If you look at the UN Sustainable Development Goals, it’s clear that robots have a huge role to play in advancing the SDGs. However the field of Sustainable Robotics is more than just the application area. For every application that robotics can improve in sustainability, you have to also address the question – what are the additional costs or benefits all the way along the supply chain. What are the ‘externalities’, or additional costs/benefits, of using robots to solve the problem. Does the use of robotics bring a decrease or an increase to:

• power costs
• production costs
• labor costs
• supply chain costs
• supply chain mileage
• raw materials consumption
• and raw material choice

Solving our economic and environmental global challenges should not involve adding to the existing problems or creating new ones. So it’s important that we look beyond the first order ways in which robotics can solve global sustainable development goals and address every level at which robotics can have an impact.

Here I propose 5 levels of sustainability to frame the discussion, much as the 5 levels of autonomy have helped define the stages of autonomous mobility.

Level 1: Robots for existing recycling

Level 1 of Sustainable Robotics is simply making existing processes in sustainability more efficient, affordable and deployable. Making recycling better. Companies that are great examples are: AMP Robotics, Recycleye, MachineEx, Pellenc ST, Greyparrot, Everlast Labs and Fanuc. Here’s an explainer video from Fanuc.

“Because of AI, because of the robotic arms, we have seen plants recover 10, 20, 30% more than what they have been doing previously,” said JD Ambati, CEO of EverestLabs. “They have been losing millions of dollars to the landfill, and because of AI, they were able to identify the value of the losses and deploy robotic arms to capture that.”

Some other examples of Level 1 use robots to better monitor aquaculture, or robots to clean or install solar farms and wind turbines. If the robotics technology improves existing recycling practices then it is at Level 1 of Sustainable Robotics.

Level 2: Robots enabling new recycling

Level 2 of Sustainable Robotics is where robotics allows new materials to be recycled and in new industry application areas. A great example of this is Urban Machines, which salvages timber from construction sites and transforms it back into useable materials, something that was too difficult to do at any scale previously.

Construction using onsite materials and robotics 3D printing is another example, as seen in the NASA Habitat Challenge, sponsored by Caterpillar, Bechtel and Brick & Mortar Ventures.

Some other examples are the ocean or lake going garbage collecting robots like Waste Shark from Ran Marine, River Cleaning, or Searial Cleaners, a Quebec company whose robots were deployed in the Great Lakes Plastic Cleanup, helping to remove 74,000 plastic pieces from four lakes since 2020.

Searial Cleaners is angling for its BeBot and PixieDrone to be used as janitorial tools for beaches, marinas and golf courses, and the BeBot offers ample room for company branding. The equipment emerged from the mission of the Great Lakes Plastic Cleanup (GLPC) to harness new technologies against litter. The program also uses other devices including the Seabin, which sits in water and sucks in trash, and the Enviropod LittaTrap filter for stormwater drains.

If it’s a brand new way to practice recycling with robotic technology, then it’s at Level 2 of Sustainable Robotics.

Level 3: Robots electrifying everything

One of the biggest sustainability shifts enabled by robotics is the transition from fossil fuel powered transport, logistics and agricultural machinery into BEV, or Battery Electric Vehicle technology. On top of radically reducing emissions, the increasing use of smaller autonomous electric vehicles across first, last and middle mile can change the total number of trips taken, as well as reducing the need for large vehicles that are partially loaded taking longer trips.

Monarch Tractor’s MK-V is the world’s first electric tractor, and is ‘driver optional’, meaning it can be driven or operate autonomously, providing greater flexibility for farmers. Of course the increased use of computer vision and AI across all agrobots increase sustainability, by enabling precision or regenerative agriculture with less need for chemical solutions. Technically, these improvements to agricultural practice are Level 2 of Sustainable Robotics.

However, the use of smaller sized fully autonomous agricultural robots, such as Meropy, Burro.ai, SwarmFarm, Muddy Machines and Small Robot Company also reduces the size and soil compaction associated with agricultural machinery, and make it possible to tend smaller strip farms by machine. This is Level 3 of Sustainable Robotics.

Level 4: Robots

The higher the sustainability level, the deeper it is into the actual design and construction of the robot system. Switching to electric from fossil fuels is a small step. Switching to locally sourced or produced materials is another. Switching to recyclable materials is another step towards fully sustainable robotics.

OhmniLabs utilize 3D printing in their robot construction, allowing them to export robots to 47 countries, while also manufacturing locally in Silicon Valley.

Meanwhile, Cornell researchers Wendy Ju and Ilan Mandel have introduced the phrase ‘Garbatrage’ to describe the opportunity to prototype or build robots using components recycled from other consumer electronics, like these hoverboards.

“The time is ripe for a practice like garbatrage, both for sustainability reasons and considering the global supply shortages and international trade issues of the last few years,” the researchers said.

This is a great example of Level 4 of Sustainable Robotics.

Level 5: Self-powering/repairing Robots

Self powering or self repairing or self recycling robots are the Level 5 of Sustainable Robotics. In research, there are solutions like MilliMobile: A battery-free autonomous robot capable of operating on harvested solar and RF power. MilliMobile, developed at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, is the size of a penny and can steer itself, sense its environment, and communicate wirelessly using energy harvested from light and radio waves.

It’s not just research though. In the last two years, a number of solar powered agricultural robots have entered the market. Solinftec has a solar powered spray robot, as has EcoRobotix and AIGEN, which is also powered by wind.

Modular robotics will reduce our material wastage and energy needs by making robotics multipurpose, rather than requiring multiple specialist robots. Meanwhile self powering and self repairing technologies will allow robots to enter many previously unreachable areas, including off planet, while removing our reliance on the grid. As robots incorporate self repairing materials, the product lifecycle is increased. This is Level 5 of Sustainable Robotics.

And in the future?

While we’re waiting for the future, here are a couple of resources for turning your entire company into a sustainable robotics company. Sustainable Manufacturing 101 from ITA, the International Trade Administration and the Sustainable Manufacturing Toolkit from the OECD.

References

1. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/08/everestlabs-using-robotic-arms-and-ai-to-make-recycling-more-efficient.html
2. https://www.greenbiz.com/article/great-lakes-are-awash-plastic-can-robots-and-drones-help
3. https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2020/02/06/using-artificial-intelligence-agricultural-robots-are-on-the-rise
4. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/farming-robots-small-robot-company-tractors
5. https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2023/09/garbatrage-spins-e-waste-prototyping-gold

In celebration of the launch of International Women in Robotics Day, the Women in Robotics organization is proud to release another “50 women in robotics you need to know about” collection of stories. With a growing robotics industry there are many opportunities for everyone to get involved. This is why we showcase the wide range of roles that women play in robotics today.

Since 2012, the Women in Robotics organization has released a list of women building the future in robotics. The list has covered all ages, career stages, types of occupation and experience. We’ve featured more than 350 women already and we’ve shown that women have always been working in the robotics industry, in the earliest robotics research labs and companies, although those stories have often been forgotten.

This year’s collection includes Nancy Cornelius, co-founder of Boston Dynamics and the first engineer hired. Cornelius remained an integral part of Boston Dynamics until the company was sold to Google in 2013. Vandi Verma is the head of NASA’s rover (robot) program. Joanna Buttler is the head of the Global Autonomous Technology Group for Daimler Truck. And Whitney Rockley founded a venture capital company investing exclusively in ‘industrial internet’ companies like Clearpath Robotics.

For the first time, we feature an Indigenous (Ojibwe) American roboticist, Danielle Boyer. Boyer started a non-profit The STEAM Connection to combat the difficulties that many kids have getting access to robotics. She created an affordable robot kit that’s been distributed to thousands of students, and is proudest of the SKOBOT project. Personalized robots that keep culture and language traditions alive. Boyer epitomizes the motto “Building the Future”.

We also try to feature women from all regions of the world and this year’s collection represents Nigeria, India, China, Australia, Japan, Switzerland, Croatia, Korea, Denmark, Singapore, Italy, Romania, United States, Sweden, Spain, Canada, the UK, Israel, Austria, Belgium, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. There is an active Latinx community in Women in Robotics engaged in translating more robotics information into Spanish, hoping to create more connections between the global robotics community and the roboticists, and potential roboticists, of Latin America.

There have always been women doing great things in robotics! And we’re pleased to present another collection of strong female role models for young and upcoming roboticists (of any gender).

You can also join in the Women in Robotics celebrations today and throughout October, with events listed on the women in robotics site, like Diversity Cocktails at the IROS conference in Detroit, or the launch of the Los Angeles women in robotics chapter. Women in Robotics is a global community organization for women and non-binary people working in robotics and those who’d like to work in robotics. Learn more at https://womeninrobotics.org

Join our events, host your own events, share our celebration on social media!

Is Rosie the Robot Maid from the Jetsons here yet? Several different types of humanoid are currently deployed commercially or in trials. We’ve come along way since the DARPA Robotics Challenge of 2015/2016, where the most popular footage was the blooper reels of robots falling over and failing to open doors or climb stairs.

The Avatar XPrize of 2019-2022 showcased some extremely sophisticated humanoids that certainly advanced the state of the art but the holy grail of humanoid robots is combining incredible sophistication into a sub $50,000 package. Why $50,000? Wouldn’t some companies pay a lot more? Then again, can’t we buy a car, also a very sophisticated device capable of partial autonomy that is 5 times the size of a humanoid, for less than $50,000? Why is this the benchmark for humanoids?

$50,000 is the annual wage for a single shift of labor at slightly more than $18/hour or minimum wage in every low wage industry. There is a terrible labor shortage and it is the dirty dull and dangerous jobs that are hardest for employers to fill. Companies that can afford to run two or more shifts a day also have more alternatives when it comes to filling their labor gaps. It’s the small to medium size enterprise that is suffering the most in our current economic and demographic conditions.

We don’t need a Six Million Dollar Man.

We need a $50,000 humanoid.

The roll out of sophisticated new robots and how we integrate them into society is at the heart of my early research and my current roles as the Managing Director of Silicon Valley Robotics (explain), VP of Global Robotics for AMT (explain) and the VP of Industrial Activities for the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (explain).

As more and more companies announce their work towards the affordable humanoid robot, I wanted to create a reference chart for myself, and realized that it might be of interest to others as well. The ranking system is just my own opinion and it will be fascinating to see who succeeds and progresses over the next few years. Enjoy this overview and make up your own minds as to which humanoid robot is really the best.

Who’s in the running? (in alphabetical order by company not robot)

• 1x – Eve
• Aeolus Robotics – Eva
• Agility Robotics – Digit
• Apptronik – Astra
• Boston Dynamics – Atlas
• Comma.ai – body
• Devanthro – Robody
• Engineered Arts – Ameca
• Figure – Figure01
• Giant.ai – Universal Worker
• IIT – ErgoCub
• PAL – Reem-C
• Prosper Robotics – Alfie
• Sanctuary – Phoenix
• Tesla – Optimus
• Toyota – T-HR3

Who isn’t in the running?

Hollywood Humanoids
Hollywood Humanoids are one off robots for the purpose of entertainment, like Sophia from Hanson Robotics, Xoxe from AI Life, or Beonmi from Beyond Imagination. ….

Chinese robots
It’s too hard for me to validate that they exist, work as advertized, and what the specifications are.

Research robots
Love them but they have a different purpose. Only robots with commercial deployment plans, and ideally, a price tag and a date in 2023 or 2024 when they’ll be available for purchase, if they aren’t already being sold.

Not humanoid
I also love robots that work like a humanoid but don’t look human-like. We saw some examples in the DARPA Robotics Challenge, most notably RoboSimian. Once we go down that route, all quadrupeds, and multi-armed robots or wheeled humanlike robots, would qualify. Who knew there were so many robots!

Who have I missed?

I’m hoping to crowdsource some more great robots :)

Read the original article on Substack.

I have been studying the whole range of issues/opportunities in the commercial roll out of robotics for many years now, and I’ve spoken at a number of conferences about the best way for us to look at regulating robotics. In the process I’ve found that my guidelines most closely match the EPSRC Principles of Robotics, although I provide additional focus on potential solutions. And I’m calling it the 5 Laws of Robotics because it’s so hard to avoid Asimov’s Laws of Robotics in the public perception of what needs to be done.

The first most obvious point about these “5 Laws of Robotics” should be that I’m not suggesting actual laws, and neither actually was Asimov with his famous 3 Laws (technically 4 of them). Asimov proposed something that was hardwired or hardcoded into the existence of robots, and of course that didn’t work perfectly, which gave him the material for his books. Interestingly Asimov believed, as did many others at the time (symbolic AI anyone?) that it was going to be possible to define effective yet global behavioral rules for robots. Whereas, I don’t.

