Blink and you'll miss it... The Climate Robotics Summit was on last week
Celebrating the first anniversary of Joanne Pransky's legacy and the Women in Robotics Scholarships
Joanne Pransky, known as the World’s First Robot Psychiatrist, died last year on May the 4th 2023. Her force lives on in the Women in Robotics Scholarship in her name. Graduate students in robotics are welcome to apply (using the QR Code) to the second round of awards, which will be announced on October 2nd 2024 during the second International Women in Robotics Day.
The ongoing scholarship is hosted on the Bold.org site meaning that all donations are 100% tax deductible and no fees are charged. Bold reaches a large number of schools and colleges across the USA, meaning we had 172 applicants for the first round of awards, which were announced recently.
Thanks to generous donations from Joanne’s friends and family, and a $20,000 grant from the Engelberger Foundation, we have now raised $32,180 for scholarships.
The Climate Robotics Summit May 2-3 Online
The Summit’s aims are to build a multi-disciplinary community and knowledge base to inform inclusive, ethical, and sustainable applications of Climate Robotics.
Can Robotics Support Climate Action?
The climate crisis is the defining issue of our time. We all need to be engaged to mitigate its impact and adapt responsibly. Robotics may have a role to play in scaling existing climate solutions and may also offer novel solutions. Well over 200 startups, companies, and research labs work on Climate Robotics.
It has such a gallant theme, I can imagine us all riding a horseback to do useful things. Or is that just me? .. and here’s a link to The Climate Robotics Summit too.
What else is happening in the robotics neighborhood?
How Field AI is conquering unstructured data
IEEE Spectrum's article comes with a reminder that Field AI was one of the five companies that Bill Gates said were worth watching in his Gates Notes just in January. The other four organizations included two of our most interesting humanoid companies; Agility Robotics, Apptronik, Tevel and Romela, the research lab.
More recently Gates has also been as getting involved with other humanoid robotics companies as ”Microsoft taps Sanctuary AI for general-purpose robot research” TechCrunch
The longer IV with Bill Gates in January on TechCrunch gives more insight .. and here’s a link to Field AI too.
We need senior roboticists and mentors
Are you a recently retired, or laid off and want to stay involved in robotics, meeting new startups and networking with like-minded mentors? Join our Mentor program and volunteer 1-2 hours each month.
It seems like a lot of senior robotics people are interested in fractional roles or consulting and advising startups. Partly to share hard won knowledge, partly to give back to the community, and partly because recruitment is broken and seems to be totally broken for anyone over the age of 40.
SVR Startup Accelerator is open again
We’re holding regular founder / mentor sessions again at Circuit Launch and online.
Did you just switch to a paid subscription? Thank you! It makes you an angel investor in the work I do at Silicon Valley Robotics supporting startups.
Robotics News:
Every tech company wants to be like Boston Dynamics - The Atlantic
Madrid Open: Robot dog gets applauded as it delivers Madrid Open final tennis balls - SkySports
The robot race is fueling a fight for training data - MIT Technology Review (paywalled)
Man beat machine in the first human/autonomous car race - but for how much longer? - MOTORTREND
I watched the first Autonomous Racing League event and while it certainly wasn’t exciting, it was unintentionally hilarious - PCGAMER
Luminar, maker of lidar for autonomous vehicles, lays of f 20% of workforce - The Verge
DARPA’s ‘autonomous Manta Ray’ drone can glide through ocean depths undetected - LIVESCIENCE
MightyFly flies Autonomous Freighter in FAA-approved flight corridor - AIN
Airforce researchers design, build and fly autonomous aircraft in 24 hours - AirForce
FDA clears autonomous AI for retina … - AEye Health
Watch this autonomous excavator build a 215 foot retaining wall [video] - elektrek
Robotics Events:
May 1-2 - Robotics Summit & Expo - Boston, MA
May 2 - Robotic Food Manipulation in the Wild - Chef Robotics hosting Women in Robotics in SF
May 6-9 - Automate - Chicago, IL
TBC June 13-14 - SVR Robotics Investment Summit - Menlo Park, CA (alternate date October)
June 17-20 - Collision - Toronto CA
Some more upcoming academic robotics conferences:
Robosoft 2024 San Diego CA 14 Apr - 17 Apr
ICRA 2024 Yokohama Japan 13 May - 17 May 2024
ARSO 2024 Hong Kong, China 20 May - 22 May 2024
AIM 2024 Boston MA 14 July - 18 July
CASE 2024 Puglia Italy 28 Aug - 1 Sep 2024
CLAWAR 2024 Kaiserslauten Sep 4 - Sep 6
ICRA@40 Rotterdam NL 23 Sep - 26 Sep 2024
IROS 2024 AbuDhabi 14 Oct - 18 Oct 2024
Humanoids 2024 Nancy FR 26 Nov - 28 Nov
ICRA 2025 Atlanta Georgia 17 May - 23 May 2025
And here’s something to leave you with…
GiantFreakinRobot thinks that nows a really good time to remember what Asimov taught us! Get those Robot Rules out, they still work just as good as they used to.