InOrbit RobotSpace Anniversary
2024 robotics in review from Chris Paxton, another National Robotics Roadmap and Ted Xiao on what's missing in foundation models for robots, plus China's AI bets
Want to watch Digit drive a race car?
(A brief excerpt from Ted Xiao (DeepMind) Action-driven Intelligence post above)
A massive vibe shift has rocked the world this year, and its name is intelligent robots. From academic research to an exploding startup scene to industry AGI labs, the dream of general purpose agents embodied in the physical world has captured the world’s attention. But is the arrival of ubiquitous general-purpose robots – powered by robot foundation models – truly just around the corner?
Beneath all of the polished and hyped-up demo videos, I think it’s important to examine how the field of robotics and AI is actually evolving. When we peel back the marketing narratives which are optimized for storytelling and fundraising, can we see how the underlying scientific and technological progress is going? Can we examine what’s going well, and perhaps more importantly, what’s still missing? What are the open challenges and blind spots of robot foundation models, and what can that tell us about what’s coming next?
(A brief excerpt from Chris Paxton’s It Can Think post above)
For me, there are three big stories:
The proliferation of amazing robotics startups: we have Physical Intelligence and Skild raising eye-watering $300M+ rounds, but also really cool companies like Hillbot, Watney, Reflex Robotics, and more.
Even university researchers are leaving the laboratory and entering the real world: papers like Building-Wide Mobile Manipulation, Ok-Robot, and WildLMA showed complex, exciting robot behavior happening in challenging, unstructured environments.
Hardware is getting cheaper and is broadly available: Stretch RE3, of course, launched this year. Unitree has made amazing robots for a while, but even they now have a ton of real strong competition. Booster Robotics, etc. A new generation of “affordable robot companies” like Innate and Hackerbot.
Circuit Launch Mountain View is Open!
Want a dedicated desk? (Or office or hotdesk) I’m at Mountain View all week if you’d like to tour the new Circuit Launch space in the old Boston Dynamics building.
Circuit Launch is the ultimate hub for hardware innovators, offering state-of-the-art prototyping labs, co-working space, and a thriving community of entrepreneurs. We provide the tools, training, and connections to accelerate your ideas into reality, with locations in Oakland, San Leandro (2025) and Mountain View.
Tour the new facility and check out our Dedicated Desks, Entrepreneur Hot Desks, and Private offices, now available for your next big idea. info@circuitlaunch.com
Hey roboticists!
Urban Machines are selling their old picker cell at auction, and are willing to take a bargain basement offer on it so that you can harvest it for parts. It has like 26 clearpath servos in there each worth about $500. Probably 15-20k worth of parts total. So lots of valuable components for someone willing to take it apart. Here's a link: https://svdisposition.hibid.com/lot/225906731/nail-picking-machine
The Roadmap for U.S. Robotics
The Roadmap for U.S. Robotics has been updated every four years since it was first published in 2009. The initial roadmap resulted in the National Robotics Initiative, a cross agency program to promote R&D in robotics. Each edition since has had a theme to ensure its findings are relevant to address current challenges. For 2024, key considerations in the roadmap are related to the use of advances in artificial intelligence, how to address the workforce shortage, and a more explicit emphasis on sustainability.
The Engineering Research Visioning Alliance was pleased to sponsor and contribute to the Robotics Roadmap with distinguished co-sponsors: the University of California, San Diego; the Computing Community Consortium; the University of Pennsylvania; the University of Texas, Austin; and Arizona State University. ERVA had representatives at all the Robotics Roadmap meetings and would like to thank Vijay Kumar, Roger Bonnecaze, Edl Schamiloglu, and Pramod Khargonekar for their active participation.
Key recommendations from the 2024 Robotics Roadmap:
Robotics technology will transform society and is likely to become as ubiquitous within the next decade as computing technology is today. As it stands, this development will not occur in the United States. As such, robotics ought to be a national government priority (again)
There should be cross-agency coordination for R&D, innovation and utilization of robot technology. The need for a holistic vision across industry, academic and government is critical to the nation.
● The Congressional Robotics Caucus should be reinvigorated to ensure appropriate prioritization at all levels.
● There is a need to unify funding programs across agencies to make it easier for researchers, developers, and entrepreneurs to access these opportunities.
● There is a need to consider mechanisms to support the U.S. industry to be competitive across regions and nations.
● Increased attention is needed on workforce training to address the shortage and to ensure adaptation to new technology.
The Robotics Roadmap includes discussion of megatrends, opportunities, and challenges, research directions, and workforce development discussion, as well as societal considerations on safety, security, ethics, and inclusion. The ERVA community is encouraged to download the Robotics Roadmap, share it with colleagues, and leverage the learnings.