My 5 Laws of Robotics are:

1. Robots should not kill.
2. Robots should obey the law.
3. Robots should be good products.
4. Robots should be truthful.
5. Robots should be identifiable.

What exactly does those laws mean?

Firstly, people should not legally able to weaponize robots, although there may be lawful exclusions for use by defense forces or first responders. Some people are completely opposed to Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS) in any form, whereas others draw the line at robot weapons being ultimately under human command, with accountability to law. Currently in California there is a proposed legislation to introduce fines for individuals building or modifying weaponized robots, drones or autonomous systems, with the exception of ‘lawful’ use.

Secondly, robots should be built so that they comply with existing laws, including privacy laws. This implies some form of accountability for companies on compliance in various jurisdictions, and while that is technically very complex, successful companies will be proactive because companies otherwise there will be a lot of court cases and insurance claims keeping lawyers happy but badly impacting the reputation of all robotics companies.

Thirdly, although we are continually developing and adapting standards as our technologies evolve, the core principle is that robots are products, designed to do tasks for people. As such, robots should be safe, reliable and do what they claim to do, in the manner that they claim to operate. Misrepresentation of the capabilities of any product is universally frowned upon.

Fourthly, and this is a fairly unique capability of robots, robots should not lie. Robots have the illusion of emotions and agency, and humans are very susceptible to being ‘digitally nudged’ or manipulated by artificial agents. Examples include robots or avatars claiming to be your friend, but could be as subtle as robots using a human voice just as if there was a real person listening and speaking. Or not explaining that a conversation that you’re having with a robot might have many listeners at other times and locations. Robots are potentially amazingly effective advertizing vehicles, in ways we are not yet expecting.

Finally, and this extends the principles of accountability, transparency and truthfulness, it should be possible to know who is the owner and/or operator of any robot that we interact with, even if we’re just sharing a sidewalk with them. Almost every other vehicle has to comply with some registration law or process, allowing ownership to be identified.

What can we do to act on these laws?

1. Robot Registry (license plates, access to database of owners/operators)
2. Algorithmic Transparency (via Model Cards and Testing Benchmarks)
3. Independent Ethical Review Boards (as in biotech industry)
4. Robot Ombudspeople (to liaise between the public, policy makers and the robotics industry)
5. Rewarding Good Robots (design awards and case studies)

There are many organizations releasing guides, principles, and suggested laws. I’ve surveyed most of them and looked at the research. Most of them are just ethical hand wringing and accomplish nothing because they don’t factor in real world conditions around what the goals are, who would be responsible and how to make progress towards the goals. I wrote about this issue ahead of giving a talk at the ARM Developer Summit in 2020 (video included below).

Silicon Valley Robotics announced the first winners of our inaugural Robotics Industry Awards in 2020. The SVR Industry Awards consider the responsible design as well as technological innovation and commercial success. There are also some ethical checkmark or certification initiatives under preparation, but like the development of new standards, these can take a long time to do properly, whereas awards, endorsements and case studies can be available immediately to foster the discussion of what constitutes good robots, and, what are the social challenges that robotics needs to solve.

The Federal Trade Commission recently published “The Luring Test: AI and the engineering of consumer trust” describing the

For those not familiar with Isaac Asimov’s famous Three Laws of Robotics, they are:

First Law: A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

Second Law: A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

Third Law: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Asimov later added a Fourth (called the Zeroth Law, as in 0, 1, 2, 3)

Zeroth Law: A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm

Robin R. Murphy and David D. Woods have updated Asimov’s laws to be more similar to the laws I proposed above and provide a good analysis for what Asimov’s Laws meant and why they’ve changed them to deal with modern robotics. Beyond Asimov The Three Laws of Responsible Robotics (2009)

Some other selections from the hundreds of principles, guidelines and surveys of the ethical landscape that I recommend come from one of the original EPSRC authors, Joanna Bryson.

The Meaning of the EPSRC Principles of Robotics (2016)

And the 2016/2017 update from the original EPSRC team:

Margaret Boden, Joanna Bryson, Darwin Caldwell, Kerstin Dautenhahn, Lilian Edwards, Sarah Kember, Paul Newman, Vivienne Parry, Geoff Pegman, Tom Rodden, Tom Sorrell, Mick Wallis, Blay Whitby & Alan Winfield (2017) Principles of robotics: regulating robots in the real world, Connection Science, 29:2, 124-129, DOI: 10.1080/09540091.2016.1271400

Another survey worth reading is on the Stanford Plato site: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-ai/

Working with so many robotics startups, I see this stage as the transition into revenue generation in more than pilot use cases. This is the point where a startup no longer needs to nurture each customer deployment but can produce reference use cases and start to reliably scale. I think this is a useful model but that Gartner’s classifications don’t do robotics justice.

For example, this recent Gartner chart puts Smart Robots at the top of the hype cycle. Robotics is a very fast moving field at the moment. The majority of new robotics companies are less than 5-10 years old. From the perspective of the end user, it can be very difficult to know when a company is moving out of the hype cycle and into commercial maturity because there aren’t many deployments or much marketing at first, particularly compared to the media coverage of companies at the peak of the hype cycle.

So, here’s where I think robotics technologies really fit on the Gartner Hype Cycle:

Innovation trigger

• Voice interfaces for practical applications of robots
• Foundational models applied to robotics

Peak of inflated expectations

• Large Language models – although likely to progress very quickly
• Humanoids

Trough of disillusionment

• Quadrupeds
• Cobots
• Full self-driving cars and trucks
• Powered clothing/Exoskeletons

Slope of enlightenment

• Teleoperation
• Cloud fleet management
• Drones for critical delivery to remote locations
• Drones for civilian surveillance
• Waste recycling
• Warehouse robotics (pick and place)
• Hospital logistics
• Education robots
• Food preparation
• Rehabilitation
• AMRs in other industries

Plateau of productivity

• Robot vacuum cleaners (domestic and commercial)
• Surgical Robots
• Warehouse robotics (AMRs in particular)
• Factory automation (robot arms)
• 3d printing
• ROS
• Simulation

AI, in the form of Large Language Models ie. ChatGPT, GPT3 and Bard is at peak hype, as are humanoid robots, and perhaps the peak of that hype is the idea of RoboGPT, or using LLMs to interpret human commands to robots. Just in the last year, four or five new humanoid robot companies have come out of stealth from Figure, Teslabot, Aeolus, Giant AI, Agility, Halodi, and so far only Halodi has a commercial deployment doing internal security augmentation for ADT.

Cobots are still in the Trough of Disillusionment, in spite of Universal Robot selling 50,000+ arms. People buy robot arms from companies like Universal primarily for affordability, ease of setup, not requiring safety guarding hardware and capable of industrial precision. The full promise of collaborative robots has had trouble landing with end users. We don’t really deploy collaborative robots engaged in frequent hand-offs to humans. Perhaps we need more dual armed cobots with better human-robot interaction before we really explore the possibilities.

Interestingly the Trough of Disillusionment generates a lot of media coverage but it’s usually negative. Self-driving cars and trucks are definitely at the bottom of the trough. Whereas powered clothing or exoskeletons, or quadrupeds are a little harder to place.

AMRs, or Autonomous Mobile Robots, are a form of self-driving cargo that is much more successful than self-driving cars or trucks traveling on public roads. AMRs are primarily deployed in warehouses, hospitals, factories, farms, retail facilities, airports and even on the sidewalk. Behind every successful robot deployment there is probably a cloud fleet management provider or a teleoperation provider, or monitoring service.

Finally, the Plateau of Productivity is where the world’s most popular robots are. Peak popularity is the Roomba and other home robot vacuum cleaners. Before their acquisition by Amazon, iRobot had sold more than 40 million Roombas and captured 20% of the domestic vacuum cleaner market. Now commercial cleaning fleets are switching to autonomy as well.

And of course Productivity (not Hype) is also where the workhorse industrial robot arms live with ever increasing deployments worldwide. The International Federation of Robotics, IFR, reports that more than half a million new industrial robot arms were deployed in 2021, up 31% from 2020. This figure has been rising pretty steadily since I first started tracking robotics back in 2010.

What does your robotics hype cycle look like? What technology would you like me to add to this chart? Contact andra@svrobo.org

Are you looking for a gift for the women in robotics in your life? Or the up and coming women in robotics in your family? Perhaps these suggestions from our not-for-profit Women in Robotics organization will inspire! We hope these are also good suggestions for non binary people in robotics, and I personally reckon they are ideal for men in the robotics community too. It’s all about the robotics, eh!

Plus OMG it’s less than 50 days until 2023!!! So we’re going to do a countdown with a social media post every day until Dec 31st featuring one of the recent ’50 women in robotics you need to know about 2022′. It’s in a random order and today we have…

…. Follow us on Twitter, on Facebook, on Linked In, Pinterest or Instagram to find out

Holiday gift ideas

Visit the Women in Robotics store for t-shirts, mugs, drink bottles, notebooks, stickers, tote bags and more!

From Aniekan @_aniekan_

• Creating your first package in ROS

From @mdn_nrbl

• Arduino Uno

From Vanessa Van Decker @VanessaVDecker

• Little Robot Friends – Paper Bots
• Science Socks – Perseverance Rover Landing Anniversary
• Circuit Breaker Labs – Circuit Board Brooch
• Lovebot – Silver Lining Robot Sweater
• Jensen – Micro Precision 65 pcs Tool Set
• Prusa – Original Prusa i3 MK3S+ Kit

From Andra @robotlaunch

• Xena Workwear – Stylish Women’s Safety Boots
• and many many books (or videos) by and about women in robotics and AI….

Do you have a great robot gift idea?

The role models these 50 women represent are diverse, ranging from emeritus to early career stage. Role models are important. Countess Ada Lovelace, the world’s first computer programmer and an extraordinary mathematician, faced an uphill battle in the days when women were not encouraged to pursue a career in science. Fast forward 200 years and there are still not enough women in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM). One key reason is clear: the lack of visible female role models and so we continue to run our women in robotics photo challenge, to showcase real women building real robots. Women in STEM need to be equally represented at conferences, keynotes, magazine covers, or stories about technology. Although this is starting to change, the change is not happening quickly enough. You can help. Spread the word and use this resource to inspire others to consider a career in robotics. As you will see there are many different ways the women we profile are making a difference.

We hope you are inspired by these profiles, and if you want to work in robotics too, please join us at Women in Robotics. We are now a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, but even so, this post wouldn’t be possible if not for the hard work of volunteers and the Women in Robotics Board of Directors.

Want to keep reading? There are more than 300 other stories on our 2013 to 2021 lists (and their updates):

• 50 women in robotics you need to know about (2021)
• 30 women in robotics you need to know about (2020)
• 30 women in robotics you need to know about (2019)
• 25 women in robotics you need to know about (2018)
• 25 women in robotics you need to know about (2017)
• 25 women in robotics you need to know about (2016)
• 25 women in robotics you need to know about (2015)
• 25 women in robotics you need to know about (2014)
• 25 women in robotics you need to know about (2013)

Please share this and cite Women in Robotics as the author. Why not nominate a woman or non-binary person working in robotics for inclusion next year! Tweet this.

On Tuesday, I also moderated the A3 Webinar “Robots and Beyond Roundtable: How Women in Robotics and Automation are Changing Manufacturing” with Joanne Moretti, CRO of Fictiv, Jackie Ram, VP of Operations, IAM Robotics, Jessica Moran, SVP and General Manager, Berkshire Grey, and Mikell Taylor, Principal Technical Program Manager, Amazon Robotics.

And on Thursday Sept. 15 I moderated a panel on “Reaching New Heights: Women in Tech Leadership” with Meaghan Ziemba, Owner, Z-Ink Solutions and Host, Mavens of Manufacturing Podcast, Nicole Wolter, President & CEO, HM Manufacturing, Laura Elan, Senior Director of Cybersecurity, MxD. We discussed so many great resources during our panel precall, that we really wanted to put together a list that could be shared more widely after the events were over.

