Where are the normal roboticists?

The myth of exceptionalism... and Gaussian splatting

Mar 23, 2025

Happy 20th Anniversary Ologic!

Any robot with ‘Ologic inside’ is a robot I want to know more about! Founded in 2005 by Ted Larson and Bob Allen, two robot nerds who met at the Silicon Valley Home Brew Robotics Club, OLogic began its journey in the world of balancing robots and has since expanded to lead some of the most groundbreaking projects in robotics and consumer electronics. Here’s part 1 of Ologic’s history spanning 2005 to 2015.

GTC and 3D Gaussian splatting

Go watch Jensen Huang’s keynote. I was very pleased to hear him talking about how much more data AI was going to need, in spite of the advances of small learning models (like DeepSeek). It seems to have kept shareholders fairly happy too.

At Ologic’s anniversary last night the mention of Gaussian splatting (twice) in Jensen’s keynote was also noticed, in spite of it being a technique for reducing the amount of computation required (as in volumetric radiance fields) for real time scene rendering. Super useful for robotics of course! Here’s the original paper from 2023 and the follow on research via Papers with Code if you’d like to learn more.

The 10x Programmer and the Myth of Exceptionalism

We all fall for the narrative of the exceptional talent, when in most cases it is simply a cognitive shortcut. Instead of telling the stories of the many people who can achieve something, or the many ways it can be achieved, creating an ‘exceptional’ problem solver is a shorter simpler story.

In Silicon Valley, the myth of the exceptional always seems to look like a young Mark Zuckerberg, which is not great for everyone outside that stereotype. IEEE Spectrum recently published a great article by Charity Majors, cofounder and CTO at Honeycomb.io In Praise of “Normal” Engineers

While the article focuses on software engineering, there are good insights into creating productive work systems and environments, instead of making it all about the individual. I think this is even more important in an area like robotics where no one person can do everything, no matter how 10x exceptional they are.

Robotics is a team sport and good robotics companies build great teams.

Call for Robotics Startups

Exclusive Invitation for Startups: Showcase Your Innovation at ICRA 2025!

We are excited to invite your startup to participate in ICRA 2025 workshops through a new initiative designed to foster collaboration between startups, academia, and industry leaders.

As part of this program, selected startups will receive free registration to attend ICRA 2025 and the opportunity to:

▶ Deliver a 10-minute presentation in up to two workshops.

▶ Network with leading researchers and industry experts at TC Socials.

▶ Increase visibility by showcasing your innovation to a global audience.

🔗 Application Form: https://bit.ly/rastabstartupsicra25

* Please check the workshop information here.

You may apply to up to three workshops, and we will work to match you with the most relevant sessions. The final selection will be confirmed by the workshop chairs.

We believe this initiative presents a unique chance for startups to gain insights, build relationships, and drive innovation at the intersection of research and industry.

For any questions reach out to TAB ASSISTANT RAS.TAB.VP@GMAIL.COM

The IARA incubator in Guangzhou is holding an online startup showcase featuring companies from around the world. Date/time to be confirmed but in about 2 weeks. If you’re interested, email me - andra@robotlaunch.com

The IERA Award is calling for submissions, deadline May 31st, if you are world class in robotics innovation and commercialization. The award is hosted by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) and the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Industry Activities Board. Previous winners include many famous names.

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Thank you for reading Robots & Startups. This post is public so feel free to share it.Robot Events

Robots that don’t walk are making strides - Rocket Drew in The Information

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Nvidia CEO: Humanoid robot revolution is closer than you think - Reuters

An AI model from over a decade ago sparked Nvidia’s investment in autonomous vehicles - TechCrunch

Mercedes-Benz takes stake in robotics maker Apptronik, tests robots in factories - Reuters

All about AI robots - Quartz

1X will test humanoid robots in ‘a few hundred’ homes in 2025 - TechCrunch

Exclusive: Former Cruise CEO Vogt’s robotics startup valued at $2 billion in new funding, sources say - Reuters

Recap: Check out the robots at ProMat and GTC 2025 - The Robot Report

Lyft May Add Autonomous Vehicles to Ridesharing Platform This Summer - PYMNTS

Wayve CEO shares his key ingredients for scaling autonomous driving tech - TechCrunch

May Mobility and Lyft to launch autonomous ride service in Atlanta this summer - 11alive

How NASA’s “Autonomy Choreography” Will Impact Advanced Technologies - NASA

Scientists create a ‘liquid robot’ that can act like living cells - Audacy

Elaine Wu, Director of AI and Robotics at Seeed Studios, Andra Keay, Director of Silicon Valley Robotics and Jinger Zeng, Program Manager at Hackster.io at Circuit Launch Mountain View

Embodied AI Hackathon at Circuit Launch Mountain View is ON! In two days, participants will team up to build 3D-printed robot arms using the Hugging Face hashtag#LeRobot platform—the hands-on experiment of imitation learning with ACT/Diffusion policy/Pi0 training and deployment on Jetson Orin. 🤗💚

Thanks to ecosystem support! NVIDIA Robotics, Hugging Face, Hackster.io, Circuit Launch! Happy Hacking!