1X shows off Neo, Canvas launches new construction robot and Covariant is aquihired by Amazon
Humanoids have only just hit the headlines and yet at CASE we're already talking bio-hybrids and organic robotics
1x launches NEO Beta, an AI powered bipedal humanoid robot designed for home use. NEO is 5’4” and only weighs 30 kg, as well as being padded with soft material.
NEO Beta represents a significant advancement in robotics, moving beyond traditional, stiff robots to humanoids with bio-inspired designs that can safely work among people. The NEO Beta launch marks a major milestone for 1X as the company transitions from conceptual development to bringing humanoid robots into consumer households. NEO has been designed to be produced at scale in the company’s factory in Moss, Norway.
“Our priority is safety,” said Bernt Børnich, CEO at 1X. “Safety is the cornerstone that allows us to confidently introduce NEO Beta into homes, where it will gather essential feedback and demonstrate its capabilities in real-world settings. This year, we are deploying a limited number of NEO units in selected homes for research and development purposes. Doing so means we are taking another step toward achieving our mission.”
1X’s mission is to create an abundant supply of physical labor through safe, intelligent humanoids that work alongside people. To achieve this goal, 1X humanoids must be exposed to diverse environments to become fully capable of performing a wide range of tasks. In the video released, 1x shows how NEO is safe to work among people.
I’ve been a long time Festo Bionics fan, not just because they’ve designed a bionic kangaroo! Rather because Festo is excelling in both sides of biorobotics - developing innovation via biomimicry and incorporating bionics into robotics and automation for all industries, in particular, the increasingly important area of biomanufacturing.
Dr Ansgar Kriwet, on the Management Board for Research and Development of Festo provided a detailed and inspiring plenary at CASE 2024 in Bari, Italy. The moment it’s available I’ll share it here. He spoke at length about the next frontier for robotics - organic robotics.
CASE has been a great success, with almost 1000 registrations (the largest number ever), a robust technical program and very enjoyable social activities. Many congratulations to the General Chair, Prof Mariagrazia Dotoli of Polytechnic Bari, Prof Yu Sun of University Toronto, and Program Chair, Carla Seatzu of University Cagliari.
The Industry Activities Board of IEEE RAS, which I chair(?) was able to assist with a Standards Workshop/Panel, an Industry Panel featuring Festo, Massmec, Magna International and Oversonic, the Italian humanoid robotics company, currently deployed in automotive and manufacturing companies. We also trialled entrepreneur office hours and it was a pleasure to meet two very forward thinking robotics, AI and automation companies - one in modular manufacturing and the other in affordable robot arm technology.
What do investors think about robotics?
Oliver Hsu posted Toward a Horizontal Robotics Platform on Andreessen Horowitz
Join the embodied AI revolution with Hello Robot’s Stretch 3, which will be shipping in 3-4 weeks. Or you could enter the PhyRC competition and win one!
The PhyRC Challenge - a new competition for robotic caregiving, hosted by the Cornell EmPRISE lab. The winner will take home their very own Stretch! There’s also a Kinova 6 DOF arm for Track 1 teams. The deadline for registration is September 8th - don’t miss it!
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Robot Expo Opportunities through SVR
2024 SVR Robotics Investment Forum
Friday Nov 1st Mountain View
VC panels, startup showcase and 1:1 investor matchmaking
apply here
Robot News
Want to see the newest construction robot from Canvas.build in action?
Canvas is revealing the 1200CX for the very first time at our headquarters in San Francisco. fter years of development and incorporating direct feedback from our customers, the Canvas 1200CX is here! This versatile machine excels in smaller spaces and will supplement our existing model 1550. Spraying and sanding both L4 and L5 finishes, lasting all day on a single charge, and being highly maneuverable in the tightest of areas, the 1200CX will help solve your safety, labor shortage, and quality challenges!
Join us for a live demo and lunch on Thursday, Sep 12th from 11am-1pm. Sign up on our registration page (https://lnkd.in/gRYR5wY5).
We can’t wait to show you this exciting new machine and all its features live!