Resources for Women in Tech Leadership:

Suggestions from Nicole Wolter;

• Sporting experience is a great pathway into leadership for women who often miss out on formal leadership training or experiences.
• Find mentors and champions (male or female) with an eye towards helping you develop your career pathway and deal with your next challenges.
• Build on your strengths, while we can always improve we should embrace your strength.
• The Goal is a great book about running a company. (now also available as a Business Graphic Novel)
• Crucial Conversations, Tools for Talking When Stakes are High by Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson and Ron McMillan

From Meaghan Ziemba;

• the Mavens of Manufacturing Podcast, celebrating women from the shop floor to the C-suite.
• Steel Toes and Stilettoes by Shannon Karels and Kathy Miller, a true story of women manufacturing leaders and lean transformation success
• Turn the Ship Around, a True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders, by L. David Marquet, and Stephen R. Covey
• Leaders Eat Last, Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t, by Simon Sinek
• Start with Why, How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, by Simon Sinek
• Business Made Simple: 60 Days to Master Leadership, Sales, Marketing, Execution Management, Personal Productivity and More, by Donald Miller
• Twelve and a Half: Leveraging the Emotional ingredients Necessary for Business Success by Gary Vanyerchuk

From Laura Elan;

• Presence by Amy Cuddy, bringing your biggest boldest self
• Ted Talk:  Amy Cuddy, “Your body language may shape who you are”
• Leadership Development: Center for Creative Leadership
• Equality vs Equity image

From Andra Keay;

• From Battle of the Sexes to Balance of the Sexes, Hilary Wicht at TEDx Sonoma
• Hilary Wicht, Hollywood vocal coach on Voice, Power and Presence
• This Better Work, a female founders wild ride through the (hypermasculine) tech startup world, by Lynsie Campbell
• Data Shows Women Make Better Leaders, who cares? by Avivah Wittenberg-Cox
• Being Glue, by Tanya Reilly – don’t do glue work (or leadership/management) until it is on your performance metrics!
• Women in Robotics Org

• Xena Workwear for Women founded by Ana Kraft

Hardworking women deserve footwear that is both beautiful and strong. Xena Workwear’s women’s steel toe boots & safety shoes are handcrafted with high-quality materials, look stunning, and are not bulky or masculine. Each style is ASTM certified and handcrafted to help you feel safe and confident. (not just footwear!)

But wait, there’s more!

Additionally, you can find interviews with some of these kickass women in the IMTS+ coverage. 

Stop by the #IMTSCreatorsLounge at #IMTS2022, where mfg Influencers & content creators like Meaghan Ziemba, will come to connect & share their stories. FIND us in the South Building, Booth #338600 to get an inside look at industry influencers!#WeAreAllCreators #IMTSCreators pic.twitter.com/oEWaD88cxd

— IMTS (@IMTSchicago) August 24, 2022

IMTS+ In Conversation With Host, Tim Shinbara, Chief Technology Officer, AMT – The Association for Manufacturing Technology interviews Barbara Humpton,  President & CEO, Siemens Corporation. 

https://www.imts.com/watch/video-details/In-Conversation-With-Barbara-Humpton/199

Join IMTS+  Host, Marley Kayden for IMTS Unwind from Wednesday at the show. Featuring live interviews with: Nicole Wolter, President & CEO, HM Manufacturing; Aneesa Muthana, President, CEO, and Owner of Pioneer Service, Inc.; Yvonne Wiedemann, President & Owner of CAM Logic; Austin Schmidt, President of Additive Engineering Solutions; Max Egan, and Travis Egan, Chief Revenue Officer, AMT – The Association for Manufacturing Technology.

https://www.imts.com/watch/video-details/IMTS-Unwind-Wednesday-September-14-2022/198

Join IMTS+ Host, Marley Kayden for IMTS Today (Wednesday, September 14).  Featuring: Andra Keay, Vice President of Global Robotics; Robby Komljenovic, Chairman & CEO, Acieta; Richard Browning, Technologist and Founder of Gravity Industries; and Barbara Humpton, President & CEO of Siemens

https://www.imts.com/watch/video-details/IMTS-Today-Wednesday-September-14-2022/196

Join IMTS+ Host Marley Kayden for IMTS Today, Friday, September 16: Featuring: Dr. Jeffrey Ahrstrom, CEO, Ingersoll; Meaghan Ziemba, Owner, Z-Ink Solutions, Founder & Host, Mavens of Manufacturing; Mitch Free Founder & CEO, ZYCI and Trusted Source; and John Dyck, CEO, CESMII: The Smart Manufacturing Institute.

https://www.imts.com/watch/video-details/IMTS-Today-Friday-September-16-2022/204

Join IMTS+ Host, Marley Kayden for IMTS Unwind. Featuring live interviews with: Tim Shinbara, Chief Technology Officer, AMT – The Association for Manufacturing Technology; Jeremy Nyenhuis, Owner of J3 Machine & Engineering, LLC.; and Courtney Tate, Owner of Ontime Quality Machining. Additional live interviews with social media influencers James Soto, Founder & CEO, INDUSTRIAL and Partnership Advocate; and Charli K. Matthews, Founder & CEO, Empowering Pumps & Equipment, and Champion of Women.

https://www.imts.com/watch/video-details/IMTS-Unwind-Monday-September-12-2022/188

]]> https://robohub.org/its-time-to-update-19th-century-terms-for-21st-century-technology/ Sat, 04 Jun 2022 11:45:41 +0000 https://robohub.org/?p=204699

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 alternative terms.

We call on you in 2022 to remove words with negative connotations, like the ones listed below, from all materials, course descriptions, department names, products, forms, reports or articles. The benefit to you is in broadening your appeal to all the community members who find those terms, if not outrightly offensive, then at the least old-fashioned and representative of a mindset that has not engaged meaningfully with creating inclusive or modern robotics.

Women in Robotics has taken the lead in curating a list of best practices in inclusive terminology, in consultation with other groups, and now we would like to share the first draft of “Terminology for 21st Century Technologists” for comment. So far we’ve considered gender, ethnicity and some disability issues. Our goal is to create a comprehensive directory of terminology, which can go through an update process periodically, just as standards do. There is obviously a little more work to be done and we want to include sections on ‘how to retire terms’, ‘how to implement changes constructively’ and more information about the process. This is where you can help us.

Please send comments in response to the first draft by June 28 2022 to reports@womeninrobotics.org

]]> https://robohub.org/seamless-transitions-between-autonomous-robot-capabilities-and-human-intervention-in-construction-robotics/ Tue, 15 Mar 2022 15:02:24 +0000 https://svrobo.org/?p=22249

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 is also available on the IAARC website.

GOLDBECK US Inc. helped define construction robotics use-cases that generate real-world value on their job sites. In the first phase of the project, they collected data to understand the tasks on site holistically. Subsequently, simulations on how robots perform the job were created. Using this information, the researchers of Stanford University | CIFE – Center for Integrated Facility Engineering then developed suitable robotic prototypes. GOLDBECK supplied physical building components to test the prototypes under realistic conditions.

GOLDBECK is now hunting for robotics companies to help us transition this research into a real-world robotic application!

Abstract

Due to their unstructured and dynamic nature, construction sites present many challenges for robotic automation of tasks. Integrating human-robot collaboration (HRC) is critical for task success and implementation feasibility. This is particularly important for contact-rich tasks and other complex scenarios which require a level of reasoning that cannot be accomplished by a fully autonomous robot. Currently, many solutions rely on precise teleoperation that requires one operator per robot. Alternatively, one operator may oversee several semi-autonomous robots. However, the operators do not have the sensory feedback needed to adequately leverage their expertise and craftsmanship. Haptic interfaces allow for intuitive human-robot collaboration by providing rich contact feedback. This paper presents two human-robot collaboration solutions for welding and joint sealing through the use of a haptic device. Our approach allows for seamless transitions between autonomous robot capabilities and human intervention with rich contact feedback. Additionally, this work opens the door to intuitive programming of new tasks through haptic human demonstration.

1 Introduction

In recent years, progress in mobility, manipulation skills, and AI reasoning have started to enable the use of robots in space, underwater, homes, agriculture, and construction [1]. A particularly important area of interest is the automation of dangerous, strenuous, and laborintensive tasks [2].

Construction sites are especially challenging environments for autonomous robots because of their highly unpredictable and unstructured nature [3, 4]. Hence, fully autonomous robots that replace human labor are not the most feasible or ideal solution. The majority of current approaches rely on a human operator that oversees a single task autonomous robot. The operator receives only visual feedback and is limited in the type of input and recovery from failure he can provide due to the lack of an intuitive interface to do so. [4] attributed this lack in technical flexibility of construction robots to the fact that early construction solutions imitated systems initially developed for industrial fabrication [5].

Some tasks are structured enough to be autonomously performed by a robot with little human input, but many require a more flexible approach that incorporates a higher degree of human reasoning and intuition [6]. Given this reality, a method to design construction robots should be flexible enough to allow varying levels of human-robot collaboration depending on the task.

Haptic devices (Fig.1) provide an effective interface for collaboration by allowing the human to (1) feel the contact forces between the robot’s end-effector and the environment [7], and (2) easily intervene and control the robot motion in scenarios that the autonomous behaviors are not able to handle successfully [8]. Additionally, data from these haptic interventions can be collected and used to learn new autonomous skills. Remote robot control using a haptic interface has been tested in fields such as surgery [9] and underwater exploration [1], but has not yet been widely implemented in construction.

In previous work, the authors explored human-robot collaboration solutions to five hazardous and repetitive construction tasks: installing drywall, painting, bolting, welding, and sealing precast concrete slab joints [10]. Our industry partner, Goldbeck, was interested in automating these assembly and finishing tasks that require on-site, repetitive manual effort, ergonomically challenging positions, and working from dangerous heights. [10] outlines a method for designing collaborative robotic solutions with haptic feedback and to assess their feasibility in simulation.

In this paper, we focus on two of the previously explored tasks (steel welding and sealing precast concrete joints) and apply the aforementioned method to design more flexible collaborative solutions. Different from [10], we propose relying primarily on the robot’s functional autonomy and using haptics as an effective and intuitive way to intervene in unexplored or failure scenarios. Force data from the recovery strategy employed by the operator can be recorded and used to learn from demonstration and augment the robot’s autonomy. Over time, the robot will require less human intervention. This higher degree of autonomy could allow a single operator to supervise many robots at once, overcoming the problems of teleoperation in which one operator per robot is needed.

2 Related Work

While factories have typically separated workers from robots due to safety concerns, human-robot collaboration cannot be overlooked in construction, as robots and humans share one workspace [2]. This requires devising solutions that allow us to effectively combine the workers’ expertise with the robots’ autonomous skills.

Construction literature has studied the use of teleoperation devices [11, 12, 7], particularly focusing on construction machinery, such as excavators. These solutions often involve cameras for visual feedback and GPS sensors for navigation, which can be sufficient to accomplish low dexterity tasks with increased operator safety. However, [7] states that complex tasks involving contact greatly benefit from additional sensory feedback such as tactile information. Furthermore, teleoperation solutions rely heavily on the operator’s guidance and do not fully exploit the autonomous capabilities of the robot.

A different set of collaborative solutions currently used onsite have semi-autonomous robots with a human supervisor that oversees the tasks such as drywall installation, concrete drilling, and layout [13]. The supervisor can provide simple inputs to the robot, such as when to start or stop the operation, while the robot handles the rest of the task. This approach makes better use of modern robotics capabilities and allows a single operator to manage several robots. However, the interfaces used to provide inputs to the robot are often too simplistic to allow recovery from failure.

In the event of a robot failure during task execution, joysticks and control pendants do not always provide enough feedback for the operator to intervene in an effective way that enables timely task completion. Additionally, there is currently no streamlined way to learn from the operator’s intervention and use this data to improve the robot’s autonomous capabilities.

By allowing the operator to feel the contact between the robot and its environment, haptic devices increase the range of scenarios in which the operator can aid in failure recovery [14]. Additionally, we can easily record both force and position data during the operator’s intervention. These human demonstrations of recovery strategies can allow the robot to learn new skills [15] and augment its functional autonomy.

Haptic devices have been used by the construction industry in combination with virtual reality for task training purposes [16]. The technology has allowed workers to train in a safe environment with realistic task conditions. However, haptics are still a novel technology in construction applications and field use has not been reported.

Current algorithms for haptic control of robots [17] can handle large communication delays, making them effective interfaces for remote intervention at long distances. In [1] an operator haptically controls an underwater ocean exploration robot from a distance of 100m.

Finally, [18] provides an example that integrates two modalities of robot control: autonomous robot behavior and expert human-guided motion interactions. In this study, a group of mobile robot arms successfully installed drywall boards in simulation with flexible human intervention.

This body of prior work illustrates how keeping the human in the loop with adequate feedback can facilitate successful task automation in complex, unstructured environments. Moreover, it highlights the value of haptics as a way to provide a flexible and effective interface for human-robot collaboration as well as teaching robots new autonomous skills.

Full Text of Paper

 

]]> https://robohub.org/what-women-in-robotics-achieved-in-2021-and-whats-coming-next-in-2022/ Fri, 28 Jan 2022 15:17:20 +0000 https://svrobo.org/?p=22158

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. Perhaps you’ve been furthering our mission in an ‘unofficial’ way simply by supporting other women, and non-binary people, who are working in robotics, or who are interested in working in robotics. 

