Tessa Lau on being a robotics founder plus Joanne Pransky scholarship winners
Google's Sundar Pichai calls Intrinsic 'android for robots', what the US gets wrong about deploying robots vs occasionally gets right
Happy March 1st! Today we’re celebrating the announcement of the latest group of amazing Joanne Pransky Scholarship winners and finalists. These scholarships are awarded every six months to high school seniors, undergrads and graduate students interested in careers in robotics. In honor of Joanne, applicants are asked to write a short science fiction story and the latest set of stories was eye opening!
As ‘The World’s First Robot Psychiatrist’, modeled after Isaac Asimov’s Susan Calvin from the iRobot stories, Joanne brought the social side of robots to the forefront, long before robots were at all common. Not only did Joanne love robots in science fiction but she was at the forefront of the community developing social robots in real life. Joanne sadly passed away on May 4 2023 from brain cancer. Learn more about her life here.
She’s the real Susan Calvin
Isaac Asimov
She’s the very first Robopsychologist
Dr. Marvin Minsky, Co-founder / Artificial Intelligence
Joanne Pransky is an unusual participant in the leading edge of the robotics industry. That is, Service Robotics. With great good humor she professes to be the first robotics psychiatrist!
Joseph Engelberger, Father of Robotics
The Women in Robotics organization created this scholarship to honor the impact of Joanne Pransky by supporting women in robotics throughout their education, with many thanks to contributions from Joanne's friends, family and the generous assistance of The Joseph F. Engelberger Foundation and A3 Robotics, the Association for Advancing Automation.
Tessa Lau, founder and CEO of Dusty Robotics gave one of the best ICRA talks ever!
Want to host an event or reach the robotics community?
Many companies are reaching out about hosting events, outreach or hiring and we have a great community network, of people looking for work, of investors interested in deal flow and of technologists interested in learning about the latest advances.
Would you be interested in having a company table at next Bots, Bevs & Devs or at the Robotics Career Fair on March 24? Or something customized specifically for your goals? Reach out here!
We’re on a theme this section - bottlenecks deploying robots in manufacturing - where the US is getting it wrong and occasionally getting it right
From Saman Farid, CEO/Founder of Formic
Great reporting from the New York Times on what is actually preventing the adoption of robotics in America. This is absolutely correct — the practical complexity of automating Your production is so much more than just applying a better AI model. China rocks at deploying technology.
From Caitrin Lynch, Professor of Anthropology at Olin College of Engineering
Dull, Dirty, Dangerous work? How do we know? News from my gig as a Visiting Faculty Fellow at the RAI Institute (Robotics and AI Institute) in Cambridge, MA (where I am on the Robotics, Ethics, and Society team). A paper I co-authored with Nozomi Nakajima, Pedro Reynolds-Cuéllar, and Kate Darling has been accepted for the HRI 2026 conference. It's a social science contribution to the labor replacement discourse in robotics.
The concept of “dull, dirty, and dangerous” (DDD) work is frequently used to motivate where robots might be useful. After conducting an empirical analysis of robotics publications that mention DDD, we found that very few publications define DDD or provide examples of DDD tasks or jobs. We then reviewed the social science literature on “dull,” “dirty,” and “dangerous” work to provide clear definitions and guidance on how to measure DDD in the labor context.
The paper includes a proposed framework to help develop a more informed perspective on how robotics could impact human labor. Bonus: There's a worksheet for readers to try out the framework. One colleague has already told me they'll ask students in a robotics class to try out the workshop for their class projects. Woo! We'd love to hear what others get up to with this work. Thanks! https://lnkd.in/etmxzd82
Have your AI models reviewed by industry leaders, with $180K in prizes!
With registrations open until April 17th, Intrinsic just announced the evaluation committee for the AI for Industry Challenge, a global challenge to push the boundaries of electronics assembly.
Will industry leaders from Foxconn, Google DeepMind, Intrinsic, NVIDIA Robotics, Open Robotics, and Universal Robots select your AI model as a finalist? Sign up your team today for a chance to solve some of the hardest problems in manufacturing with the best open tools and AI.
