Cruise megaround, Zoox and remember the OG of beauty robots?
Also some great robotics events (and two robot stocks to avoid)!
Funny how all the AI generated images of ‘beauty robot’ were female because the OG of beauty robots is Restoration Robotics - robotics hair restoration for men.
Restoration Robotics was founded back in 2002 by Fred Moll and Philip Gildenberg, and over the course raised $149 million and IPO’d. They’d also raised three rounds (A,B,C) by the time investment into robotics started its real growth. Great history, bad stock investment … just like iRobot :)
Following on from last week, I met two more beauty robotics founders at Robotics Invest. Luum of course, and RoboSculptor , and hat tip to Ward Broom for steering me to RoboCosme .
Robotics Invest (just finished) is one of the best events you can attend in robotics at the moment, although I think the Silicon Valley Robotics Leadership Forum is one of the other best events. I’m very pleased to have made it to Boston (if briefly) and I wish I’d been able to also make it to the Canadian Robotics Network event on June 14.
Last week I missed mentioning that Cobalt Robotics and Cobalt AI have just been acquired by Dean Drako, a prominent figure in technology and physical security. Travis Deyle is taking some time off to think about what comes next in the fast moving opportunity that is robotics and AI today. Cobalt AI's announcement: https://lnkd.in/gEQriQZc
Squee! It’s a PLEO!!
Many thanks to Steve Okay from Familiar Robotics for donating a much loved PLEO to our Museum of Robots ! Steve’s also donated a cool Japanese tea carrying robot.
“AI now beats humans at basic tasks”: Really?
In her article “AI now beats humans at basic tasks”: Really? , Melanie Mitchell addresses the claims that AI can surpass humans at certain tasks and outlines reasons that AI performance on a benchmark can be misleading.
Robots & Startups is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber over at Substack - https://249x.substack.com .
More interesting things in robotics
Tangram Vision have released a Spinning Lidar Visualizer - an interactive tool to quickly compare spinning LiDAR models.
Humans & Robots with Leila Takayama - Talk Nerdy Podcast
The Start of a Journey to Deliver the Last Fifty Feet - Vault Robotics - Viodi
We’re in the middle of a Cambrian Explosion in robotics - Andra Keay / Dan O’Mara / Jeff Frick recent video
Robot News
The Geologists of the Future: Can a robot map as well as a human can? - The Atlantic
New Energy Source Powers Subsea Robots Indefinitely - NASA
ABB launches next generation robotics control platform OmniCore - ABB
ANYbotics and Energy Robotics Announce Partnership to Transform Asset Monitoring - OGV Energy
East and Gulf Coast port labor talks stall over automation concerns - Supply Chain Dive
TSMC-backed U.S. fund targets chip, robotics, other hardware startups - Nikkei
NVIDIA Robotics Adopted by Industry Leaders for Development of Tens of Millions of AI-Powered Autonomous Machines - NVIDIA
FDA grants clearance for commercial version of Moon Surgical’s Maestro robot - Yahoo Finance
领英推荐
Let slip the robot dogs of war - Wired
Collaborative Robotics hires a former Amazon AI leader, opens Seattle office after $100M round - Geekwire
The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Massive Rounds By Cruise And AlphaSense Lead Way - Crunchbase
Amazon Zoox Robotaxi is Nearing Launch—What to Expect From Autonomous Service? - TechTimes
Will Scaling Solve Robotics? The idea of solving the biggest robotics challenges by training large models is sparking debate - IEEE Spectrum
Embodied AI: The opportunity of our generation - Eclipse Ventures
The AI revolution is coming to robots: How will it change them? - Nature
The Intersection of Chemistry, Robotics, and AI in Drug Discovery - BIO 2024
Apply for the CDL program here
The application deadline is Friday, July 26 2024
Apply for Camp Cleantech here
An event for cleantech startups to connect with partners who can help you scale. From NREL Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center - August 12-14 Denver, Colorado
Nominations Open for Coolest Thing Made in California
Go to CoolestThingCalifornia.com to nominate your California-made product for the 2nd annual Coolest Thing Made in California Contest hosted by CMTA.
Robot Events
I’m also going to…
And some more robotics conferences:
Watch the 2023 Christmas Lectures with Mike Wooldridge
If you are based in the UK, you can watch the three episodes on the BBC iPlayer The Truth about AI: 1. How to Build an Intelligent Machine The Truth about AI: 2. My AI Life The Truth about AI: 3. The Future of AI: Dream or a Nightmare?
If you outside of the UK, you can watch the series on YouTube .
Robots & Startups is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber over at Substack - https://249x.substack.com .