We recognize and appreciate the community building work that women do, which is so often out of the spotlight, and on top of everything else. Women’s work has rarely been given economic value as one of my heroes Marilyn Waring wrote in “Counting for Nothing”. She founded feminist economics, now called triple bottom line accounting, and changed the way that the World Bank and other global organizations evaluate economies. 

The pandemic has forced women out of the workforce at twice the rate of men, leaving women’s participation in the workforce lower than it’s been for 30 years. And the pressure shows no sign of stopping. However, I believe that whenever women are forced to step backwards, we move forward again with renewed determination and focus. And so my inspiration is renewed to further the mission of Women in Robotics, to support women and non-binary people who work in robotics, and those who would like to work in robotics. We may all find it hard to find time, but small actions in the right time and place can move mountains. 

In 2021, our annual showcase featured not 25 or 30 but ‘50 women in robotics you need to know about’ from 21 different countries, from industry, startups and academia, with particular mention of the women featured who have fought for the rights of refugees and persecuted women, especially the Afghanistan Women’s Robotics Team. For other women, this recognition has helped to raise their profile within universities or companies, leading to increased opportunities.

Our annual list also means that there’s no excuse for not including women in conferences, articles, policy making, job searches etc. In 2022, I’d love to see us create wikipedia pages for more women in robotics, and create a speaker database, and a citation list, similar to what Black in Robotics has done, and the work of 500 Women Scientists. 

The work of women in science is still less likely to be cited than that of men. Recent UNESCO research has found that citation bias is the start of career long lack of recognition for women, starting with women citing themselves less often than men do. In 2022, let’s focus on improving citation rates, increasing the number of women in panels, journals and conferences, or holding organizers accountable. We can target increasing the number of women cited in robotics curricula, reading lists and coursework. As an organization we can reach out to universities, labs, conferences and journals in a way that individual women can not.

Another grassroots campaign that we started was the Women in Robotics Photo Challenge, which has already resulted in some great new photos of women building robots joining the image search results. Since then we’ve realized that ordinary google or wikipedia search steer you to Sophia or sex robots, rather than referencing real women building robots. It’s also time to retire the word ‘unmanned’. Women in Robotics is planning to request that any university still referencing ‘Unmanned’ Vehicles should substitute with driverless, uncrewed or a better term.

The lack of in person conferences is severely impacting the benefits of in person networking at a senior level for women in robotics, and so we’d like to finally launch our Advisory Board through an online networking event(s) for senior women in robotics, both in academia and industry..

We piloted our first mentoring program over 12 weeks with 16 women and it was a very successful experience for almost every participant. We know that there is a lot of demand to run the program again but we’ll need more volunteers to help organize the events and match mentors/mentees. This is one area in which sponsorship for Women in Robotics could be useful, but sponsorship comes with a significant administrative cost, so we will only seek sustainable major sponsorships in 2022.

My gratitude goes to CITRIS & the Banatao Institute, through the People and Robots Lab, for providing me with some funding for the last two years that has allowed me to spend some of my time on Women in Robotics, Black in Robotics and the Society, Robots and Us Seminars. 

My call to action is for you to make your volunteer labor impactful by investing your time in a call to action with a big outcome. I hope it’s one of our Women in Robotics actions, but in everything you do you represent women in robotics and allies. Best wishes to you all for 2022. And thank you to the 2021 Women in Robotics Board of Directors! Our full Annual Report is here.

1. Counting for Nothing (originally If Women Counted) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_Women_Counted by Marilyn Waring https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Waring
2. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/19/great-resignation-mothers-forced-to-leave-jobs
3. https://www.techrepublic.com/article/women-and-middle-managers-will-lead-the-great-resignation-into-2022/
4. https://en.unesco.org/news/unesco-research-shows-women-career-scientists-still-face-gender-bias

Reflections from the Women in Robotics Board of Directors:

We are very grateful for the work of our Board Members over the last year and we thank Kerri Fetzer-Borelli, Hallie Siegel and Ariel Anders for their vision and experience on the 2020 and 2021 Board. We are delighted to have them join our Advisory Board in 2022.

 

Allison Thackston:

Women in Robotics community and support in 2021 was different from previous years when we relied a lot on local chapters, meetups, and networking.  With many offices locked down and people more hesitant to do events in person, we’ve struggled a bit.  On the bright side, we’ve been bringing up our online presence, improving our website, and increasing our social media outreach.  In the year ahead, I hope we continue this growth.

Cynthia Yeung:

Launching the Project Advance mentorship program was a highlight of my service on the WiR board in 2021. We have received lots of great feedback from the inaugural cohort which we can use to improve the programming for the second cohort in 2022. One of the key success metrics was the percentage of returning mentors (demand is unlimited in two-sided marketplaces; supply is the constraint) and we are pleased to report that all mentors are interested in returning for the second cohort. It is personally gratifying to be in a position to implement the kind of program that I wanted to have access to earlier in my career. On a macro level, I believe that strong focus and measurable progress on a small number of initiatives will bode well for WiR’s impact roadmap.

Lisa Winter:

2021 was a year of self-reflection and a test of patience. I think 2022 will be the year when a lot of us take bigger risks as we try to figure out a better work/life balance. I would like to see more communication on the WiR Slack, specifically giving job advice and engineering advice. What I enjoy about other sites that I think we could incorporate is more sharing of personal projects; connecting over them and also learning.

Laura Stelzner:

WiR provides community and  support in a field where it can be lonely being one of the few women at your company/department.  As the field of robotics grows we would like to show women and non-binary people all the amazing career opportunities that exist, by providing them with mentorship,  networking, leadership and career advancement opportunities.

Laurie Linz:

2021 was a quiet year for Boulder/Denver, we didn’t hold any local (in person)  meetings. I do have good news and that is I am in process with setting up some in person events again. We’ll approach with caution given the covid situation, but happy to be starting again. 

WiR helps women level up or launch their career in robotics. We welcome those not ready to launch with networking and educational support. Learn, launch, level up.

Sue Keay:

One of the concerns that keeps me awake at night is wondering what important challenges we might have solved already and what technologies are missing because of the lack of diversity in robotics. That’s why Women in Robotics exists, to help to support the small number of women who are contributing to developing robotic technologies and to encourage more to join our ranks. The global list of women in robotics has been an important way to signal the important contributions that women are making in this space and to raise the profile of robotics as a valid career choice for women. Joining WiR is acknowledging that we can be doing better with diversity in robotics and may provide much needed support to a woman in robotics who may be questioning their reason for remaining in such a male-dominated field. My own experience has been that women have always been my greatest supporters and I feel less alone by being part of WiR.

Sue Keay (Robotics Australia) with Erin McColl (Toyota Research Institute) with a Ghost Robotics platform.

]]> https://robohub.org/what-happened-in-robotics-in-2021/ Wed, 05 Jan 2022 11:58:07 +0000 https://robohub.org/?p=202878

Here are some postcards from 2021 and wishing you all the best for 2022!

Founded and Funded in 2021

According to Crunchbase, 26 robotics startups were founded and funded in 2021. Many others were founded but not funded, or funded but not founded. :)

AION Prosthetics
Electronics, Manufacturing, Medical Device, Robotics
AION Prosthetics develops a prosthetic system designed to provide an adjustable, durable, and affordable future for amputees.
http://aionprosthetics.com/

Atorika
Augmented Reality, EdTech, Education, Edutainment, Leisure, Personal Development, Robotics, Subscription Service, Virtual Reality
Atorika offers edutainment that adapts to any child.
https://www.atorika.fr/

BOTINKIT
Big Data, Robotics
Robots

ContRoL
Autonomous Vehicles, Mechanical Engineering
ContRoL focuses on developing a range of vehicles for controlled release.
https://control-create.mcmaster.ca/

DIWÖ
Artificial Intelligence, Drones, Machine Learning, Robotics, Software
Diwö is accelerating the transition into safe AI using autonomous UAVs and Robotics
https://www.xn–diw-una.com/

Drone Express
Artificial Intelligence, Delivery Service, Drones
Drone Express is a full-service logistics company that uses airborne autonomous drones for local package delivery.
https://droneexpress.ai

Eco City
Artificial Intelligence, CleanTech, Machine Learning, Mobile Apps, Robotics, Service Industry, Smart Cities
Mobile App, Robotic, AI, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, E-service

Eight Knot
Artificial Intelligence, Navigation, Robotics
Eight Knot designs and develops autonomous navigation system for water mobility using robotics & AI.
https://8kt.jp/

Elexir
Automotive, Autonomous Vehicles, Cyber Security, Software
We redefine mobility with the truly digital car
https://www.elexir.eu/en/

General Systems
Construction, Industrial Automation, Robotics
Construction Tech, Robotics, B2B, Automated Building Masonry
https://www.generalsystems.tech

Helgen Technologies
Agriculture, Consulting, Farming, Mining, Oil and Gas, Robotics, Software, Software Engineering, Waste Management
Software and hardware services for industrial robotics
https://www.helgen.tech

Mach9 Robotics
Machine Learning, Robotics, Software
Mach9 Robotics builds integrated hardware and software to make utility infrastructure inspection more accurate at a lower cost.
https://www.mach9.io/

Meili Technologies
Automotive, Autonomous Vehicles, Software
Meili provides automatic, contactless, in-vehicle medical emergency detection and interface with EMS to protect riders and make roads safer.
https://www.meilitechnologies.com

Mowito
Artificial Intelligence, Industrial Automation, Intelligent Systems, Robotics, Software
Mowito provides software tools for mobile robots, to enable them to navigate intelligently in indoor facilities.
https://mowito.in/

Muncho
Food and Beverage, Food Delivery, Hardware, Robotics, Transportation
Pizza cooked en-route to your door & delivered in as little as 5 minutes. Currently piloting in Philadelphia.
https://www.muncho.com

Outlift AI
Artificial Intelligence, Health Care, Information Technology, Robotics
Outlift AI develops robotic process automation designed to assist and automate back-office healthcare work.
https://www.outliftai.com/

PhiGent Robotics
3D Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Vehicles
PhiGent Robotics offers autonomous driving solutions.

Qiangua Technology
Automotive, Autonomous Vehicles
Qiangua Technology is a Chinese autonomous driving truck company.

Serve Robotics
Food Delivery, Logistics, Robotics
Serve Robotics connects people with what they need locally via robots that are designed to serve people.
http://www.serverobotics.com

Socian Technologies
Aerospace, Artificial Intelligence, Drones, Machine Learning, Software
We create safer societies using AI-enhanced UAV technologies.
https://socian.io/

Tergeo Technologies
Industrial Automation, Machinery Manufacturing, Robotics, Waste Management
Tergeo Technologies is a developer of robotic solutions to sanitation challenges.
https://www.tergeotech.com

Urban Machine
Building Material, Robotics
Salvaging the past to build the future- Stealth Startup
http://www.urbanmachine.build

Wiingy
E-Learning, Education, Robotics
Wiingy is a unique combination of multiple learning and skill development methods including 1:1 live classes, DIY robotics kits.
https://www.wiingy.com/

Xbotod Technologies Ltd
Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Electronics, Embedded Systems, Internet of Things, Robotics
Shaping the next generation of technology and cities with Artificial Intelligence & Internet of Things (AIoT)
http://www.xbotod.com

Zbeetle
Artificial Intelligence, Electronics, Robotics
Zbeetle is a robotics innovation company engaged in producing cleaning robots.
http://www.zbeetle.com

Ziknes
Machinery Manufacturing, Robotics
Ziknes develops printing technology on industrial manufacturing of metals.
https://www.ziknes.com/

News

Robot density nearly doubled globally

The use of industrial robots in factories around the world is accelerating at a high rate: 126 robots per 10,000 employees is the new average of global robot density in the manufacturing industries – nearly double the number five years ago (2015: 66 units). This is according to the 2021 World Robot Report. By regions, […] (Click here to read more)

2022 robotics predictions from industry experts

Leading robotics experts such as Juan Aparicio and Ken Goldberg, share what they’ll be keeping an eye on in 2022.

The post 2022 robotics predictions from industry experts appeared first on The Robot Report.

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 […] (Click here to read more)

Mind-controlled robots now one step closer

Researchers teamed up to develop a machine-learning program that can be connected to a human brain and used to command a robot. The program adjusts the robot’s movements based on electrical signals from the brain. The hope is that with this invention, tetraplegic patients will be able to carry out more day-to-day activities on their own. (Click here to read more)

Top 10 robotics stories of December

China’s new five-year plan for robotics and Toronto banning sidewalk robots topped our coverage in December 2021.

The post Top 10 robotics stories of December appeared first on The Robot Report.

Creating the human-robotic dream team

Using autonomous vehicle guidelines, a team has developed a system to improve interactions between people and robots. The way people interact safely with robots is at the forefront of today’s research related to automation and manufacturing, explains a researcher. She is one of several researchers who are working to develop systems that allow humans and robots to interact safely and efficiently. (Click here to read more)

How AI and robotics are reconstructing a 2,000-year-old fresco in Pompeii

Computer scientists and archeologists are working together to solve this ancient puzzle. (Click here to read more)

Bonus material!