DOWNLOAD THE 2024 ROBOTICS ROADMAP
The IERA Award highlights and honors the achievements of inventors with value creating ideas and entrepreneurs who propel those ideas into world-class products. This is a key element to the continuing success of robotics and automation today. Active infusion of innovation and entrepreneurship into technological advancement is regarded critical at this juncture to strengthen a healthy balance between research and practice as well as a healthy growth of industrial and commercial sectors in robotics and automation.
The IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (IEEE/RAS) and the IFR jointly sponsor the award - underlining their determination to promote stronger collaboration between science and industry in robotics.
Finalists present their story of a successful innovative product in robotics and automation - from inception to final state of commercialization - in a series of plenary lectures at the IEEE/IFR Joint Forum on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Robotics and Automation. The winners are then chosen by an evaluation board. The annual award consists of a plaque and a $2,000 honorarium.
Deadline May 31st https://ifr.org/img/office/Call_for_Application_IERA_2025_three_pager.pdf
The search is on for the next game-changing automation solution. The 2025 Automate Startup Challenge is bringing together the most innovative early-stage robotics and automation companies to compete for a $10,000 cash prize and industry-wide recognition.
Our panel of industry-expert judges is looking for groundbreaking solutions that push the boundaries of what's possible in automation. Think your startup has what it takes? The deadline for submissions is February 21, 2025. Apply Here
Finalists will be announced after March 1, 2025.
Send me your community news to share!
CBInsights just released their State of AI report
Download the 162-page report to access comprehensive data and charts on the evolving state of AI across exits, top investors, geographies, and more.
And now, here is this week’s Hot or Not.
Hot: AI dough
Global AI funding surged past the $100B mark for the first time ever in 2024.
This was heavily driven by $1B+ deals to AI model and infrastructure players.
OpenAI, xAI, and Anthropic raised 4 out of the 5 largest rounds in 2024 as they burned through invested cash to fund the development of frontier models.
However, DeepSeek’s R1 model, reportedly developed at a fraction of the cost of its US rivals’ models, has raised questions about this level of capital investment for infrastructure development.
Discover what DeepSeek’s model releases mean for the future of AI here.
Not: Vertical AI tech
Vertical-specific AI companies are seeing less investor love.
Fintech, digital health, and retail tech now account for just 24% of overall AI deals — that’s down from 38% just 5 years ago.
Amid genAI's ascendancy, a greater share of deals appear to be flowing to AI companies targeting infrastructure and horizontal applications.
See how AI investment strategies are evolving in our State of AI 2024 Report.
Note: I do think this is natural in the buildout phase of a new space and this trend will reverse. As to when? I’m not sure.
Hot: China in AI
China’s DeepSeek has put the spotlight on the country's AI development ecosystem.
What other companies are drawing attention?
See the “AI tigers”: Moonshot AI, Zhipu AI, Baichuan AI, MiniMax, and 01.AI.
All 5 have nabbed $1B+ valuations and backing from China’s big tech companies.
More details on the landscape here.
Robotics News
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and President Trump reportedly discussed AI policy, DeepSeek, and hardware export controls in a meeting - Tom’s Hardware
Blue Ghost lunar lander is documenting its journey to the moon. The views are breathtaking - CNN
The Global Race for Humanoid Robots Heats Up - Foreign Policy
Figure Plans To Ship 100,000 Humanoid Robots Over Next 4 Years - Forbes
Elon Musk says Tesla aims to build 10,000 Optimus robots this year - Electrek
Chinese startup Unitree sees humanoid robots in wide commercial use this decade - South China Morning Post
AI Robotics Startup Raises $10 Million to Build a Robot Workforce - Tomorrow’s World Today
To help AIs understand the world, researchers put them in a robot - ArsTechnica
Teradyne Robotics group (Universal and MiR) lays off 10% of global staff - The Robot Report
Has enthusiasm for robotics failed? - FreightWaves
Deloitte and May Mobility Announce Strategic Collaboration to Optimize Autonomous Transportation Services Globally - PRNewswire
SoftBank to invest $500M in robotics startup Skild AI - TechCrunch
Bonsai Robotics Secures $15 Million in Series A Funding to Advance Its Physical AI Solutions for Agriculture Applications - Business Wire
A Conversation With Bear Robotics’ John Ha on LG Deal and The Future of The Company - The Spoon
AIs and Robots Should Sound Robotics - IEEE Spectrum
Robotics Events
Bots&Beers is Back Baby!
Wednesday Feb 5th from 6 to 8.30pm at Circuit Launch Mountain View.
I can say that we launched International Humanoids Day on 12/12 and also that in 2025 the Silicon Valley / San Francisco Humanoids Summit will be back on Dec 11th and 12th 2025 AND in London on May 29th and 30th.
Bots&Beer is Back Baby! - Feb 5th
SVR Investor Summit - IN PERSON - Feb 12th
InOrbit Robot Space Anniversary - Feb 13th
Women in Robotics UNHappy Hour - Feb 19th
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
Love you posts. Insightful and thorough covering all about robotics and AI. A little long for my taste. But nevertheless very useful.