Author: Andra Keay

Robotics Analyst/Strategist
Startups at Automate 2022: Labrador, Seismic and the Cowen Startup Challenge

First mention must go to Mike Dooley and Labrador Robotics, winner of the inaugural Engelberger Foundation Grant and one of the only commercially viable home robots for the ‘aging in place’ demographic that exists. As you can see from the picture, the Labrador ‘Retriever’ is an affordable autonomous mobile robot capable of lifting and lowering […]

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It’s time to update 19th century technology terminology!

Image: In 1992 Mae Carol Jemison became the first African American woman to travel in space. (Wikimedia) Unmanned and master/slave are two terms that are offensive to many in the community. Such terms may once have been accepted by society, but not any longer, and we are pleased to see many organizations starting to use […]

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5 Takeaways from the Robotics Summit & Expo 2022

by Shaun Juncal – reposted from Formant Couldn’t make it to RSE 2022, or looking for a quick recap to refresh your memory? Our team wrapped up the key takeaways from this week’s conference to help you bring insights back to your team. We’ll include links to slides and session recordings as soon as they […]

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Unable to attend ICRA 2022 for accessibility issues? Or just curious to see robots?

We can now offer you a telepresence robot tour of the ICRA 2022 expo hall, competitions and poster sessions, thanks to generous support from our friends at OhmniLabs. OhmniLabs build human-centric robots that elevate quality of life for billions of people worldwide, and they build all the robots right here in Silicon Valley using advanced […]

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AMT and SVR Join Forces for the Advancement of Robotics, Transformative Technology

McLean, Va. (May 5, 2022) – AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology is excited to announce Silicon Valley Robotics has become a part of AMT. The two organizations stand at the forefront of their fields, and this alliance will enrich their member companies as well as the larger manufacturing technology community. Andra Keay, SVR’s […]

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MassRobotics, Pittsburgh Robotics Network and Silicon Valley Robotics Form U.S. Alliance of Robotics Clusters to Advocate for Growing Robotics Industry

BOSTON, Mass. / May 3, 2022 – MassRobotics, Pittsburgh Robotics Network and Silicon Valley Robotics have formed the United States Alliance of Robotics Clusters (USARC). USARC supports the development, commercialization and scaling of robotics for global good by collaborating with government and industry stakeholders. The organization will develop and drive U.S. robotics mandates to deliver: […]

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AgRobotics will be on display in Fresno at FIRA USA in October

FIRA, the Agricultural Robotics Event, launches its U.S. edition in Fresno, California on Oct 18-20 2022 and Silicon Valley Robotics is pleased to be one of the event partners. FIRA USA 2022 will bring together specialty crop growers, robot manufacturers, industrials, academics, technologists, startups and investors for 3 days of problem-solving, decision making and planning. The […]

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A decade of Open Robotics

Reposted from an Open Robotics post with permission. March 22nd, 2012 is the day it all began. That’s the day we officially incorporated the Open Source Robotics Foundation, the origin of what we now call Open Robotics. The prospect of starting a company is both scary and exciting; but starting an open-source company in a […]

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Even robots know how to have fun at the Robot Block Party in Oakland

Silicon Valley Robotics joins forces with Circuit Launch to showcase some of the latest robotics technologies in a hands-on deeptech cowork and classroom space.  The Silicon Valley Robotics’ Robot Block Party has been running since 2009 and is an annual tradition in the Bay Area during National Robotics Week. There will be plenty of robots […]

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The Future of Robotics – from Foxglove

What we can expect from the Fourth Industrial Revolution – from Foxglove The robotics industry is at an inflection point in its history. Whereas robots up until now have been deployed mostly in controlled environments like factories and assembly lines, we’re now reaching a stage where advancements in artificial intelligence and computer vision are helping robots […]

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Seamless transitions between autonomous robot capabilities and human intervention in construction robotics

Congratulations to the winners of the best paper award of the International Association for Automation and Robotics in Construction 2021. The team around Cynthia Brosque, Elena Galbally, Prof. Martin Fischer, and Prof. Oussama Khatib did excellent groundwork for construction robotics. With permission, Silicon Valley Robotics is reposting the first parts of the paper below. It […]

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RIOS Announces $28M in New Funding to Automate Old-Line Industries

RIOS Intelligent Machines, Inc., leader of end-to-end AI-powered robotic workcells for factory automation, announced today that it has raised $28 million in Series A equity funding and debt financing. This new round of funding, together with a $5 million venture round announced back in 2020, raise RIOS’ total capitalization to $33 million. The oversubscribed Series […]

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Automated mining inspection against the odds

Learn how Rajant Corporation, PBE Group, and Australian Droid + Robot – as part of a #MSHA (U.S. Department of Labor)-backed mine safety mission – achieved a historic unmanned underground mine inspection at one of the US’ largest underground room and pillar limestone operations in this comprehensive IM report. Using ten ADR Explora XL unmanned […]

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What Women in Robotics achieved in 2021 and what’s coming next in 2022

It’s been a hard year for women all over the world, and I’d like to thank everyone who has contributed to Women in Robotics in 2021, whether you’ve simply shared information about yourself in our community #intros channel, or organized an online event, or made yourself available as an advisor in our pilot mentoring program. […]

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Robotics innovation infiltrates 2022 Consumer Electronics Show

Casinos and robots? It must be CES time! A few years ago, the only robots at CES were toys. And as the robot toy makers at Ologic can attest, having your robot featured as the leading image for CES was still no guarantee that your robot would make it into production (AMP is pictured above). […]

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Investors warn Deep Tech founders about these 12 pitfalls

Firstly, what is Deep Tech as opposed to Tech or technology enabled? Sometimes Deep Tech is regarded as a science based startup, sometimes it is regarded as disruptive to the status quo, sometimes it is regarded just as slow and hard, capital intensive, with a long ROI horizon. Or as something that investors aren’t ready […]

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An Inventory of Robotics Roadmaps to Better Inform Policy and Investment

Much excellent work has been done, by many organizations, to develop ‘Roadmaps for Robotics’, in order to steer government policy, innovation investment, and the development of standards and commercialization. However, unless you took part in the roadmapping activity, it can be very hard to find these resources. Silicon Valley Robotics in partnership with the Industrial […]

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NVIDIA Isaac ROS Delivers AI Perception to ROS Developers

Perceiving and understanding the world around them is a critical challenge for autonomous robots. In conjunction with ROS World 2021, NVIDIA announced its latest efforts to deliver performant perception technologies to the ROS developer community. These initiatives will accelerate product development, improve product performance and ultimately simplify the task of incorporating cutting-edge computer vision and […]

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50 women in robotics you need to know about 2021

It’s Ada Lovelace Day and once again we’re delighted to introduce you to “50 women in robotics you need to know about”! From the Afghanistan Girls Robotics Team to K.G.Engelhardt who in 1989 founded, and was the first Director of, the Center for Human Service Robotics at Carnegie Mellon, these women showcase a wide range of […]

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