Children as Social Robot Designers – IEEE Spectrum

What happens when you let kids design their own social robot from scratch. (Click here to read more)

Holiday robot videos 2021 (updated)

Happy holidays everyone! Here are some more robot videos to get you into the holiday spirit. Have a last minute holiday robot video of your own that you’d like to share? Send your submissions to daniel.carrillozapata@robohub.org […] (Click here to read more)

]]> https://robohub.org/50-women-in-robotics-you-need-to-know-about-2021/ Tue, 12 Oct 2021 07:00:53 +0000 https://svrobo.org/?p=19132

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 roles in robotics. We hope these short bios will provide a world of inspiration, in our ninth Women in Robotics list! Tweet this.

In 2021, we showcase women in robotics in Afghanistan, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Russia, United Kingdom and United States. They are researchers, industry leaders, and artists. Some women are at the start of their careers, while others have literally written the book, the program or the standards.

It is, however, disturbing how hard it can be to find records of women who were an important part of the history of robotics, such as K.G. Engelhardt. Statistically speaking, women are far more likely to leave the workforce or change careers due to family pressures, and that contributes to the erasure. Last year, we talked about the importance of having more equitable citation counts. The citation problem is expected to significantly disadvantage women and people of color due to the historical lack of women followed by the recent growth of large scientific teams, multiplying exclusion.

A more dangerous form of erasure is happening today in Afghanistan. The Afghanistan Girls Robotics Team was forced to flee the country, thanks to help from their support group, the Digital Citizen Fund. What steps must the international community take in support of a future for Afghan girls’ education? Hear from UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, Nobel Laureate and Malala Fund Co-Founder Malala Yousafzai, and Somaya Faruqi, Captain of the Afghan Dreamers Robotics Team, in this recent UN video.

You can support The Afghan Dreamers here, and soon watch a documentary about the original team which was shot with the girls in Afghanistan in 2019 and 2020.

Meanwhile, UC Davis developed an online digital backpack to keep academic credentials and school records safe and private. The Article 26 Backpack references the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the right to an education. At the moment, the Backpack is for people 18 and over, with a high school diploma or baccalaureate, whose education has been affected by war, conflict or economic conditions.

On the good news front, the IEEE RAS Women in Engineering (WIE) Committee recently completed a several year study of gender representation in conference leading roles at RAS-supported conferences. Individuals who hold these roles select organizing committees, choose speakers, and make final decisions on paper acceptances. In this video, the authors lead a discussion about the findings and the story behind the study. In addition to presenting detailed data and releasing anonymized datasets for further study, the authors provided suggestions on changes to help ensure a more diverse and representative robotics community where anyone can thrive. The paper “Gender Diversity of Conference Leadership” by Laura Graesser, Aleksandra Faust, Hadas Kress-Gazit, Lydia Tapia, and Risa Ulinskiby was in the June 2021 IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, with a follow up “Retrospective on a Watershed Moment for IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Gender Diversity [Women in Engineering]” in Sep 2021 by Lydia Tapia reporting on gender diversity initiatives undertaken by the Robotics and Automation Society.

We publish this list because the lack of visibility of women in robotics leads to the unconscious perception that women aren’t making newsworthy contributions. We encourage you to use our lists to help find women for keynotes, panels, interviews and to cite their research and include them in curricula. Tulane University published a guide to help you calculate how much of your reading list includes female authors and a citation guide, similar to the CiteHer campaign from BlackComputeher.org.

And Women in Robotics have just launched a Photo Challenge! We got so tired of seeing literally hundreds of images of female robots showing up whenever we searched for images of women building robots, or images of men building robots while women watched. Let’s push Sophia out of the top search results and showcase real women building real robots instead!

We hope you are inspired by these profiles, and if you want to work in robotics too, please join us at Women in Robotics. We are now a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, but even so, this post wouldn’t be possible if not for the hard work of volunteers; Andra Keay, Fatemeh Pahlevan Aghababa, Jeana diNatale and Daniel Carrillo Zapata. Tweet this

 

And we encourage #womeninrobotics and women who’d like to work in robotics to join our professional network at http://womeninrobotics.org Want to keep reading? There are more than 200 other stories on our 2013 to 2020 lists (and their updates):

• 30 women in robotics you need to know about (2020)
• 30 women in robotics you need to know about (2019)
• 25 women in robotics you need to know about (2018)
• 25 women in robotics you need to know about (2017)
• 25 women in robotics you need to know about (2016)
• 25 women in robotics you need to know about (2015)
• 25 women in robotics you need to know about (2014)
• 25 women in robotics you need to know about (2013)

Why not nominate someone for inclusion next year! Tweet this.

]]> https://robohub.org/wir-iv-with-johanna-austin-roboticist-helicopter-pilot-techsupervixen/ Sun, 14 Mar 2021 18:35:36 +0000 https://robohub.org/wir-iv-with-johanna-austin-roboticist-helicopter-pilot-techsupervixen/

Watch Johanna Austin talk about her journey, make her own career path, and trailblazing a way in STEM!! Johanna Austin was the first female Robotics and Automation Research Engineer in Boeing’s Melbourne based robotics group. She was awarded her Bachelor of Engineering with First Class Honors at RMIT and her Masters of Science in Computer Science at Georgia Tech. Her latest role is as Technical Lead Engineer – Robotics Systems at AOS Group with focus in autonomous systems and distributed AI. Johanna is also a part time helicopter pilot. She shares information about her career journey and her feelings at being the first woman in ten years in her research group, how she handled that and the importance of having women around you at work. Johanna also shows some of the advanced robotics research that she’s been engaged in with Boeing.

https://youtu.be/3Wd2tccDebs?t=250

You can also follow Johanna (or Hoj) on Instagram :) if you like flying and Matrix metaphors. Many thanks to Nicci Roussow and Poornima Nathan for organizing the Women in Robotics Melbourne chapter meetings. If you’d like to join one of our local chapters or start your own Women in Robotics chapter – please reach out to us!

In this illustration, NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter stands on the Red Planet’s surface as NASA’s Perseverance rover (partially visible on the left) rolls away. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The difference between robotics and automation is almost nonexistent and yet has a huge difference in everything from trade shows, marketing, publications to academic conferences and journals. This week, the difference was expressed as an opportunity in the Dear Colleague Letter below from Professor Ken Goldberg, CITRIS CPAR and UC Berkeley, who suggested that students whose papers were rejected from ICRA, revise them for CASE, the Conference on Automation Science and Engineering. This opportunity was expressed beautifully in the title quote from Professor Raja Chatila, ex President of IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and current President of IEEE Global Society on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems. “One robot on Mars is robotics, ten robots on Mars is automation.”

Dear Colleagues,

Over 2000 papers were declined by ICRA today, including many that can be
effectively revised for another conference such as IEEE CASE (deadline 15
March).

IEEE CASE, the annual Conference on Automation Science and Engineering, is
a major IEEE conference that is one of three fully-supported IEEE
conferences in our field (with ICRA and IROS).

In 2021 CASE will be held 23-27 August.  It will be hybrid, with a live
component in Lyon France and an online component:
https://case2021.sciencesconf.org/

IEEE CASE was founded in 2006 so is smaller but growing quickly.  The
acceptance rate for the last CASE was about 56%, higher than ICRA 2021
(48%), IROS, or RSS.  I consider this a feature not a bug: it is an
excellent venue for exploratory and novel projects.

IEEE CASE continues the classic conference model of featuring a 10-15 min
oral presentation of each paper in contrast to poster sessions.  This is
particularly exciting for students, who get the valuable experience of
lecturing and fielding questions in front of an audience of peers.

IEEE CASE also has a tradition of spotlighting papers nominated for awards
such as Best Paper, Best Student Paper, etc.  Each nominated paper is
presented in special single session track on Day 1, where everyone at the
conference attends and there is a lively Q&A led by judges.

IEEE CASE emphasizes Automation.  Automation is very closely related to
Robotics. There is substantial overlap, but Automation emphasizes
efficiency, robustness, durability, safety, cost effectiveness. Automation
also includes topics such as optimization and applications such as
transportation and mfg. I like how RAS President Raj Chatila summed up the
relationship 10 years ago: “One robot on Mars is robotics, ten robots on
Mars is automation.”

In China there are over 100 university departments
focused on Automation.  The impact factor for the IEEE Transactions on
Automation Science and Engineering (T-ASE) this year is on par with T-RO
and higher than IJRR. Automation is important to put robotics into
practice.

Ken Goldberg

Professor, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research

William S. Floyd Jr. Distinguished Chair in Engineering, UC Berkeley

Director, CITRIS People and Robots Lab

Image credit: wata1219 on flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

It has been almost half a year since the mass resignation of the editors and editorial board of the Journal of Field Robotics. In a new turn of events, Peter Corke has recently relaunched Field Robotics as an online open-access journal with the old editorial board. Field Robotics deals with the fundamentals of robotics in unstructured and dynamic environments. Papers are now being accepted at their website.

The story of the mass resignation was reported on Silicon Valley Robotics on 26 August, in their post Is it farewell to the Journal of Field Robotics?, which we will reproduce below.

Original post from Silicon Valley Robotics

2020 is proving to be a watershed year. First COVID-19 has forced the cancellation (eg. ROSCon 2020, Hannover Messe) or the complete redesign of almost every major robotics conference. Now it seems that the science publishing community is also undergoing a sea change, as yesterday’s mass resignation of the editors and editorial board of the Journal of Field Robotics suggests. Stay posted for updates about the future of a field robotics research journal.

August 25, 2020

Dear Colleagues,

We would like to inform you about an upcoming major transition for the Journal of Field Robotics.

After 15 years of service, John Wiley and Sons, the publisher has decided not to renew the contract of the Editor in Chief (Sanjiv Singh) and the Managing Editor (Sanae Minick) and hence our term will expire at the end of 2020.

This comes after two years of discussions between new Wiley representatives and the Editorial Board have failed to converge to a common set of principles and procedures by which the journal should operate. The Editorial Board has unanimously decided to resign.

We do want to assure the authors who have papers under review that we see it as our responsibility to bring these documents to resolution during our term. We will continue to process new submissions until the end of the year. More about the future at the end of this note.

While the issue at the heart of our disagreement with Wiley is about academic independence, it should be noted that there is a structural issue here. Scholarly publishing is broadly in flux at the moment in the search for a sustainable model. Currently, academics are not paid to create and review articles. In fact, they often have to pay fees to publish, and, readers have to pay to access the work through a pay per view system, or, through subscriptions.

Plan S, an international consortium makes the dilemma clear:

“Monetising the access to new and existing research results is profoundly at odds with the ethos of science (Merton, 1973 )… In the 21st century, science publishers should provide a service to help researchers disseminate their results. They may be paid fair value for the services they are providing, but no science should be locked behind paywalls!”

While this moment calls for creativity and collaboration with the scholarly community to find new models, Wiley is intent on making broad changes to the way that the Journal of Field Robotics is operated, guided mostly by an economic calculation to increase revenue and decrease costs. To do this, they have unilaterally decided to change the terms of the contract that has been constant since the JFR was started in 2005. Wiley has confronted a similar case (European Law Journal) with similar effect – the entire editorial board has resigned in January of 2020:

Wiley insists that the new contract is covered under a confidentiality agreement that not even the Editorial Board can examine. What we can say is that the net effect of Wiley’s demands would make the Editors contractors to the publisher rather than having them respond to the board. We see this as a breach of academic autonomy.

In resigning, the Editorial Board of the Journal of Field Robotics reaffirms its commitment to dissemination and discussion of research. In the near future we will announce a new forum for research in Field Robotics that will maintain the academic integrity of our editorial process while also ensuring open dissemination of your research.

The Editorial Board of the Journal of Field Robotics

• Simon Lacroix, LAAS
• David Wettergreen, CMU
• Cédric Pradalier, GeorgiaTech Lorraine
• Tim Barfoot, University of Toronto
• Roland Siegwart, ETH
• Giuseppe Loianno, NYU
• Henrik I Christensen, UC San Diego
• Marco Hutter, ETH
• Kazuya Yoshida, Tohoku University
• Aarne Halme, Aalto University
• Hanumant Singh, Northeastern University
• Matthew Berkemeier, Continental
• Anibal Ollero, University of Seville
• Jonathan Roberts, QUT
• Hajime Asama, University of Tokyo
• Satoshi Tadokoro, Tohoku University
• Raja Chatila, Sorbonne University
• Peter Corke, QUT
• Matt Spenko, Illinois Institute of Technology
• Larry Matthies, NASA JPL
• Salah Sukkarieh, University of Sydney
• Stefan Williams, University of Sydney
• Sanjiv Singh, CMU

Here’s a Women in Robotics Spotlight, where we share stories from women who are working on all sorts of interesting projects who haven’t yet been featured in our Annual Showcase. We hope these stories provide inspiration to everyone to join us working in the field of robotics. And if you’re a woman working in robotics, why not contribute your story too!

