Seeing Machines is increasingly looking like more than an automotive technology story. Indeed, it is on the path to becoming a robotics play.

The company has successfully completed a robotics proof of concept, and CEO Paul McGlone has said he expects it to progress into product development, licensing and ultimately revenue. There is no timetable yet, but the important point is that the technology appears to have passed the first big test: it works.

So what happens next?

One possibility is particularly intriguing. Mitsubishi Electric and Sony Semiconductor Solutions are establishing Advanced Vision Solutions, a joint venture focused on AI vision, factory automation, autonomous operation and physical AI. It is due to start operating in October.

Seeing Machines has not named the customer behind its robotics POC. Still, there are some intriguing clues pointing towards Mitsubishi. SEE has an established strategic partnership with Mitsubishi Electric Mobility under which the companies have explicitly agreed to explore adjacent markets, and SEE’s February investor presentation specifically identified ‘smart factory’ as one of those opportunities.

If so, a product-development agreement with Seeing Machines around the time the JV launches would be a very interesting development.

And Ambarella adds another strand to the story.

Seeing Machines already works with Ambarella, whose CVflow processors are increasingly being used for robotics and industrial AI. There is no evidence that Ambarella is part of the Sony-Mitsubishi JV — and it doesn’t need to be.

Seeing Machines could potentially be working with different hardware partners on different physical-AI applications.

That is what makes the opportunity so interesting.

The company doesn’t need to build the robots, cameras or processors. Its potential role is the perception and human-understanding layer that allows machines to understand people and their environment.

If that technology becomes licensable across multiple robotics platforms, the current valuation — largely based on automotive growth — could look very different.

And with the refinancing risk potentially disappearing at the same time, the next few months could be unusually important for SEE shareholders.

The writer holds stock in Seeing Machines.