IMAGE: Auki Labs
Auki Labs, a Hong Kong-based innovator founded in 2019, is redefining how machines perceive and interact with the physical world through its decentralised ‘posemesh’ network. This protocol enables precise 3D positioning for robotics, extended reality and smart cities, offering a privacy-focused alternative to traditional GPS by allowing devices to share spatial awareness without centralised data collection.
By fostering interoperability, Auki empowers devices to collaboratively navigate and understand complex environments, addressing the needs of 70 per cent of the global economy tied to physical spaces.
We sat down with Nils Pihl, founder and CEO of Auki Labs, to discuss the transformative potential of spatial computing, the innovative posemesh protocol, and the future of AI and robotics in APAC and beyond. Below is the Q&A exploring Auki Labs’ vision and its role in shaping the intersection of robotics and the world we live in.
You’ve previously described spatial computing as a new language. How do you see this language evolving with the integration of AI and robotics, and what does that mean for how we interact with machines and the world around us?
Spatial computing is a new way for machines to understand and interact with the physical world, akin to a language that enables devices to ‘speak’ about space.
Unlike traditional computing, which is largely abstract, spatial computing allows devices to reason about physical environments—understanding distances, objects and their relationships. This is revolutionary, as it shifts how we interact with technology from screen-based interfaces to immersive, context-aware experiences.
With AI and robotics, this language is becoming more sophisticated. For instance, robots equipped with spatial computing can perceive and manipulate their surroundings with precision, enabling tasks like autonomous navigation or object manipulation.
This evolution means machines will integrate seamlessly into our daily lives. Think of a robot watering plants in an office or AR glasses guiding you to a product in a store. These interactions will feel intuitive as machines understand the world much like we do, fostering a collaborative relationship between humans and technology.
You’ve championed the concept of posemesh as a decentralised perception layer. How do you envision this transforming industries like retail, logistics or autonomous robotics in APAC over the next 3-5 years?
The posemesh protocol is an open, permissionless standard that allows devices to share spatial reasoning data and computational resources. This decentralised perception layer enables devices to collaboratively understand their environment, which is critical for industries like retail, logistics and robotics.
In retail, posemesh can transform operations by enabling AI to ‘see’ inside physical stores. For example, Auki Labs recently secured a multimillion-dollar contract with Sweden’s largest grocery retailer, which operates over 1,300 locations.
By integrating posemesh, retailers can optimise product placement, streamline inventory management and enhance customer experiences, such as guiding shoppers to items with AR glasses.
Over the next 3-5 years, we expect to see Asian retailers, particularly in dense urban markets like Singapore and Hong Kong, adopt similar systems to compete with e-commerce’s digital advantages.
In logistics and autonomous robotics, posemesh enables collaborative perception. Imagine self-driving cars in Beijing sharing spatial data to navigate without relying on imprecise GPS or high-latency cloud computing. This could reduce traffic congestion and save time. By fostering device-agnostic communication, posemesh will drive efficiency and scalability across APAC’s complex urban landscapes.
From your vantage point, what is the missing link today between spatial computing and truly intelligent robotics? How is Auki helping to bridge that gap?
The missing link is a robust, interoperable framework for spatial perception, mapping and positioning.
There are six critical layers for intelligent robotics: locomotion, manipulation, spatial semantic perception, mapping, positioning and an application layer.
While progress has been made in locomotion (e.g., robots walking), areas like manipulation and spatial perception remain underdeveloped. LLMs excel in abstract reasoning but struggle with spatial tasks, such as determining the distance to an object or navigating complex environments.
Auki Labs is addressing this by focusing on perception, mappingand positioning through the posemesh protocol. By enabling devices to share spatial data, Auki helps ensure collaborative and cross-compatible systems. This approach reduces the need for each device to independently learn its environment, paving the way for more intelligent, coordinated robotics.
As real-world AI agents become more autonomous, how important is spatial context and what’s the role of shared AR environments in creating collaborative, multi-agent systems?
Spatial context is fundamental for autonomous AI agents. Without understanding their physical environment—where objects are, how far away or what they are—robots cannot perform tasks effectively.
