Summer robotics fun and funding!
Robotics Job Fair, Women in Robotics, Bots & Beer, Founder & Funders etc.
We’ve decided to add a jobs fair component to the July 27 “Get into Robotics” event, hosted by The Hardware Collective at Circuit Launch. Since sharing that a great robotics team was looking for work, I’ve had a ton of messages from companies hiring and from interested individuals. So with the help of IEEE RAS local chapter, we’re adding a job fair.
Come along in person and send your HR team. Can’t come in person? Submit your resume at https://svrobo.org/robojobs and make sure you’re subscribed to this newsletter for more jobs in robotics information. If you’re a robotics company, then mechlabs at Circuit Launch is now provided custom training for your applications ie. palletizing with a Doosan arm, and can guarantee you qualified applicants. Find out more on Thursday!
Big thank you to everyone who has become a paid subscriber - it makes you an angel investor in the work I do at Silicon Valley Robotics and as a startup advisor, and accelerator. And maybe we can do more to share your experience and expertize with the robotics startup community. Mentor Office Hours, maybe startup profiles. We’ll keep exploring.
Robotics Events:
August 1st “Off the Clock with Women in Robotics and InOrbit” networking event for women and non-binary people in robotics or interested in robotics.
August 2nd “Bots & Beer” networking event for everyone in robotics or interested!
Save the date - August 22nd for Robotics Technical Network
Save the date - August 22nd for Founders Funders Network
September 19-21 “Disrupt’s Hardware Stage” from TechCrunch
(plus Brian Heater at Actuator says you save $600 till August 11 and save 15% on top of that with promo “ACTUATOR”)
September 19-21 - FIRA USA Salinas: Robotics and Autonomous Farming Solutions - FIRA
Save the date - September 22 - for Sustainable Robotics for Good with Synapse
September 28 - The Autonomous Systems Showcase - Deep Tech Showcase
October 1-5 - IROS in Detroit - IEEE RAS
IROS is calling for demos - and so is Hello Robot.
Hello Robot is going to have multiple Stretches at IROS and we'd love to see some cool work from our community demonstrated at the Expo! We plan to make a few robots available for community members who would like to showcase their research at IROS, but aren't able to bring their own robots with them.
Demo submissions are due July 15 - if you'd be interested in using one of our robots to participate, please reach out to us as soon as you can!
October 25 - The Food AI Summit - Alameda CA - Call for Speakers open - from The Spoon
Robotics Deadlines:
July 24th for Hello Tomorrow Challenge at Hello Tomorrow
July 28th for the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) 23/24 cohort of startups
September 10th for Galp Challenge for energy startups at The Web Summit
Topics for our FY 2024 SBIR/STTR Phase I Release 1 Funding Opportunity Announcement have been issued and are available on our website: https://science.osti.gov/sbir/Funding-Opportunities.
Important Upcoming Dates
Funding Opportunity Announcement Issued: Monday, August 07, 2023
Letter of Intent Due Date: Monday, August 28, 2023 at 5 PM EDT
Non-responsive LOI Feedback Provided: Monday, September 18, 2023
Application Due Date: Tuesday, October 10, 2023 at 11:59 PM EDT
Award Notification Date: Tuesday, January 02, 2024*
Start of Grant Budget Period: Monday, February 12, 2024*
Quick Reads:
Actuator by Brian Heater from TechCrunch - always worth a read - particularly the notes on Boston’s robotics ecosystem, iRobot, and the memorial for Joanne Pransky.
Meta AI and Hello Robot Join Forces to Bring Artificial Intelligence to Home Robots - Hello Robot
Simbe’s inventory robots score $28 million in funding - Brian Heater at TechCrunch
Autonomous vehicle company Aurora sells $820m worth of stock - TechCrunch
Reliable Robotics Brings Autonomous Flight Even Closer with Industry Leading Certification Milestone - BusinessWire
Humanoids ready to take first steps - Mike Oitzman at The Robot Report
Humanoid robot GR-1 to aid aging population in China - Interesting Engineering
Robotics Blog: Why Robots Should Develop Human-Like Skills - ASME
Intel Capital backs Figure’s humanoid robot to the tune of $9 million - TechCrunch
Meet the robot who will soon make your guacamole at Chipotle - Interesting Engineering
Sarcos Lays off Portion of Staff and Eliminates Manufacturing in Pittsburgh as Part of Cost Saving Efforts - Robotics 24/7
US factories are booming, but finding workers is still a struggle - Business Insider
The world is in the grip of a manufacturing delusion - The Economist
Five Reasons The Road To Revitalizing American Manufacturing Runs Through The Pentagon - Forbes
Pump powers soft robots, makes cocktails and opens the door for soft robotic applications - TechXplore
Sulfur Selenium Solid-State Battery from NASA breaks energy storage boundaries - Clean Technica
Robots need better batteries - Nature
Robot tow rigs are coming to take your illegally parked car - The Drive
PickNik Robotics and SKA Custom Robots and Machines announce strategic partnership - The Robot Report
Verity Gets Investment From Qualcomm for Inventory Drone Race - Robotics 24/7
The robots are coming. NC company offers solution to labor shortage in housing industry - The Salem News
Kitchen robot BotinKit raises $13m from DJI angel and others - TechCrunch
Neura Robotics picks up $55m to ramp up in cognitive robotics -Tech Crunch
This autonomous robot rolls to its destination and flies over obstacles - Interesting Engineering
Turtle-like robot can swim under the sand and detect obstacles - Interesting Engineering
Autonomous security robots are starting to patrol schools and cities, despite controversies - The Debrief
Tensegrity Robots to the Rescue - Tech Briefs
Auto Executive: “AI will be used for more than just the products” - Forbes
United States Exceeds $700 Billion in Gross Domestic Expenditures on R&D in 2020: New InfoChart from NCSES
New handbook highlights ways to develop tech ethically - Voice of America
What is a strike in baseball? Robots, rule book and umpires view it differently - Siliconeer
Deeper Reads:
Building AI Cities: How to spread the benefits of an emerging technology across more of America - The Brookings Institute
AI is a lot of work - The Verge
Digression 1 - PRECISION: How America Made Machines Make Machines - Stewart Brand in Works in Progress
Enjoy “Robotopia” my 5 minute IGNITE Talk for the Long Now Foundation (43 mins) or watch the whole evening!
Cool Robots:
Please get back in touch with me if I promised to showcase your robot project and haven’t done it yet! I can not find your videos or images or email anywhere!
From Michael Yeager, of RoBOPPics, here is….
BallBOPPer, your smart tennis opponent
The Prototype Demo video demonstrates how you will be able to use the BallBOPPer autonomous tennis training robot to simulate the "Patterns of Play" of your next tennis opponent - to train and prepare you to win against their specific tactics and strategies.
RoBOPPics is currently updating the BallBOPPer prototype, based on what was learned during the shooting of the demo video, and finalizing development of the "Kickstarter Prototype".
If you are a subscriber or follower, then you will be notified as soon as the Kickstarter Preview is available.
And from Raymer Medina, a ‘young self-made Caribbean inventor’ comes…
EVA, a walking robot for people (NSFW and NOT funny)
I thought this was just a bad robot, and a failure at crowdfunding but having listened to the video (which I do not recommend to anyone) I think Raymer is just trolling. Or very fucking stoned. Seriously, I am not a brutal judge but this is a waste of time!
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/eva-a-robot-that-walks-talks-and-follows-you#/
But hey, go ahead and send me your robot videos or pictures. They can’t be worse can they????