“I love robots however I do find it frustrating when the code that was working the day before doesn’t work. I also find it hard supplying my robots with power. I learn online although I do have a few mentors that help me but it’s really not easy learning on my own. My favourite thing about robotics is making them, and when they work like they should. My robots make people really happy so I love that. I also love succeeding – the feeling when my robots come to life is unbelievable.” says Selin Alara Örnek a high school student who has built five robots, including a robot guide dog for the blind.

Andra Keay  Managing Director at Silicon Valley Robotics, Visiting Scholar at CITRIS People and Robots Lab and Founder at Women in Robotics Why robots? “My background is Human-Robot Interaction, Design, and Communications Technology – which seems a long way from robotics, but our mass communication technologies (including internet) were the most powerful and creative technologies of the 20th century. I’ve always been interested in robots, firstly as a philosophical thing, then as interesting robots became possible, fascinated by the way in which this latest evolution of technology is spreading into society. The sheer scope of the technology is my favorite thing, but historically, the incredible homogeneity or lack of diversity in robotics is my least favorite thing. Fortunately, we’re changing that! We have technology that can solve the world’s greatest challenges, if we can continue to find ways to market and avoid frittering away our advances on novelty devices, games or advertising.” What suggestions do you have for other Women in Robotics? “Every time I was trusted to lead a project I grew a lot and gained confidence. Until then, I hadn’t even realized that I was lacking in confidence. At the time, it just seemed expected of young women to follow other people, not go my own way. I’d like to call out people on being too self deprecating, putting themselves down, or apologizing for themselves. If I had a dollar for every time a women in robotics has said “but I’m not really a….” then I’d be able to fund a great robotics company! I also call on people to stop blaming women for not speaking up or ‘leaning in’ when no one in industry is listening to them!”

Nguyen Sao Mai   Assistant Professor at ENSTA-Paris, IP-Paris and also affiliated at IMT Atlantique Why robots? Nguyen Sao Mai has enabled a robot to coach physical rehabilitation in the projects RoKInter and the experiment KERAAL she coordinated, funded by the European Union through FP-7 project ECHORD++. She has participated in project AMUSAAL, for analysing human activities of daily living through cameras, and CPER VITAAL for developing assistive technologies for the elderly and disabled. She has developed machine learning algorithms combining reinforcement learning and active imitation learning for interactive and multi-task learning, contributing to the start of interactive reinforcement learning. She is currently associate editor of the journal IEEE TCDS and co-chair of the Task force “Action and Perception” of the IEEE Technical Committee on Cognitive and Developmental Systems. “Cognitive Developmental Robotics is a wonderful field to allow us to build new assistive robots that can evolve in interaction with humans and adapt to the needs of its users by continual learning. It is also an amazing tool to understand and model biological cognition and learning processes. Robotics is unleashing little by little its potential as a tool to address humankind’s challenges, such as the medical advances, environmental issues or social assistance for the elderly and the disabled. This year’s situation has for instance has shown the usefulness of robotics in medical environments and nursing homes.” What suggestions do you have for other Women in Robotics? “Robotics and artificial intelligence are wonderfully multidisciplinary fields. It can be surprising at first sight that social sciences play an essential role in the scientific advances. They need contributions from researchers of different fields. They could also greatly benefit from the women’s outlook on intelligence or the social role of robots in our future society. “

Selin Alara Örnek High School Student and Inventor Why robots? “I am a 14 year old high school student, I have been coding since I was 8 and building robots since I was 10 years old. I have built 5 robots till now one is a guide dog for blind people, ic4u and ic4u2, I have built 2 versions. I have another robot BB4All which is a school aid robot to help students, teachers and staff its main aim is to prevent bullying. I have also built an Android robot and a Starwars Droid DO as I love both of them. When I was 9 we lost our family dog I was really upset as I don’t have any brothers or sisters and he was like my brother. I wanted to bring him back to life as I was little I dreamed of bringing one of my soft toys to life. Whilst on holiday with my family I saw a guide dog with its blind owner. I love dogs and was really happy to see a dog helping in such way. But then I remembered how sad I was and I thought if the blind person’s dog was to die they would not only lose their best friend but their eyes again too. So I decided to build my robot guide dog ic4u. I am currently rebuilding BB4All as the first one I built was not very strong and made of cardboard now I am printing the pieces with a 3d printer and adding some more features. In my robots, I use image recognition, object detection, face recognition, voice commands, dialogflow, omnidirection movements, Google maps api and Google assistant integration and various sensors. I believe that robots will be part of our everyday life and that we will need them more and more. I love robots so that makes me really happy. My dream is to build a humanoid in the future and send it to space so that it can do research on the black hole.” What suggestions do you have for other Women in Robotics? “I used to love playing games minecraft, etc then in English class my teacher started making games for us to play whilst learning and I really wanted to do so. I asked him how he did it and he told me to have a look at MIT Scratch and encouraged me to code my own games. He told me I could do it and that I should try. That is how I started to learn how to code and I am very happy to have a teacher like him. A lot of girls are not very interested in coding robotics and find what I do very boring. I spend a lot of time taking my robots to events to talk about my robots and show how coding and robotics can be fun and also how technology can be used for good. I recently did a TEDx talk and have given presentations at plenty of local and international events. A lot of other kids get in touch with me to ask questions which I also like to answer. Especially little girls that get in touch as it makes me happy to see them so interested and excited. I also try to send messages to parents in my presentations and interviews, pointing out that they should respect their children’s choices and that they need to give equal opportunities to both their daughters and sons.”

We encourage #womeninrobotics and women who’d like to work in robotics to join our professional network at http://womeninrobotics.org  We’re a global network with local chapters around the world. The guest speaker at our most recent event, Women in Robotics Melbourne Australia was Nicole Klouet, a PhD candidate in aerospace engineering working on reducing the acoustic impact of drones on society.

Andra Keay, Women in Robotics President Managing Director at Silicon Valley Robotics | Visiting Scholar at CITRIS People and Robots Lab | Startup Advisor & Investor Andra Keay founded Women in Robotics originally under the umbrella of Silicon Valley Robotics, the non-profit industry group supporting innovation and commercialization of robotics technologies. Andra’s background is in human-robot interaction and communication theory. She is a trained futurist, founder of the Robot Launch global startup competition, Robot Garden maker space, Women in Robotics and is a mentor, investor and advisor to startups, investors, accelerators and think tanks, with a strong interest in commercializing socially positive robotics and AI. Andra speaks regularly at leading technology conferences, and is Secretary-General of the International Alliance of Robotics Associations. She is also a Visiting Scholar with the UC’s CITRIS People and Robots Research Group.

Allison Thackston Roboticist, Software Engineer & Manager– Waymo Allison Thackston is the Chair of Women in Robotics Website SubCommittee and CoChair of our New Chapter Formation SubCommittee. She is also a Founding Member of the ROS2 Technical Steering Committee. Prior to working at Waymo, she worked at Nuro and was the Manager of Shared Autonomy at Toyota Research Institute, and Principle Research Scientist Intelligent Manipulation. She has an MS in Robotics and MechEng from the University of Hawaii and a BS in EEng from Georgia Tech. With a passion for robots and robotic technologies, she brings energy, dedication, and smarts to all the challenges she faces.

Ariel Anders Roboticist – Robust.AI Ariel Anders is a black feminist roboticist who enjoys spending time with her family and artistic self-expression. Anders is the first roboticist hired at Robust.AI, an early stage robotics startup building the world’s first industrial grade cognitive engine. Anders received a BS in Computer Engineering from UC Santa Cruz and her Doctorate in Computer Science from MIT, where she taught project-based collaborative robotics courses, developed an iOS app for people with vision impairment, and received a grant to install therapy lamps across campus. Her research focused on reliable robotic manipulation with the vision of enabling household helpers.

Cynthia Yeung Robotics Executive & COO, Advisor, Speaker Cynthia Yeung is the Chair of the Women in Robotics Mentoring Program SubCommittee, which will be piloting shortly. She is also a mentor and advisor to robotics companies, accelerators and venture capital firms, and speaks at leading technology conferences. Cynthia studied Entrepreneurship at Stanford, Systems Engineering at UPenn, and did a triple major at The Wharton School, UPenn, where she was a Benjamin Franklin Scholar and a Joseph Wharton Scholar. She has led Strategic or International Partnerships at organizations like Google, Capital One and led Product Partnerships at SoftBank Robotics, Checkmate.io and was COO of CafeX. In her own words, “I practice radical candor. I build teams to make myself obsolete. I create value to better human society. I edit robotics research papers for love.”

Hallie Siegel Associate Director, Strategy & Operations at University of Toronto Hallie Siegel is the driving force behind the emerging robotics network in Canada, centered at the University of Toronto. She is a communications professional serving the technology, innovation and research sectors, specifically robotics, automation and AI. She is pursuing a Masters in Strategic Foresight and Innovation at OCADU, where she was Dean’s Scholar. Hallie was also the first Managing Editor at Robohub.org, the site for robotics news and views, after doing science communications for Raffaelo D’Andrea’s lab at ETH Zurich. In her spare time, she is a multidisciplinary artist, and Chair of the Women in Robotics Vision Workshops.

Kerri Fetzer-Borelli Head of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Community Engagement at Toyota Research Institute Kerri Fetzer-Borelli is the CoChair for the Women in Robotics New Chapter Formation SubCommittee. They have worked as Scientific Data Collector for the military, as a Welder in nuclear power plants, and as the Manager of Autonomous Vehicle Testing, then Prototyping and Robotics Operations at Toyota Research Institute where they now lead DEI and Community Engagement. Kerri mobilizes cross functional teams to solve complex, abstract problems by distilling strategic, actionable items and workflows from big ideas.

Laura Stelzner Robotics Software Engineer at RIOS Laura Stelzner is the Chair of the Women in Robotics Community Management SubCommittee increasing activity and engagement in our online community. By day, she is in charge of software for emerging robotics startup RIOS which provides factory automation as a service, deploying AI powered and dexterous robots on factory assembly lines. Prior to RIOS, Laura worked at Toyota Research Institute, Space Systems Loral, Amazon Labs, Electric Movement and Raytheon. She has a BS in Computer Engineering from UC Santa Cruz and an MS in Computer Science from Stanford.

Laurie Linz, Women in Robotics Treasurer Software Development Engineer in Test at Alteryx Laurie Linz is the Women in Robotics Treasurer, as well as founder of the Boulder/Denver Colorado WiR Chapter. When not working as a software developer or QA tester, Laurie can be found with her hands on an Arduino, or a drone, or a camera. As she says, “I like to build things, break things and solve puzzles all day! Thankfully development and testing allows me to do that. Fred Brooks was right when he wrote that the programmer gains the “sheer joy of making things” and he talks of “castles in the air, from air” as we are only limited by the bounds of human imagination.”

Lisa Winter Head of Hardware at Quartz A roboticist since childhood, Lisa has over 20 years experience designing and building robots. She has competed in Robot Wars and BattleBots competitions since 1996, and is a current judge on BattleBots. She currently holds the position of Head of Hardware at Quartz, an early stage startup working on the future of construction. Her rugged hardware can be seen attached to tower cranes all around California. In her free time she likes to volunteer her prototyping skills to the Marine Mammal Center to aid in the rehab of hundreds of animals each year. She is a Founding Board Member of Women in Robotics and Chair of the Artwork/Swag SubCommittee.

Sue Keay, Women in Robotics Secretary CEO at Queensland AI Hub and Chair of the Board of Directors of Robotics Australia Group Currently CEO of Queensland AI Hub, after leading cyber-physical systems research for CSIRO’s Data61. Previously Sue set-up the world’s first robotic vision research centre. She led the development of Australia’s first robotics roadmap, the Robotics Australia Network and the Queensland Robotics Cluster. A Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, she founded and Chairs the Board of Robotics Australia Group. Sue also serves on the Boards of CRC ORE, Queensland AI Hub and represents Australia in the International Alliance of Robotics Associations.

With such a go-getting Board of Directors, you can be assured that Women in Robotics is preparing for an active 2021. As of 1/1/21, we had 1270 members in our online community, 900 additional newsletter subscribers, and six active chapters in the USA, Canada, UK and Australia. All Women in Robotics events abide by our Code of Conduct and we offer it for use at any robotics event or conference.

