There’s no such thing as a future-proof career. This is something I consider nearly any time I write about advances in generative AI. Is there a sense in which I’m contributing to the propagation of my eventual replacement? Probably! But don’t worry, that’s a me problem. As for you, my roboticist friend, you’ll be just […]
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After two years of flying high, industrial robot orders dropped by nearly one-third last year. Per the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), 31,159 industrial robots were purchased by North American companies in 2023, down from 44,196. That marks a 30% drop for this key market. The number is also down (albeit less so) from 2021’s […]
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In March 2008, a roboticist in winter wear gave Big Dog a big kick for the camera. The buzzing DARPA-funded robot stumbled, but quickly regained its footing amid the snowy parking lot. “PLEASE DO NOT KICK THE WALKING PROTOTYPE DEATH MECH,” pleads the video’s top comment. “IT WILL REMEMBER.” “Creepy as hell,” notes another. “Imagine […]
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A fledgling startup founded by one of OpenAI’s first engineering hires is looking to “redefine manufacturing,” with AI-powered factories for creating bespoke precision parts. Daedalus, as the company is called, is based in the southwestern German city of Karlsruhe, where its solo factory is currently housed. Here, Daedalus takes orders from industries such as medical […]
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[A version of this post appeared in TechCrunch’s robotics newsletter, Actuator. Subscribe here.] The last time I’d spoken with the NVIDIA at any length about robotics was also the last time we featured Claire Delaunay on stage at our Sessions event. That was a while ago. She left the company last July to work with […]
Of all the holy grails in robotics, learning may well be the holiest. In an era when the term “general purpose” is tossed around with great abandon, however, it can be difficult for non-roboticists to understand what today’s systems can — and can’t — do. The truth of it is that most robots these days […]
“Flexibility” isn’t a word one often applies to the manufacturing process. Changing things up on the assembly line is a resource-intensive activity, but automation and robotics could go a ways toward removing some friction from the process. That’s effectively the thesis statement behind Machina Labs. The Los Angeles-based firm distills things into the simplest language […]
Automata, a company that combines software and hardware to automate science labs around the globe, has raised $40 million in an equity-based round of funding, as the U.K.-based startup looks to double down on recent growth across Europe and the U.S. Founded out of London in 2015, Automata in its original guise targeted myriad industries […]
One can’t accuse Bonsai Robotics of lacking focus. The Bay Area-based firm is starting with trees — specifically nut trees. Like most labor-intensive sectors these days, farms have suffered from a profound lack of available workers, so the startup began striking deals with OEMs to outfit heavy farming equipment with its vision-based autonomy. This morning, […]
If you’re lucky, once a year you get to put together a panel built on pure kismet. Pairing Gill Pratt with Marc Raibert was exactly that for me. The two go back several decades, to the salad days of MIT’s Leg Lab. [A version of this story original appeared in TechCrunch’s robotics newsletter, Actuator. Subscribe […]