For instance, a humanoid robot watering plants needs to know the location of plants, the watering can, and its own position in space. This requires spatial semantic perception, mapping and positioning, which traditional AI models like LLMs cannot provide.
Shared AR environments, enabled by posemesh, allow multiple devices to collaborate in real time. For example, AR glasses and a robot can share a common understanding of a space, updating each other on changes like a moved object. This collaborative perception is critical for multi-agent systems, such as fleets of delivery robots or autonomous vehicles coordinating in a city. By creating a decentralised network for spatial data, Auki enables scalable and efficient collaboration across devices, which helps transform how AI agents operate in the physical world.
How do you see Web3 principles, such as decentralisation and ownership, intersecting with the physical world through AR and spatial computing? What’s the biggest misconception the industry still has about this convergence?
Web3 principles like decentralisation and ownership are central to Auki’s vision.
The posemesh protocol embodies these by creating a polycentrically decentralised network where venues host their own spatial data, rather than relying on centralised entities like Google. This ensures data sovereignty. For example, a retailer like FairPrice can control its product placement data without sharing it with third parties.
The biggest misconception is that existing technologies like GPS or Wi-Fi trilateration are sufficient for spatial computing. These are too imprecise for AR or robotics, which require centimeter-level accuracy.
In dense urban environments like Hong Kong or Singapore, GPS fails in “urban canyons” and cloud-based solutions introduce unacceptable latency. Posemesh addresses this by enabling peer-to-peer spatial computing, aligning with Web3’s ethos of decentralised and permissionless systems.
Many in the tech space see a tension between user privacy and AI-powered spatial awareness. How does Auki balance this tension, and what ethical frameworks guide your design choices?
Privacy is a critical concern in spatial computing, as devices constantly perceive and map environments. We mitigate this by minimising the privacy surface area through polycentric decentralisation.
For instance, when a robot enters a store, it accesses only the spatial data necessary for navigation, shared directly by the venue’s system, without third-party involvement. This ensures that sensitive data, like a retailer’s product layout, stays with the venue.
Ethically, Auki prioritises reducing privacy impacts to what’s already lost, such as data captured by existing CCTV systems, while avoiding unnecessary data sharing with external parties.
While fully privacy-preserving solutions like blind compute are currently infeasible due to computational demands, our approach ensures transparency and control, which aligns with ethical principles of data minimisation and user empowerment.
You recently announced partnerships and pilot projects. What’s next for Auki Labs in terms of expansion, especially in APAC and how important is Singapore in that strategy?
Auki Labs is aggressively expanding in the APAC region, with pilots in Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong; and with plans for Japan.
Singapore is a key hub due to its advanced infrastructure and status as a tech innovation centre. Auki’s first Singapore rollout, alongside projects in Indonesia, marks a strategic focus on urban markets where spatial computing demand is high.
We are also deepening partnerships with robotics firms such as Padbot and Slamtec, integrating posemesh natively into their systems.
Japan, with its strong robotics ecosystem, is a priority for large-scale pilots. Auki’s strategy targets enterprise clients with multiple locations, such as retailers, to scale rapidly. By tailoring solutions to local languages and branding, Auki ensures relevance across diverse APAC markets.
Looking ahead, what kind of ecosystem or infrastructure do you believe needs to be in place for companies like Auki to scale spatial computing beyond niche applications and into everyday life?
Scaling spatial computing requires robust infrastructure, particularly in battery technology and hyperlocal computing.
Current robot batteries last only 2-4 hours. Innovations like battery-swapping stations, similar to those for electric taxis in Shanghai or power bank services in Hong Kong, could address this. For AR glasses, offloading spatial computing to hyperlocal servers helps reduce battery drain and enable longer use.
Additionally, a decentralised, interoperable ecosystem is essential. Posemesh facilitates this by connecting devices to venue-specific spatial data, creating a “map of maps” rather than a single, centralised database. This infrastructure, combined with advancements in computer vision and robotics, will integrate spatial computing into daily life, from retail navigation to autonomous delivery, especially in APAC’s dense urban environments.