Our focus for 2021 is on:

• Project Inspire – our annual 30 women in robotics you need to know about list, plus regular updates, spotlights, and wikipedia pages for women in robotics.
• Project Connect – forming new chapters, promoting our online community, and enjoying  regular member led activities and events, under a Code of Conduct.
• Project Advance – piloting a mentoring program, providing educational resources for women in robotics, and improving accountability metrics in our workplaces.

We’d also like to thank our two Founding Board Members, Sabine Hauert of the Hauert Lab at University of Bristol UK and Founder of Robohub.org and Sarah Osentoski SVP of Engineering at Iron Ox, who are leaving the WiR Board but who will be leading our new Women in Robotics Advisory Board, another new initiative for 2021.

You can subscribe to our newsletter to keep updated on our activities, to sign up for our speaker database or volunteering opportunities, or to show your support as an ally. Please support our activities with a one off or recurring donation (tax deductible in the USA). 

Agility Robotics builds robots that go where people go, to do pragmatically useful work in human environments.  Digit, Agility Robotics’ humanoid robot with both mobility and manipulation capabilities, is commercially available and has been shipping to customers since July 2020. Digit builds on two decades of research and development from the team on human-like dynamic mobility and manipulation, and can handle unstructured indoor and outdoor terrain. Digit is versatile and can do  a range of different jobs that have been designed around a human form factor.

In October 2020, Agility Robotics closed a $20 million Series A round led by DCVC and Playground Global, bringing their total funds raised to $29 million. The investment enables the company to meet the demand from logistics providers, e-commerce retailers and others for robots that can work alongside humans to automate repetitive, physically demanding or dangerous work safely and scalably, even in the majority of spaces that are not purpose-built for automation.

Built Robotics transforms heavy equipment for the $1 trillion earthmoving industry into autonomous robots using its proprietary AI Guidance Systems. Built Robotics combines sensors such as GPS, cameras, and IMUs with advanced software, and the systems can be installed on standard equipment from any manufacturer. The technology allows equipment operators to oversee a fleet of vehicles working autonomously in parallel.

Built Robotics is backed by some of the top investors in Silicon Valley — including Founders Fund, NEA, and Next47 — and has raised over $48M to date. They have targeted markets in which they can have a big impact, such as earthmoving, clean energy, gas pipelines, trenching, and new housing developments. Built Robotics has partnered with one of the largest labor unions in North America, the IUOE, to help train and develop the next generation of equipment operator.

“At the end of the day, robots are just tools in the hands of skilled operators, and we believe that the best-trained workers equipped with our technology will fundamentally change the future of construction,” said Noah Ready-Campbell, CEO of Built Robotics. “Together we can build and maintain the critical infrastructure our country needs.”

Covariant is building the Covariant Brain, a universal AI to give robots the ability to see, reason and act on the world around them. Bringing practical AI Robotics into the physical world is hard. It involves giving robots a level of autonomy that requires breakthroughs in AI research. That’s why Covariant assembled a team that has published cutting-edge research papers at the top AI conferences and journals, with more than 50,000 collective citations. In addition to their research, they’ve also brought together a world-class engineering team to create new types of highly robust, reliable and performant cyber-physical systems.

Instead of learning to master specific tasks separately, Covariant robots learn general abilities such as robust 3D perception, physical affordances of objects, few-shot learning and real-time motion planning. This allows them to adapt to new tasks just like people do — by breaking down complex tasks into simple steps and applying general skills to complete them. In 2020, Covariant raised a $40 million Series B round from investors such as Index Ventures, Lux Capital and Baidu Ventures, bringing their total funding to $67 million. They’ve also developed partnerships with logistics and robotics companies such as Knapp Ag. and ABB, showcasing successful order pick rates at faster than human speeds.

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Self driving technology, the integration of robotics, AI and simulation, is the hardest engineering challenge of our generation. So it’s only fitting that Cruise autonomous vehicles are on the road in San Francisco navigating some of the most challenging and unpredictable driving environments, because the best way to bring self-driving technology to the world is to expose it to the same unique and complex traffic scenarios human drivers face every day.

Cruise became the industry’s first unicorn when GM acquired the company in 2016. Cruise is building the world’s most advanced all-electric, self-driving vehicles to safely connect people with the places, things, and experiences they care about. And in the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cruise delivered more than 125,000 contactless deliveries of groceries and meals to San Francisco’s most vulnerable underserved populations. And as of December 4, Cruise has started driverless testing in San Francisco. You can see the video here:

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Dishcraft’s mission is to create happy, productive, sustainable workplaces by making automation accessible to food service operations. Dishcraft Daily® delivers a full-service clean-dish ‘dishwashing as a service’ every day to dining operations in business, education, and healthcare, providing measurable environmental benefits compared to using disposable wares.

Dishcraft provides environmental and financial efficiencies for both dine-in and to-go businesses once you calculate the hidden costs of normal restaurant or food service operation. Dishcraft has raised over $25 million from investors including Baseline Ventures, First Round Capital, and Lemnos. The company’s dishwashing as a service is now being used by dozens of companies, including hospitals, around the Bay Area. Since the advent of COVID-19, there’s been an increased demand for food safe and sterile processes in the food service industry.

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Embark technology is already moving freight for five Fortune 500 companies in the southwest U.S. By moving real freight through our purpose-built transfer hubs, we are setting a new standard for how driverless trucks will move freight in the future. Embark has compiled many firsts for automated trucks, including driving across the country, operating in rain and fog, and navigating between transfer hubs. Embark is advancing the state of the art in automated trucks and bringing safe, efficient commercial transport closer every day.

Started as University of Waterloo startup, then at YCombinator, Embark has raised more than $117 million with top investors like DCVC and Sequoia Capital. Embark is assembling a world-class group of engineers from companies like Tesla, Google, Audi and NASA with a professional operations team that averages over a million miles per driver, with the goal of developing a system tailored to the demands of real world trucking.

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Autonomous robots are awesome, but if you want to run a business with them, you’ll need a robust operations platform that connects people, processes, sensors and robots, and provides fleet-wide management, control, and analytics at scale. That is where Formant comes in.

Formant bridges the gap between autonomous systems and the people running them. Our robot data and operations platform provides organizations with a command center that can be used to operate, observe, and analyze the performance of a growing fleet of heterogeneous robots. Empowering customers to deploy faster, scale while reducing overhead, and maximize the value of autonomous robots and the data they collect.

So far in 2020, Formant’s robot data and operations platform is supporting dozens of different customers with a multitude of robot types and is deployed on thousands of autonomous devices worldwide. Formant’s customers span robot manufacturers, robot-as-a-service providers, and enterprises with robotic installations and represent a variety of industries, from energy to agriculture to warehouse automation.

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Iron Ox is an operator of autonomous robotic greenhouses used to grow fresh and pesticide-free farm products that are accessible everywhere. It leverages plant science, machine learning, and robotics to increase the availability, quality, and flavor of leafy greens and culinary herbs that enable consumers to access naturally grown and chemical-free farm products.

Iron Ox is reimagining the modern farm, utilizing robotics and AI to grow fresh, consistent, and responsibly farmed produce for everyone. From the development of multiple robot platforms to their own custom hydroponic, seeding, and harvesting systems, Iron Ox is taking a system-level approach to creating the ideal farm. The company’s experienced team of growers, plant scientists, software engineers, and hardware engineers are passionate about bringing forward this new wave of technology to grow local, affordable fresh produce.

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Robust.AI is building the world’s first industrial grade cognitive engine, with a stellar team that’s attracted $22.5 million in seed and Series A funding from Jazz Ventures, Playground Global, Fontinalis, Liquid 2, Mark Leslie and Jaan Tallis. Robust’s stated mission is to overhaul the software stack that runs many of existing robots, in order to make them function better in complex environments and be safer for operation around humans.

The all-star team of founders are Gary Marcus and Rodney Brooks, both pioneers in AI and robotics, Mohamed Amer from SRI International, Anthony Jules from Formant and Redwood Robotics, and Henrik Christensen author of the US National Robotics Roadmaps.

“Finding market fit is as important in robots and AI systems as any other product,” Brooks said in a statement. “We are building something we believe most robotics companies will find irresistible, taking solutions from single-purpose tools that today function in defined environments, to highly useful systems that can work within our world and all its intricacies.”

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Zipline is a California-based automated logistics company that designs, manufactures, and operates drones to deliver vital medical products. Zipline’s mission is to provide every human on Earth with instant access to vital medical supplies. In 2014, Zipline started flying medical supplies in Africa, and has gone on to fly more than 39,000 deliveries worldwide and raise over $233 million in funding.

Zipline has built the world’s fastest and most reliable delivery drone, the world’s largest autonomous logistics network, and a truly amazing team. Zipline designs and tests its technology in Half Moon Bay, California. The company assembles the drones and the technology that powers its distribution centers in South San Francisco. Zipline performs extensive flight testing in Davis, California, and operates distribution centers around the planet with teams of local operators.

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Zoox is working on the full stack for Robo-taxis, providing mobility-as-a-service. Operating at the intersection of design, computer science, and electro-mechanical engineering, Zoox is a multidisciplinary team working to imagine and build an advanced mobility experience that will support the future needs of urban mobility for both people and the environment.

In December 2018, Zoox became the first company to gain approval for providing self-driving transport services to the public in California. In January 2019, Zoox appointed a new CEO, Aicha Evans, who was previously the Chief Strategy Officer at Intel and became the first African-American CEO of a $1B company. Zoox had raised a total of $1B in funding over 6 rounds and on June 26, 2020, Amazon and Zoox signed a “definitive merger agreement” under which Amazon will acquire Zoox for over $1.2 billion. Zoox’s ground-up technology, which includes developing zero-emission vehicles built specifically for autonomous use, could be used to augment Amazon’s logistics operations.

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You can see the full list of our Good Robot Awards in Innovation, Vision, Commercialization and our Community Champions here at https://svrobo.org/awards and we’ll be sharing articles about each category of award winners throughout the week.

Self-driving vehicles would not be possible without sensors and so it’s not surprising to see two small new sensors in the 2020 Silicon Valley Robotics ‘Good Robot’ Innovation Awards, the Velabit from Velodyne and the nanoScan3 from SICK. We showcase three other innovations in component technology, the FHA-C with Integrated Servo Drive from Harmonic Drive, the radically new Inception Drive from SRI International and Qualcomm’s RB5 Processor, all ideal for building robots.

Our other Innovation Awards go to companies with groundbreakingly new robots; from the tensegrity structure of Squishy Robotics, which will help in both space exploration and disaster response on earth, to the Dusty Robotics full scale FieldPrinter for the construction industry, and Titan from FarmWise for agriculture, which was also named one of Time’s Best Inventions for 2020. Finally, we’re delighted to see innovation in robotics that is affordable and collaborative enough for home robot applications, with Stretch from Hello Robot and Eve from Halodi Robotics.

The Velabit, a game-changing lidar sensor, leverages Velodyne’s innovative lidar technology and manufacturing partnerships for cost optimization and high-volume production, to make high-quality 3D lidar sensors readily accessible to everyone. The Velabit is smaller than a deck of playing cards, and it shatters the price barrier, costing $100.00 per sensor. The compact, mid-range Velabit is highly configurable for specialized use cases and can be embedded almost anywhere. Gatik and May Mobility are just two of pioneers in autonomous vehicle technology using Velodyne Lidar.

The nanoScan3 from SICK is the world’s smallest safety laser scanner and is based on their latest patented Time-Of-Flight technology. Not only does it provide the most robust protection for stationary and mobile robots, but being a LiDAR, it simultaneously supports navigation and other measurement-based applications.

Founded in 1946, SICK sensors help robots make more intelligent decisions and give them the ability to sense objects, the environment, or their own position. SICK, and their west coast distributor EandM, offer solutions for all challenges in the field of robotics: Robot Vision, Safe Robotics, End-of-Arm Tooling, and Position Feedback.

The FHA-C Mini Series from Harmonic Drive is a family of extremely compact actuators that deliver high torque with exceptional accuracy and repeatability. The revolutionary FHA-C with Integrated Servo Drive eliminates the need for an external drive and greatly improves wiring while retaining high-positional accuracy and torsional stiffness in a compact housing. This new mini actuator product is ideal for use in robotics.

The Qualcomm Robotics RB5 Platform supports the development of the next generation of high-compute, AI-enabled, low power robots and drones for the consumer, enterprise, defense, industrial and professional service sectors that can be connected by 5G. The QRB5165 processor, customized for robotics applications, offers a powerful heterogeneous computing architecture coupled with the leading 5th generation Qualcomm® Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engine delivering 15 Trillion Operations Per Second (TOPS) of AI performance. It’s designed to achieve peak performance while being able to also support small battery-operated robots with challenging power and thermal dissipation requirements. The platform offers support for Linux, Ubuntu and Robot Operating System (ROS) 2, as well as pre-integrated drivers for various cameras, sensors and connectivity.

