Author: Andra Keay

Robotics Analyst/Strategist
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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Join the Women in Robotics Photo Challenge

How can women feel as if they belong in robotics if we can’t see any pictures of women building or programming robots? The Civil Rights Activist Marian Wright Edelson aptly said, “You can’t be what you can’t see.” We’d like you all to take photos of women building and coding robots and share them with […]

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It’s October Robot Fest! Developer Workshops, ROS World and Robot Block Party

Join us at Silicon Valley Robotics, MechLabs and Circuit Launch in Oakland for a week full of exciting robot activities OCT 20-23   On Wednesday Oct 20th and Thursday Oct 21st we’re hosting a Viewing Party & Screening for ROSWorld 21 : https://roscon21-viewing-party.eventbrite.com Register for ROSCon ’21 here : https://roscon.ros.org/world/2021 On Friday Oct 22nd we’re […]

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Future Acres to Collaborate with Sun World International and Expand Advisory Board 

University of California Davis Associate Professor Stavros Vougioukas joins Future Acres as Company looks to Progress Pilot  SANTA MONICA, Calif., September 28, 2021 – Today, Future Acres – a startup bringing sustainable agricultural robotics to the farm industry in order to optimize workforce efficiency and safety – announced a collaboration agreement with global plant variety breeder and genetics licensor Sun World International to further develop its proprietary technology. […]

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NVIDIA Announces New AI Perception Coming to ROS Developers

NVIDIA today announced new initiatives to deliver a suite of perception technologies to the Robotics Operating System (ROS) developer community.  NVIDIA and Open Robotics have entered into an agreement to accelerate ROS 2 performance on NVIDIA’s Jetson edge AI platform and GPU-based systems. These initiatives will reduce development time and improve performance for developers seeking to incorporate computer […]

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Videos of ANA Avatar XPRIZE SemiFinal Teams

In September 2021, ANA Avatar XPRIZE Semifinalist teams brought their avatar systems to Semifinals Testing in Miami, Florida, to be evaluated by the competition Judging Panel. 37 teams from 15 countries were selected to advance as Verified Semifinalists. You can read more about the Competing Teams on XPRIZE site. The avatar systems that the competing […]

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Ambi Robotics Announces $26 Million Series A Funding Led By Tiger Global

New round of funding will boost deployments of AI-powered sorting robots to supply chain customers EMERYVILLE, Calif. – (September 14, 2021) – Ambi Robotics, the pioneer in simulation-to-reality AI for highly-dexterous robotics, today announced the closing of a $26 million Series A funding round. The investment is led by new investor, Tiger Global Management, and builds on […]

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The Robot Block Party is BACK!!

The Robot Block Party is BACK! and there’ll be even more fun things to do and see at our new home Circuit Launch in Oakland (which is home to 50 robotics/hardware startups and hosts the DIY Robocar races and Brazilian BBQ and other awesome events). Save the date for Saturday October 23 2021 and get […]

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Kiwibot and Sodexo Bring Pioneering Robotic Food Delivery Services to Three University Campuses 

The collaboration represents a major milestone in Kiwibot’s journey to expand to over 50 locations over the course of the next three years.  [Los Angeles, CA/10 August] –  Kiwibot, a robotic last-mile delivery company, today announces its partnership with Sodexo, a food services and facilities management company, with the purpose of expanding its robotic fleet to drive […]

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