Silicon Valley Robotics Investor/Startup Database
Are you a startup fundraising atm? Fill out our “For Investors Eyes Only” sheet.
These investors write checks anywhere from angel and seed stage to $5-50 million.
Feedback from the startups - high quality inbound interest from investors.
Feedback from the investors - incredible depth and range of robotics startups.
If you’re an accredited investor and haven’t already signed up for the spreadsheet - Sign up here for great robotics deal flow!
Robotics News
Google wants Intrinsic to be ‘Android of robotics’ as it pushes into physical AI - CNBC
Today, we would like to share a brief update from Intrinsic and Alphabet: Intrinsic is joining Google as a distinct group focused on AI-enabled robotics. This is a strategic moment for our team, allowing us to accelerate the future of intelligent robotics by increasing collaboration between teams within Google. We will find deeper synergies across technology and talent, with the goal of bridging cutting edge AI research and factory floor operations. We’re excited to take this next step with our colleagues at Google, and for what’s next for the Intrinsic platform and our customers. Torsten Kroger, Chief Science Officer at Intrinsic
Intrinsic joins Google to accelerate the future of physical AI - Intrinsic
BMW Group to deploy humanoid robots in production in Germany for the first time - BMW
Hyundai Motor to Invest $6.3 Billion in Robotics, AI Center - Bloomberg
For $20,000, a humanoid robot will do your household chores for you like unloading the dishwasher and watering plants—but it still needs help - Fortune
Meet your new robot fry cooks: Inside the $28 billion race to disrupt White Castle and Jack in the Box - Fortune
The first movie to feature what might be called a robot, not seen in more than a century, has been found.
A copy of “Gugusse and the Automaton,” an 1897 short made by legendary film pioneer George Méliès, was discovered by a man in Grand Rapids, Mich., in a box of films that had been owned by his great-grandfather. The Library of Congress revealed the find on its blog “Timeless: Stories From the Library of Congress,” on Thursday, Feb. 26.
Send me your 2026 progresss, plans and posts for potential inclusion in Robots&Startups.
Robotics Events
Bots, Bevs & Devs at Foxglove SF
March 11 from 6pm to 8.30pm
ROS by the Bay - GTC edition - with SVR at Circuit Launch
March 18 from 6pm to 8.30pm
Details still tbc but look for them on the ROS by the Bay Meetup first
Nvidia GTC - San Jose - March 15-19 - use GTC26INCP for 25% discount
Bay Area Material Handling & Robotics Expo, Career Fair and Reception at Cavalla Industries in SF
March 24 from 5pm to 9pm
RSVP on Eventbrite (or Luma) to attend the event
RSVP on Eventbrite to reserve a demo or recruitment table or short talk spot
Bots, Bevs & Devs at SVCTE in San Jose
April 1 from 6pm to 8.30pm
Details still tbc but see them first on the SVR Luma Calendar
SVR Leadership Summit in SF
April 6 - by invitation only
If you are CEO, CTO, Founder, Chief Scientist or Senior Researcher in a robotics company this is our biannual networking event for robotics leaders. Save the date!
IEEE Hard Tech Venture Summit and Robotics Manufacturing Workshop at SRI International - April 16-17 - use “Csvrobo” for $60 discount
AMBayArea Summit 2026 (from the Association of Manufacturers Bay Area) - Chabot Space & Science Center - April 21
Robotics Invest - Boston - May 26-27
ICRA 2026 - Vienna, Austria - Jun 01 - Jun 05
Deep Tech Week - SF - Jun 21 - Jun 25
Robotics: Science and Systems - Sydney, Australia - Jul 13 - Jul 16
IROS 2026 - Pittsburgh - Sep 27 - Oct 1
IEEE Humanoids 2026 - Silicon Valley - Dec 6-9
The annual IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots is the internationally recognized prime event of the humanoid robotics community. The conference is sponsored by the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and coordinated by the Technical Committee on Humanoids.
Join the organizing team at Silicon Valley Robotics - bots&beer@svrobo.org
