovery of still‑working modules for second‑life energy storage applications — increasing the economic value of reuse over direct recycling.
Funding and team
After the pivot, Plora raised more than €1.2 million in its first investment round, led by Day One Capital and Underline Ventures, with participation from the German Tiny Supercomputer Investment Company. The company currently works with a seven‑ to eight‑person team that includes engineers with backgrounds at KUKA Robotics and ThyssenKrupp. Investor and robotics entrepreneur Pásztor Aurél, with experience from OptoForce and an international exit, is also part of the team.
A reusable technological framework
Plora’s battery work serves as a validation case for a broader perception‑to‑robotics framework. The target is a software layer that does not merely execute preprogrammed motions but adapts plans as new information arrives during a multi‑step operation. If successful, the same core stack could be applied to other complex assembly, disassembly and maintenance processes.
Market outlook
While full automation may not yet be justified across all segments of the Hungarian market, the founders see accelerating demand on larger Western European markets. With investor backing and a growing industrial‑robotics bench, Plora is positioning its technology to prove commercial value in industrial environments.
Conclusion
Plora AI’s shift from logistics optimization to automating hazardous EV battery disassembly illustrates a market‑driven pivot: the team kept its core perception and planning technology, found an application where that complexity is a competitive advantage, secured funding, and is now building a system intended to generalize to other challenging industrial tasks.
