The embodied AI and data value chain from a VC view, Actuate, ICRA@40 and Ruzena Bajcsy is epic!
Mea Culpa! Everyone signing up for the SVR Investor Summit ... you're in! I'm just so far behind on emails it's not funny.
I’m just back from ICRA@40 Rotterdam NL and it was an immersive robotics grand tour that kept the entire audience focused and off their phones/laptops throughout the whole four days. Don’t miss the videos!
The feedback was so overwhelmingly positive that the event will return every 5 or 10 years because as Ruzena Bajscy said, we must stop young roboticists from reinventing the wheel. Given that her advisor was John McCarthy (who coined the term AI), her opinion on the current state of AI was also very interesting, and her questions to presenters cut through to fundamental positions.
It’s well worth reading the proceedings from 1984, as you will recognize the topics, as well as authors such as Marc Raibert, Ron Fearing, Harry Asada, and of course Ruzena Bajscy. Here’s a video from Berkeley 2023 while we wait for the ICRA@40 videos.
An introduction from Evan Ackerman in IEEE Spectrum
Four decades after the first IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Atlanta, robotics is bigger than ever. Next week in Rotterdam is the IEEE ICRA@40 conference, “a celebration of 40 years of pioneering research and technological advancements in robotics and automation.” There’s an ICRA every year, of course. Arguably the largest robotics research conference in the world, the 2024 edition was held in Yokohama, Japan back in May.
ICRA@40 is not just a second ICRA conference in 2024. Next week’s conference is a single track that promises “a journey through the evolution of robotics and automation,” through four days of short keynotes from prominent roboticists from across the entire field. You can see for yourself, the speaker list is nuts. There are also debates and panels tackling big ideas, like: “What progress has been made in different areas of robotics and automation over the past decades, and what key challenges remain?” Personally, I’d say “lots” and “most of them,” but that’s probably why I’m not going to be up on stage.
There will also be interactive research presentations, live demos, an expo, and more—the conference schedule is online now, and the abstracts are online as well. I’ll be there to cover it all, but if you can make it in person, it’ll be worth it.
Forty years ago is a long time, but it’s not that long, so just for fun, I had a look at the proceedings of ICRA 1984 which are available on IEEE Xplore, if you’re curious. Here’s an excerpt of the forward from the organizers, which included folks from International Business Machines and Bell Labs:
The proceedings of the first IEEE Computer Society International Conference on Robotics contains papers covering practically all aspects of robotics. The response to our call for papers has been overwhelming, and the number of papers submitted by authors outside the United States indicates the strong international interest in robotics.
The Conference program includes papers on: computer vision; touch and other local sensing; manipulator kinematics, dynamics, control and simulation; robot programming languages, operating systems, representation, planning, man-machine interfaces; multiple and mobile robot systems.
The technical level of the Conference is high with papers being presented by leading researchers in robotics. We believe that this conference, the first of a series to be sponsored by the IEEE, will provide a forum for the dissemination of fundamental research results in this fast developing field.
Technically, this was “ICR,” not “ICRA,” and it was put on by the IEEE Computer Society’s Technical Committee on Robotics, since there was no IEEE Robotics and Automation Society at that time; RAS didn’t get off the ground until 1987.
1984 ICR(A) had two tracks, and featured about 75 papers presented over three days. Looking through the proceedings, you’ll find lots of familiar names:Harry Asada,Ruzena Bajcsy,Ken Salisbury,Paolo Dario,Matt Mason,Toshio Fukuda,Ron Fearing, andMarc Raibert. Many of these folks will be at ICRA@40, so if you see them, make sure and thank them for helping to start it all, because 40 years of robotics is definitely something to celebrate.
Want the Actuate Developer Day recordings?
International Women in Robotics Day is coming up on October 2nd 2024
CELEBRATE International Women in Robotics Day on Oct 2nd!! Share photos of women working on robots, coding, troubleshooting, marketing, building, soldering, driving etc. We need more action shots on the internet (otherwise Sophia shows up at the top of the searches for “women in robotics!”)
We’ll also be announcing the winners of the latest Joanne Pransky Celebration of Women in Robotics Scholarships, with $5,000 awarded to undergrads and graduate students. We award scholarships every six months and the next round of scholarships will focus on final year high school students and early undergraduates. Many thanks to The Engelberger Foundation and A3 for their donations to the scholarships fund!
You can also put on local events and register them on the Women in Robotics event calendar. Or buy a great tee shirt!
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
More Startup Stuff:
In 2017, Founders Fund published their Future Manifesto, which bemoaned the stagnation or progress, particularly in the world of atoms and AI.
We certainly don’t have anything approaching a general artificial intelligence, a lack many futurists 30 years ago would have found rather surprising.
Felicis Ventures have recently revived that discussion with their Embodied AI thesis, but I think their AI/data infrastructure post is also relevant.
Are you a founder looking to showcase your startup? Please apply now. Deadline for applications ends on 10/2.
This event is a part of #TechWeek - a week of events hosted by VCs and startups to bring together the tech ecosystem.
Robotics Services and Consultants:
Robotics Consultant/Contractor: Industrial Design and UX for Robotics, Autonomous Vehicles, and Humanoids Ben Julian of AutoLet Design
Sales, Marketing and Customer Development for Startups: I’ve seen Fulcrum Sales and Marketing deliver a full pipeline of qualified customers to SBIR startups embarking on fundraising. And they do it affordably. They’re a startup secret weapon and superpower. :)
If you are a (VC, PE, Grant) funded startup looking to drive pipeline, conduct customer discovery, find the voice of the customer, or a mixture of these - our team is just the right mixture of nimble and structured.
https://fulcrumsales.marketing/
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Robot News
The new crew spicing up the Bay Area food scene: Robots - SiliconValley.com
The rise of robotics in the foodservice industry: transforming kitchens with automated equipment - Total Food Service
Robots are taking over 21 more N.J. ShopRites. See if Tally the robot is coming to your local store - NJ.com
Vsim, founded by Nvidia alums, raises $24M for robotics simulation tech - TechCrunch
Nvidia-backed robotic manufacturing startup taps new CEO with an eye to AI - Semafor
Startup completes first fully robotics dental surgery - Microsoft Start
Legend Biotech inks deal for ‘priority access’ to Muultiply Labs’ robotic cell therapy production tech - Fierce Pharma
Mendaera raises $73M to develop handheld robotics platform - MedTechDive
AUAR and ABB bring robotics Micro-Factories to U.S. homebuilding - The Robot Report
Tiny robots and AI algorithms could help to craft material solutions for cleaner environments - The Conversation
Paralyzed man unable to walk after maker of his powere exoskeleton tells him it’s now obsolete - Futurism
Demonstrating the Future of Veteran Care with Robotics Showcase - VA News
Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and the robot revolution to end hard work - Fortune
Forums, Competitions, Challenges: inspiring creativity in robotics at IROS 2024 - IEEE Spectrum
Humanoid Robots Are the Next Threat From China - WSJ
Polyfunctional Robots Will Enhance Machine-Human Productivity - Gartner
Record of 4 Million robots in factories worldwide - International Federation of Robotics
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…
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 :)
And some more robotics conferences (and I’ll see you at CASE, ICRA@40, BARS, ROSCon, Masters&Robots, ICSR and more tbd):
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
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
Actually, Ruzena isn't just epic. She's epochal.