Robotics News | TechCrunch

Labor shortages are still fueling growth at automation firms like GrayMatter

Brian Heater — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 16:18:11 +0000

GrayMatter self-reports that its systems currently produce “a 2~4x improvement in production line productivity [and a] 30% or more reduction in consumable waste.”

Waabi’s GenAI promises to do so much more than power self-driving trucks

Rebecca Bellan — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 09:00:00 +0000

For the last two decades, Raquel Urtasun, founder and CEO of autonomous trucking startup Waabi, has been developing AI systems that can reason as a human would. The AI pioneer had previously served as the chief scientist at Uber ATG before launching Waabi in 2021. Waabi launched with an “AI-first approach” to speed up the […]

This humanoid robot can drive cars — sort of

Kyle Wiggers — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 22:32:00 +0000

Out of an abundance of caution, the car took two minutes to turn a corner.

Generative AI takes robots a step closer to general purpose

Brian Heater — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 18:44:30 +0000

The push to produce a robotic intelligence that can fully leverage the wide breadth of movements opened up by bipedal humanoid design has been a key topic for researchers.

Inside Apple’s efforts to build a better recycling robot

Brian Heater — Mon, 03 Jun 2024 09:23:00 +0000

Last week, TechCrunch paid a visit to Apple’s Austin, Texas, manufacturing facilities. Since 2013, the company has built its Mac Pro desktop about 20 minutes north of downtown. The 400,000-square-foot facility sits in a maze of industry parks, a quick trip south from the company’s in-progress corporate campus. In recent years, the capital city has […]

Industries may be ready for humanoid robots, but are the robots ready for them?

Brian Heater — Sat, 01 Jun 2024 18:00:00 +0000

How large a role humanoids will play in that ecosystem is, perhaps, the biggest question on everyone’s mind at the moment.

a16z-backed ZeroMark wants to give soldiers guns that don’t miss against drones

Aria Alamalhodaei — Fri, 31 May 2024 18:56:56 +0000

The product, which ZeroMark calls a “fire control system,” has two components: a small computer that has sensors, like lidar and electro-optical, and a motorized buttstock.

Amazon gets FAA approval to expand US drone deliveries

Aisha Malik — Thu, 30 May 2024 13:31:59 +0000

Amazon has received approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to fly its delivery drones longer distances, the company announced on Thursday. Amazon says it can now expand its Prime Air service, which uses delivery drones to fly individual packages, to more customers. The FAA requires that operators maintain a line of sight to […]

Aerodome is sending drones to the scene of the crime

Brian Heater — Wed, 22 May 2024 13:00:00 +0000

Response time is Aerodome’s immediate value prop for potential clients.

These 81 robotics companies are hiring

Brian Heater — Mon, 20 May 2024 21:37:43 +0000

When I attended Automate in Chicago a few weeks back, multiple people thanked me for TechCrunch’s semi-regular robotics job report. It’s always edifying to get that feedback in person. While it’s true that the industry has seen ups and downs in terms of both funding and hiring in recent years, there’s never been a more […]

Astronauts fall over. Robotic limbs can help them back up.

Brian Heater — Thu, 16 May 2024 17:46:32 +0000

We all fall down sometimes. Astronauts are no exception. You need to be in peak physical condition for space travel, but bulky space suits and lower gravity levels can be a recipe for disaster, causing them to trip over themselves. The answer to this very specific issue may well be robotic limbs. They won’t prevent […]

Cruise founder Kyle Vogt is back with a robot startup

Kirsten Korosec — Mon, 13 May 2024 23:37:15 +0000

Kyle Vogt, the former founder and CEO of self-driving car company Cruise, has a new VC-backed robotics startup focused on household chores. Vogt announced Monday that the new startup, called the Bot Company, has raised $150 million from former GitHub CEO and investor Nat Friedman, Pioneer founder and investor Daniel Gross, Spark Capital general partner […]

iRobot names former Timex head Gary Cohen as CEO

Brian Heater — Wed, 08 May 2024 12:22:00 +0000

iRobot has announced the successor to longtime CEO, Colin Angle. Gary Cohen, who previous held chief executive role at Timex and Qualitor Automotive, will be heading up the company, marking a major shift from his predecessor, Angle, a cofounder of the company who held the role from 1997 until January of this year. Cohen joins iRobot at […]

Lucid Bots secures $9M for drones to clean more than your windows

Christine Hall — Wed, 08 May 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Cleaning the outside of buildings is a dirty job, and it’s also dangerous. Lucid Bots came on the scene in 2018 with its Sherpa line of drones to clean windows in tall places, and now it’s back to take on more labor-intensive tasks. The Charlotte, N.C.-based company, which was part of Y Combinator’s 2019 cohort, […]

Alphabet-owned Intrinsic incorporates Nvidia tech into robotics platform

Brian Heater — Mon, 06 May 2024 15:00:00 +0000

The first bit of news out of the Automate conference this year arrives by way of Alphabet X spinout Intrinsic. The firm announced at the Chicago event on Monday that it is incorporating a number of Nvidia offerings into its Flowstate robotic app platform. That includes Isaac Manipulator, a collection of foundational models designed to create […]

Microsoft taps Sanctuary AI for general-purpose robot research

Brian Heater — Wed, 01 May 2024 16:00:56 +0000

Microsoft, it seems, is hedging its bets when it comes to general-purpose robotics AI. At the end of February, the Windows maker spearheaded a massive $675 million Series B in Bay Area-based Figure. Today, the tech giant announced a collaboration with Figure competitor Sanctuary AI, best known for its humanoid robot, Phoenix. The Sanctuary partnership […]

CMU is developing low-flying drones to map wildfires

Brian Heater — Wed, 01 May 2024 14:02:02 +0000

A harsh truth: As bad as North American wildfires have grown over the past several years, things are only going to get worse. Climate change continues to accelerate the issue, putting people, property, nature and animals at risk. Drones have been a fixture in the fight for over a decade now, and the Fire Apparatus […]

Humanoid robots are learning to fall well

Brian Heater — Sun, 28 Apr 2024 20:15:16 +0000

The savvy marketers at Boston Dynamics produced two major robotics news cycles last week. The larger of the two was, naturally, the electric Atlas announcement. As I write this, the sub-40 second video is steadily approaching five million views. A day prior, the company tugged at the community’s heart strings when it announced that the […]

London’s first defense tech hackathon brings Ukraine war closer to the city’s startups

Mike Butcher — Sun, 28 Apr 2024 10:45:56 +0000

Last week, the U.K. announced its largest ever military support package for Ukraine. The bill brings the U.K.’s total support for this financial year to £3 billion — not quite the $50 billion the U.S. pledged recently, but still substantial. But while most of those funds will be spent on very traditional military hardware, a […]

Sanctuary’s new humanoid robot learns faster and costs less

Brian Heater — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 19:41:55 +0000

Sanctuary AI often isn’t mentioned in the same breath as humanoid robotics firms like Boston Dynamics, Agility, Figure and 1X, but the Canadian company has been operating in the space for some time. In fact, a new robot introduced on Thursday is actually the seventh-generation of its Phoenix line. While a recent iteration introduced legs […]