Writing about robots, robot learning, CoRL and Project Groot
Silicon Valley Robotics
Supporting innovation and commercialization of robotics technologies - Robots&Startups at https://249x.substack.com
CoRL 2024, the Conference on Robot Learning, is just finishing up in Munich and I’m already looking forward to 2025 in Seoul, with CoRL colocating with IEEE Humanoids. Here are the joint winners of #CoRL2024 Best Outstanding Paper Award
1. PoliFormer: Scaling On-Policy RL with Transformers Results in Masterful Navigators by Kuo-Hao Zeng et al
2. One Model to Drift Them All by Franck Djeumou
You can see the list of all accepted papers on the OpenReview CoRL 2024 website.
The CoRL Industry Panel featured Suraj Nair from Pi, Nicolas Heess from Google Deepmind, Russ Tedrake from TRI and Yashraj Narang from NVIDIA. Also Hugging Face and NVIDIA announced a collaboration to accelerate robotics research and development by bringing together their open-source robotics communities.
Hugging Face’s LeRobot open AI platform combined with NVIDIA AI, Omniverse and Isaac robotics technology will enable researchers and developers to drive advances across a wide range of industries, including manufacturing, healthcare and logistics.
Women writing about robots!
Part of the 2024 “50 women in robotics you need to know about” series went out yesterday, following on from the women of 1984 ICRA (approx 40 more profiles to go for the full 2024 list).
This post features ‘Women Writing About Robots’ , from award winning author and poet Jane Yolen, to poet and robotics researcher Ruth Aylett who co-authored ‘Living with Robots’ with Patricia A. Vargas. Also included are Aleena Johny, co-author of ‘ROS for Absolute Beginners’; Vanessa Loiola, No1 Robotics Voice on LinkedIn; and Tabitha Goldstaub, author of How to Talk to Robots: A Girls’ Guide to a Future Dominated by AI.
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Intrinsic is hiring!
Hiring multiple Robotics Software Engineers at Intrinsic https://lnkd.in/dsf5UkPv There are multiple open roles in the US (Mountain View, California) and Germany (Munich). Join us in reimagining the potential of industrial robotics. Our team believes that advances in AI, perception and simulation will redefine what’s possible for industrial robotics in the near future – with software and data at the core. Please apply directly via the website (link above).
Autodesk is looking for interns!
The Robotics Lab at Autodesk Research is hiring 5 interns for the summer of 2025 in the areas of perception, machine learning, robotic manipulation, UI, UX and robotic applications. The internships will be onsite in our beautiful Pier 9 facility right on the San Francisco Bay where we have state of the art equipment including a flexible workcell with multiple robots, cameras and end-effectors. Our lab has been exploring the use of adaptive and flexible automation for assembly over the last 3 years. We publish our research at top robotics conferences like ICRA and also build full system demonstrations - e.g. our skateboard truck demo (https://lnkd.in/ghcX5F2K ). If you're interested have a look at the intern jobs below and apply! 1. Robotics Perception Research Intern - https://lnkd.in/ghcAFQfs 2. Robot Learning Intern - https://lnkd.in/gyNKsyNe 3. Robotics and Perception Applications Intern - https://lnkd.in/gZtsbZdG 4. UI Design for Robotics Intern - https://lnkd.in/g6R7bT4N 5. Robotics UX Research Intern - https://lnkd.in/gHuWm5nE Learn more about what we do on our website: https://lnkd.in/giRdW4Pw
‘Getting your resume noticed’ by Brett Adcock, Figure
Figure received 33,000 job applications this year for only 100 openings. So this week, I spent time sifting through hundreds of resumes Here are my 5 recommendations for those applying to jobs: 1/ You have 30 seconds
2/ Resume needs a clear message
3/ Cover letters are a waste of time
4/ Personal websites are awesome
5/ Rise Above
------ Hope this helps some folks out there - we review every application at Figure so please apply if interested!! P.S. Apply to Figure :)
Humanoids Summit - First exhibitors and speakers Announced!
Silicon Valley Robotics is proud to be the strategic advisor for the first Humanoids Summit, Dec 11th and 12th at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.
The first speakers to be announced include Jonathan Hurst from Agility Robotics. You’ll also meed 1X, Apptronik, Kind Humanoids, Engineered Arts, Enchanted Tools and Hanson Robotics. And we’re just getting started.
The Summit has expanded to three tracks in order to accommodate more stellar speakers and exhibitors, and if you’re a Silicon Valley Robotics member you get a great discount on exhibiting and attending.
SVR Investor Summit:
ALL registrations will also forward to Jan 30th 2025. Please ignore the accepted/pending/notaccepted as we update Luma.
Send me your community news to share!
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Robot News
These 60 robot companies are hiring - TechCrunch
Robot AI startup Physical Intelligence raises $400 mln from Bezos, OpenAI - Reuters
Laundry-Folding Robots Are Finally Here - and They’re Backed by Jeff Bezos and OpenAI - Observer
This Robotics AI ‘Brain’ Startup Just Raised $400 Million From Jeff Bezos, OpenAI, and Others - INC
OpenAI hires Meta’s former Orion head to lead its robotics efforts - CNBC
Chipotle’s Autocado partner has been acquired by Serve Robotics - Restaurant News
Gartner’s Top 10 Tech Trends Of 2025: Agentic AI, Robots and Disinformation Security - CRN News
Lyft partners with May Mobility, Mobileye to bring autonomous vehicles to the app - TechCrunch
The next time you go under the knife, there’s a good chance a robot will hold the scalpel - Fortune
Up close with the 300 tonne driverless trucks - BBC
Why a new FedEx facility uses automation but not robotics - SupplyChainDive
NVIDIA Advances Robot Learning and Humanoid Development With New AI and Simulation Tools - NVIDIA
Autonomous, self-sorting cargo highways outlined for Japan - New Atlas
How Agility Robotics Crosses the Sim-2-Real Gap with NVIDIA Isaac Lab - The Robot Report
How Cat Vision Is Inspiring Robotics - ThomasNet
Chef Robotics Prepares To Wheel Into Ghost Kitchens - FoodOnDemand
California agency boosts reporting requirements for autonomous vehicle incidents - Reuters
Reliable Robotics To Collect Data For FAA On Detect And Avoid - Aviation Week
Robots carve sculptures in Italy, sparking outrage among traditional artisans - CBS News
NVIDIA’s robotics executive tells BI how the company is predicting the future of robotics by building it - Business Insider
Securing your robotics stack: what happens when robots go haywire? - Raconteur
Uber’s Real Threat Isn’t From Robots - WSJ
Where Electric, Autonomous and Imported Cars Are Headed Under Trump - Bloomberg
Locus Robotics surpasses four billion units picked - Robotics 24/7
Boston Dynamics’ Latest Vids Show Atlas Going Hands On - IEEE Spectrum
Robot Events
The local events I’m going to be at…
And some more robotics conferences (and I’ll see you at CSAIL, BARS, ROSCon, Masters&Robots, ICSR and more tbd):
2025
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