Amazon hires Covariant founders, inks licensing deal with AI startup in latest ‘reverse acquihire’ - Amazon - Geekwire
Swiss-Mile secures $22M in seed funding, co-led by Jeff Bezos and Hongshan - Swiss-mile
Meet Boardwalk Robotics’ addition to the humanoid robot workforce - IEEE Spectrum
Boston Dynamics: What We Need In The Emerging Golden Age of Robotics - Forbes
Chinese company busted showing off humanoid robots that actually have humans inside - The_Byte
China’s New Growth Strategy Backed By Robots - EMSNOW
Unitree’s $16,000 humanoid leaps toward production - CNET
NASA invites industry input on Astrobee space robotics - Space Daily
NASA JPL Developing Underwater Robots to Venture Deep Below Polar Ice - NASA
Robot Metalsmiths Are Resurrecting Toroidal Tanks for NASA - IEEE Spectrum
Robots are coming to the kitchen - what that could mean for society and culture - The Conversation
The skyscraper window-washing robots are here - Popular Science
Robots are starting (good) fires in California - The Seattle Times
OhmniLabs to Debut OhmniCare Telehealth Robot at Industry Day Event for Advancing Veteran Healthcare - Newswires
Dirty, dull or dangerous: Using AI to teach robots to do the jobs we don’t want - Full Circle (double points for the Joanna Maciejewska quote)
And for more organic robotics…
Fungus learns to drive in ‘biohybrid’ robots - New Atlas
Beetle-inspired flapping robots effortlessly deploy and retract their wings - Nature
We designed wormlike, limbless robots that navigate obstacle courses - they could be used for search and rescue one day - Georgia Institute of Technology
Robots run the lab, biologists design the experiments - R&D World
Robot Events
FIRA is back! October 22-24 Woodland CA
🚀 hashtag#FIRAUSA24: Unveiling the Future of AgTech!
🧑🌾 FIRA USA event: October 22-24
🌟 Highlights:
• Unparalleled networking for farmers, manufacturers, and scientists
• In-field demos of cutting-edge autonomous solutions
• Business meetings and research discussions
• Focus on specialty crops: vegetables, vines, fruit, and nut trees
Don't miss this opportunity to shape the future of agriculture!
🔗 Register now: https://lnkd.in/eHJDFK3F
The local events I’m going to be at…
ACTUATE Summit : Sep 18, 2024 . San Francisco - use SVROBO for 25% off
BARS is back at Berkeley this year on Oct 11 - it’s hard to get an invite though!
RobOpsCon 2024 - Mountain View - Oct 15
SVR Robotics Investment Summit - Nov 1st
Stanford Robotics Center Opening - Nov 2nd and 3rd - invites not out yet
Humanoid Robotics Summit - Mountain View - Dec 11 - 12, with SVR Robotics Entrepreneur Workshop on Dec 13 - get the news first here :)
The Humanoid Robotics Summit will be at the Computer History Museum and there is already a fabulous line up. AND we’re still collecting speaker applications.
And some more robotics conferences (and I’ll see you at CASE, ANDICOM, ICRA@40, ROSCon, Masters&Robots, ICSR and more tbd):
CASE 2024 Puglia Italy 28 Aug - 1 Sep 2024
BioRob Heidelberg DE 1 Sep-Sep 4
Commercial UAV Expo : Sep 03 - Sep 05, 2024 . Las Vegas, United States of America
CLAWAR 2024 Kaiserslauten DE Sep 4 - Sep 6
AMBayArea Fall Forum - Sep 5
IMTS Chicago IL Sep 9 - Sep 14
HAX Deep Tech Meetup Berkeley - Sep 12
ACTUATE Summit : Sep 18, 2024 . San Francisco - use SVROBO for 25% off
UC San Diego Conceptual Robotics Institute Symposium - Sep 19
ICRA@40 Rotterdam NL 23 Sep - 26 Sep
International Robot Safety Conference Cincinnati OH Oct 1 - Oct 3
A3’s Humanoids Memphis TN Oct 7
Autonomous Mobile Logistics Memphis TN Oct 8 - Oct 10
ANTS (Swarm robotics) 2024 : Oct 09 - Oct 11, 2024 . Konstanz, Germany
SOSV Climate Tech Summit Oct 14 - Oct 18
IROS 2024 AbuDhabi Oct 14 - Oct 18
RobOpsCon 2024 - Mountain View - Oct 15
ROSCon Odense DK Oct 21 - Oct 23
Masters&Robots Warsaw Poland Oct 22 - Oct 23
ROS Industrial Conference Odense DK Oct 24 - Oct 25
ICSR+AI Odense DK Oct 24 - Oct 26
CORL Munich DE Nov 6 - Nov 9
IEEE Future of Telepresence Pasadena CA Nov 16 - Nov 17
Humanoids 2024 Nancy FR Nov 26 - Nov 28
ISRR - 40th Anniversary - Long Beach CA Dec 8 - Dec 12
2025
HRI 2025 Melbourne Australia March 4 - March 6
ProMat 2025 Chicago IL Mar 17 - Mar 20
ICRA 2025 Atlanta Georgia 17 May - 23 May 2025