Automate 2023 Recap And The Receding Horizon Problem

“Thirty million developers” are the answer to driving billion-dollar robot startups, exclaimed Eliot Horowitz of Viam last week at Automate. The hushed crowd of about 200 hardware entrepreneurs listened intensely to MongoDB‘s founder and former CTO (a $20Bn success story). Now, Horowitz aims to take the same approach that he … Read More

Gen-Z Roboticists In The Age of ChatGPT

This past Wednesday I had the good fortune to host my firm’s sixty-fourth Idea Dinner on the challenges and opportunities facing the automation industry. Part of ff Venture Capital‘s mission is partnering with corporates to bolster our portfolio’s reach and contribute to the broader innovation ecosystem. In this spirit, I … Read More

ffVC’s Drones & Robotics Summit: Automation Is The Recession Hedge

Chicken Little blog missives have inundated Medium’s site lamenting the stock market’s decline. Since joining ff Venture Capital’s partnership this summer, I’ve been awestruck by the level of optimism that permeates the organization. While others are now constricting their activity; ffVC is plowing ahead by closing its seventh fund and … Read More

Solving Supplychain Woes With Robot-Enabled Humans

The Pandemic has propelled e-commerce to stratospheric heights with sales skyrocketing over 30% in 2020, and close to 40% in 2021. Globally, online shopping jumped to nearly $30 trillion led by Alibaba and Amazon. This consumer behavior shift has accelerated the adoption of warehouse automation technologies with packaging systems estimated … Read More

The Cambrian Intelligence Case Study And The New Normal – Virtual Offices, Schools, And Manufacturing

The stock market plummets, schools and houses of worship shutter, businesses order employees to stay home – all because of microscopic droplets. As Corona takes on a new meaning, beyond a cold one, global anxiety of the virus has unified the world in fear. If there is one silver lining this … Read More

Augean Robotics: Mechanizing Food Production From Farm To Table

It spanned over 120 feet and took up a considerable area inside the already overpacked robotics section of the Las Vegas Convention Center, leaving many to wonder, ‘What on earth is a tractor doing at CES?’ Ever the since the acquisition of the artificial intelligence startup Blue River Technologies for … Read More

The PropTech Report: An Open Frontier For Hardware Entrepreneurs

Two constants have guided my professional life: venture capital and real estate. Every year, I eagerly await to see which portfolio will produce greater returns. Today, in the  words of the great (fictional) New Yorker George Louis Costanza, “Worlds are colliding!”  Enertiv, a New York Angels investment, keeps growing with … Read More

CivDrone: Breaking Through The Hype By Staking Out A New Workflow Paradigm

Watching the news today is reminiscent of the sound of fingernails screeching down a chalkboard. Few reporters take the time to truly analyze the context of their stories from superstorms to mass shootings to the widespread adoption of autonomous systems. Even trade publications are guilty of hyping pole-dancing robots over articles … Read More