Rethink Robotics is back! Got your TAM, SAM, SOM sorted? Can your robots build robot factories?

And a new home robot launches! This is just the tip of the iceberg of robotics and embodied AI news.

Rethink Robotics returns to the market at IMTS, where it unveils its Rethink Reacher (RE) line of collaborative robots (cobots).

Sometimes you just launch too early I suppose! If you’re at IMTS this year, the largest robotics and automation show in the Americas, you can see the newly unveiled Reacher line up from Rethink Robotics. Rethink also seems to be offering AMRs, and a combo AMR and arm. These arms are absolutely designed for industry needs but I, for one, do miss the smiling tablet faces of the original Baxter and Sawyer robots.

There’s a new Turtlebot in town!

MangDang, the creators of Mini Pupper robot have a new Kickstarter campaign launching the Mini Pupper 2G and the low cost Turtle Robot starting at $150. Both robots are aimed at letting you play with Gen AI and are compatible with ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude.

More Humanoid Robot News?

Our new IEEE RAS / ASTM Humanoid Study Group is becoming very very very popular. If you’re involved in humanoid robots and not in the study group… let me know.

Agility Robotics humanoid factory in Salem Oregon is open for business (see news below) while China is asking if they can build all the humanoids they want/need! Frankly, we should all be asking if we can build the robots we need.

Also, there have been many many responses to the Call for Speakers for the Humanoid Robotics Summit on Dec 11, 12 in Mountain View… but if you have a humanoid startup, company or robot, we’d still love to hear from you. New tracks have been added! It’s going to be massive.

And here’s more about NEO, the home humanoid from 1x.

Send me your community news to share

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

TAM, SAM and SOM - why it matters to investors

If this breakdown isn’t on your pitchdeck, then you might be in a bit of trouble. Nobody believes in the wonderful Billion$ undifferentiated addressable market opportunity. The reality is much more segmented and the more segmented you can be, the more persuasive your pitch will be. That includes factoring in your competition, and not pretending that you don’t have any.

There’s a good post about TAM, SAM and SOM from The VC Corner (paywalled) and another good post (free) at Hubspot Blog.

Market Sizing 101

Robot News

Agility Robotics will produce 10,000 humanoid robots per year at its new facility in Salem once it reaches maximum production capacity. (Agility Robotics)

Salem factory will start producing humanoid robots by the end of the year - Salem Reporter

Agility Robotics and Ricoh partner to support expanding humanoid robot market - PR Newswire

China needs more robot factories. Can it build its own? - WSJ

This could be the start of Amazon’s next robotics revolution - Wired

ps - LOVE Henny Admoni’s Robot Support video column (from 2022 - update needed!)

Opinion: China’s robotics future is fast approaching - SouthChinaMorningPost

Kebab Franchise to Roll Out Up To 2,400 Autonomous Food Robots - QAMag

Coco’s Hybrid Fleet of Food Delivery Robots Poised for Major Urban Rollout - Food on Demand

Exclusive: the massage robots have arrived in Miami - Axios

How Fox Robotics went from scrappy startup to making self-driving forklifts for Walmart - ModernRetail

Fedex invests in AI robotics company Nimble to boost its supply chain business - Reuters

Robots May Help Out On The Moon This Time - Forbes

NASA to support DARPA robotic satellite servicing program - NASA

The Japanese Robot Controversy Lurking in Israel’s Military Supply Chain - Wired

Judge rules J&J owes Auris investors $1Billion related to 2019 robotics deal - Reuters

Could AI-Powered Humanoid Robots Be Coming to Retail Stores - PYMNTS

UT launches nation’s first robotics program for freshman applicants - UTNews (hmmm…UMich?)

Grain bins are hazardous. Nebraska startup Grain Weevil aims to make them safer through robotics - AFN

InOrbit expands leadership team to drive innovation in robotics and AI - A3

How long do we have until sea level rise swallows coastal cities? this fleet of ocean robots will help find out - CNN

If robots could lie, would we be okay with it? A new study throws up intriguing results - The Conversation

Video Friday: HAND To Take On Robotic Hands - IEEE Spectrum

And Weave Robots launch their personal home assistant robot (for preorders) - WeaveRobots.com (another one for the mobile humanoid list?)

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 - by invitation only

• 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

• LA Tech Week - Mobility & Delivery Tech Happy Hour - Oct 17

• 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