Chronicling Robots Since 2011
May was a big month for robotics in the United States, as flowers bloomed outside, actuators rose in the convention halls of Boston, Detroit, Houston, and Atlanta. While there have been many good articles on each of these events, with numerous postings of new humanoids and co-bots in action. I would like to share some observations as an insider with nearly a decade of attendance at two very different shows: Automate and Xponential.
Eight years ago, not even a million dollars went into startups focused exclusively on humanoids. Today, the total amount of private capital for the industry has climbed over $1.4 billion. Just this month, Citi’s leading investment analysts published “The Rise of AI Robots: Physical AI is Coming for You.” In summarizing his report, contributing author … Read more
Flying back from Miami last week I put my life in the hands of two strangers, just because they wore gold epaulets. These aviators, in turn, trusted their onboard computers to safely navigate the passengers home. The computers accessed satellite global positioning data to set the course. This chain of command is very fragile, the … Read more
As my colleague Steve Crowe reported last October, one of the biggest automation stories of the year was the stalling of Cruise after California’s Department of Motor Vehicles suspended its driverless testing license. While Cruise has had many mishaps since the launch of its robotaxi service on the streets of San Francisco in June 2022, … Read more