With his start-up KEWAZO, the successful young entrepreneur is able to put this into practice day after day. Studying at TUM brought him to where he is now. It was here that he met the TUM Alumni who then became his co-founders and closest confidants. And it was here that he acquired the knowledge of cutting-edge robotics technologies, which make work on construction sites easier and safer.

LIVING THE DREAM 

Having completed a Civil Engineering degree in Russia, Artem Kuchukov felt that this was not the end of the story yet. He wanted to go abroad and do a second degree to expand his horizons. The Advanced Construction and Building Technology program at TUM was just what he needed, as it combined his two great passions of Civil Engineering and new technologies. “The opportunity to be at the forefront of a field like robotics in construction is only offered at a handful of universities around the world,” Artem Kuchukov explains. “The degree program at TUM was entirely in English. This was a huge advantage and allowed me to pursue my dream.”

THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME 

Artem Kuchukov had not expected to set up a company at all, and in a foreign country at that. “Before my time at TUM, I had no plans of starting a business,” he explains. “It was more a serendipitous matter of being in the right place at the right time with the right people and the right skills.”

His studies revealed a huge gap between the reality and possibilities in construction logistics to Artem Kuchukov. Not so long ago, intelligent robotic elevators for material handling would not even have been conceivable. “Today, new software and hardware technologies allow for such solutions,” he explains. “This is why completely new solutions can now be developed and brought to the market. It is the right time to change the state of affairs on construction sites, which has remained the same over the past decades.” His idea: to use robotics and data analysis to digitalize the construction industry.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE 

Together with his university friend Leonidas Pozikidis (Master Advanced Construction and Building Technology 2017), Artem Kuchukov further formulated their mutual idea and already developed the first technologies. But it was the young visionaries’ participation in UnternehmerTUM’s Think.Make.Start course that brought about the breakthrough for their ambitious project. Here they met TUM Alumni Sebastian Weitzel (Master Informatics 2017), Ekaterina Grib (Master Consumer Affairs 2017), Eirini Psallida (Master Informatics 2017) and Alimzhan Rakhmatulin (Master ESPACE 2018) – and launched the start-up KEWAZO.

Today, these TUM Alumni are not only his colleagues, but also Artem Kuchukov’s best friends and closest confidants. “Especially in the early stages, we had to overcome many challenges together,” he recalls. “This is a bonding experience and takes the relationships to a new level.” Also TUM made its contribution to the start-up’s development: with many rounds of consulting, a workspace in Garching and the necessary hardware. “Step by step, all this led to where we are today,” Artem Kuchukov says. “We are one of the world’s leading teams in the field of robotics in construction.”

The ambitious company now has over twenty employees. It is backed by world-class industry specialists and leading European investors. Recently, it received CE certification from TÜV Süd. And it is  off to its first small-scale production: in 2021, the high-tech transportation device will be on the market –  with the “LIFTBOT” robot, which works shoulder-to-shoulder alongside humans on construction sites. “I always wanted my business to have a big impact on the world surrounding me,” says Artem Kuchukov. “To establish and develop my own company somehow was a response to and fulfillment of this desire.”