The latest breakthrough from SRI Robotics is a novel ultra-compact, infinitely variable transmission that is an order of magnitude smaller and lighter than existing technologies. The Inception Drive is a new transmission that can reverse the direction of the output relative to input without clutches or extra stages, dramatically increasing total system efficiency in applications including robotics, transportation, and heavy industry.

Squishy Robotics’ rapidly deployable, air-droppable, mobile sensor robots provide lifesaving, cost-saving information in real time, enabling faster, better-informed data-driven decisions. The company’s robots provide first responders with location and chemical sensor data as well as the visual information needed to safely plan a mitigation response, all from a safe distance away from the “hot zones.” The scalable and reconfigurable robots can carry customized, third-party equipment (e.g., COTS sensors, emergency medical aid supplies, or specialized radio components) in a variety of deployment scenarios.

The company’s first target market is the HazMat and CBRNE (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive) response market, enabling lifesaving maneuvers and securing the safety of first responders by providing situational awareness and sensor data in uncharted terrains. The robots can be quickly deployed by ground or be dropped from drones or other aerial vehicles and then be used in a variety of ways, including remote monitoring, disaster response, and rescue assistance. A spin-off of prior work with NASA on robots for space exploration, the company’s Stationary Robot has been successfully dropped from airplanes from heights of up to 1,000 ft; the company’s Mobile Robot can traverse rugged and uneven territory.

Dusty Robotics develops innovative robotics technology that power the creation of high-accuracy mobile printers for the construction industry. Dusty’s novel robotics algorithms enable the system to achieve 1-millimeter precision printing construction layout on concrete decks, which is a breakthrough in the industry.

Construction industry veterans who are normally skeptical about new innovations have all embraced Dusty’s FieldPrinter as the solution to critical problems in the industry. Layout today involves a number of manual steps, each of which has the potential to introduce errors into the process. Errors increase building cost and delay time to completion. Dusty’s robotic layout printer automates the BIM->field workflow and is poised to be the first widely adopted robotic technology in the field across the construction industry.

For vegetable growers who face increased growing costs and new environmental and regulatory pressures, the FarmWise suite of data-driven services harnesses plant-level data to drive precise field actions in order to streamline farm operations and increase food production efficiency.

Titan FT-35, the automated weeding robot from FarmWise Labs, has just been named one of Time Magazine’s ‘Best Inventions of 2020’. Titan consists of a driverless tractor and a smart implement that uses deep learning to detect crops from weeds and mechanically removes weeds from farmers’ fields. Thanks to the trust and collaborative effort of visionary growers, the FarmWise idea of a machine that could kill weeds without using chemicals went from a proof-of-concept to a commercialized product.

Hello Robot has reinvented the mobile manipulator. In July 2020 they launched Stretch, the first capable, portable, and affordable mobile manipulator designed specifically to assist people in the home and workplace. At a fraction the cost, size, and weight of previous capable mobile manipulators, Stretch’s novel design is a game changer.

Stretch has a low mass, contact-sensitive body with a compact footprint and slender telescopic manipulator, so that it weighs only 51lb. Stretch is ready for autonomous operation as well as teleoperation, with Python interfaces, ROS integration and open source code. In the future, mobile manipulators will enhance the lives of older adults, people with disabilities, and caregivers. Hello Robot is working to build a bridge to this future.

Halodi Robotics has developed the EVE humanoid robot platform using its patented REVO1 actuators to enable truly capable and safe humanoid robots. The robots have been commercialized, and the first commercial customer pilots are being planned for next year in security, health care and retail.

By developing a new actuator and differential rope based transmission systems, the company has overcome many of the obstacles preventing the development of capable and safe robots. Impact energies of less than a thousandth of comparable systems means that the system can be inherently safe around humans and in human environments.

Halodi Robotics is using the EVE platform to pilot humanoid robotics into new areas while their next generation robot Sarah is being developed for 2022 launch.

You can see the full list of our Good Robot Awards in Innovation, Vision, Commercialization and our Community Champions here at https://svrobo.org/awards and we’ll be sharing articles about each category of award winners throughout the week.

If robotics is the technology of the 21st century, rather than biotech, then we have some serious work to do. This week marks the ‘beginning of the end’ of the coronavirus pandemic as a vaccine is deployed in the US. The Wall St Journal recently profiled the incredible effort of Pfizer and BioNTech who pioneered a novel Messenger RNA (mRNA) approach, and got it in production in a tenth to a quarter of the normal vaccine development time. It undoubtedly takes a team, but the WSJ article “How Pfizer delivered a COVID vaccine in record time” highlights the efforts of two men, CEO Albert Bourla and manufacturing chief Mike McDermott, and one woman, head of Pfizer’s vaccine research Dr Kathrin Jansen, in this achievement. And the WSJ feature makes more fuss about CEO Albert Bourla’s Greek heritage than about Dr Kathrin Jansen’s femaleness. Now the WSJ isn’t exactly a leftwing propaganda machine, so this reflects the strides that the biological sciences have taken in diversity in the last fifty years. Given the growing shortage of professionals in computer science, robotics and AI occupations, including basic manufacturing, and given the basic human right of empowering everyone with access to equal opportunities, then it is clear that systemic inequity is still at work in some new technologies like robotics. Biotech shows that hardware and innovation is doable. Sadly, Silicon Valley shows that equity is harder than hardware.

Silicon Valley Robotics announces its inaugural ‘Good Robot’ Industry Awards this week, celebrating Innovation in products, Vision in action, and the Commercialization of new technologies that offer us the chance to address global challenges. The computer age did not usher in the increases in productivity that were anticipated. Unlike the advent of tractors or electricity, productivity due to technology has largely stagnated since shortly after the second world war. This is in spite of large amounts of public research and development funding in advanced computing technologies like robotics and AI. In the meantime, the negative impacts of many technology advances (like plastics) continue to wage war on the planet. But there is no point in promoting a Luddite view of a technology free era (of high infant mortality, short average lifespan and child labor), instead we can use technology wisely to address areas where the gain to society will be great.

We want to also recognize the work of robotics community champions who do all sorts of (often unsung) work that advances the science and technology of robotics, from research, to production and employment. These awardees serve as great examples of how providing support for robotics supports all of us.

Community Champion Award:

Companies:

NASA Intelligent Robotics Group
Open Robotics
PickNik Robotics
Robohub
SICK
Willow Garage (best to see the Red Hat series How to Start a Robot Revolution)

Individuals:

Alex Padilla
Ayanna Howard
Evan Ackerman
Frank Tobe
Henrik Christensen
Joy Buolamwini
Katherine Scott
Khari Johnson
Louise Poubel
Mark Martin
Rodney Brooks
Rumman Chowdhury
Timnit Gebru

Silicon Valley Robotics appreciates the contributions made by all of our inaugural Community Champions! And we look forward to next year, because there are many of you out there who are making not just good robots, but a better robotics industry. One of the things I love most about robotics is being around so many people who are are passionate about using technology to improve the world. It can be frustrating that the world is so resistant to change sometimes but in ten short years, the robotics industry has gone from insignificant (in Silicon Valley terms) to unicorns. We all have an opportunity to be part of changing the world for the better, like our Community Champions.

Make no mistake, this is not an issue for women or black & brown people to solve. Without an accurate reflection of the society in which our technologies will be used we will not produce the best technologies and we will not be attractive or competitive as an industry that is fighting for the best talent. Diversity and equity in robotics should be worrying everybody in robotics. We need robots to solve our greatest global challenges. And we need global talent to do this.

I dream of seeing a Silicon Valley Robotics industry cluster and robotics education program in every country, hand in hand with non-profit programs like Women in Robotics and Black in Robotics to support workers entering what is still not an equitable work environment.

*The Silicon Valley Robotics Board is incredibly supportive, however this commentary is all my own opinion piece and I  put my Ruth Bader Ginsburg socks on today. I highly recommend them.

About Silicon Valley Robotics

Silicon Valley Robotics (SVR) supports the innovation and commercialization of robotics technologies, as a non-profit industry association. Our first strategic plan focused on connecting startups with investment, and since our founding in 2010, our membership has grown tenfold, reflecting our success in increasing investment into robotics. We believe that with robotics, we can improve productivity, meet labor shortages, get rid of jobs that treat humans like robots and finally create precision, personalized food, mobility, housing and health technologies. For more information, please visit https://svrobo.org

SOURCE: Silicon Valley Robotics (SVR)

CONTACT: Andra Keay andra@svrobo.org

OAKLAND, California, Dec. 14, 2020 /Press Release/ — Silicon Valley Robotics, the world’s largest cluster of innovation in robotics, announces the inaugural ‘Good Robot’ Industry Awards, celebrating the robotics, automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) that will help us solve global challenges. These 52 companies and individuals have all contributed to innovation that will improve the quality of our lives, whether it’s weed-free pesticide-free farming, like FarmWise or Iron Ox; supporting health workers and the elderly manage health care treatment regimes, like Catalia Health or Multiply Labs; or reimagining the logistics industry so that the transfer of physical goods becomes as efficient as the transfer of information, like Cruise, Embark, Matternet and Zipline. 

Mabu from Catalia Health helps treat a patient. (image from Catalia Health)

The categories Innovation, Vision and Commercialization represent the stages robotics companies go through, firstly with an innovative technology or product, then with a vision to change the world (and occasionally the investment to match), and finally with real evidence of customer traction. The criteria for our Commercialization Award is achieving $1 million in revenue, which is a huge milestone for a startup building a new invention. 

Titan agribot from FarmWise weeding fields in California. (image from FarmWise)

Tessa Lau, Founder and CEO of Dusty Robotics, an Innovation Awardee said “We’re almost there. $1 million in revenue is our next goal.” Dusty Robotics’ FieldPrinter automates the painstaking, time-consuming process of marking building plans in the field, replacing a traditional process using measuring tape and chalk lines that hasn’t changed in 5000 years. The company’s vision of creating robot-powered tools for the modern construction workforce resonates strongly with commercial construction companies. Dusty’s robot fleet is now in production, producing highly accurate layouts in record time on every floor of two multi-family residential towers going up in San Francisco.

The FieldPrinter from Dusty Robotics drawing plans. (image from Dusty Robotics)

The SVR ‘Good Robot’ Industry Awards also highlight diverse robotics companies. In our Visionary Category, Zoox is the first billion dollar company led by an African-American woman, Aicha Evans, and Robust AI shows diversity at every level of the organization. Diversity of thought will be critical as Robust AI tackles the challenge of building a cognitive engine for robotics that incorporates common sense reasoning. 

“Robotics and AI will shape the next century in the same way the Industrial revolution shaped the 20th century. To create a future that amplifies human potential, the full spectrum of human perspective needs to contribute to the design process. This is fundamental to how we are building Robust.AI” explains COO Anthony Jules. 

PR2 robots ‘graduate’ from Willow Garage before going to universities around the world.

We also wanted to highlight the community in robotics with our Champion Award, because as Silicon Valley Robotics Managing Director Andra Keay says, “In robotics, we’re always standing on the shoulders of giants. And many of these contributions go unrecognized outside of the robotics community. We depend on a strong community to help startups cross the chasm to commercialization, and so we want to recognize our Champions, starting with Willow Garage, which was the Fairchild of the 21st century.” 

Willow Garage had a massive impact on robotics in seven short years, from 2006 to 2013. Not only did they produce ROS, now maintained by Open Robotics, but alumni of Willow Garage can be found in the core teams of almost every groundbreaking new robotics company. Some, like Fetch Robotics, winner of our Overall Excellence Award and pioneer in autonomous mobile robots for logistics, achieved the full cycle from startup to ground breaking industry leader in only five short years. By 2018, Fetch Robotics was named a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, and is winner of our Award for Overall Excellence along with Ambidextrous.

Fetch Robotics now produces an entire family of robots. (image from Fetch Robotics)

Ambidextrous looks likely to follow the same successful trajectory as Fetch, but focused on manipulation instead of autonomous mobility. Ambidextrous is spinning out research from the University of California Berkeley, that uses AI and simulation to solve the ‘pick problem’ for handling real world items. At only two years old, Ambidextrous is already piloting solutions for significant customers. Two other UC Berkeley startups made our inaugural award list, Squishy Robotics and Covariant.ai, highlighting the large amount of robotics research happening in the Bay Area, in more than fifty robotics research labs. 

Dr Ayanna Howard, Chair of the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech, soon to be Dean of Engineering at Ohio State University. (image from Dr Howard)

Hopefully, this will lead to more good robots solving global challenges. As one of our Champions, Dr Ayanna Howard says, “I believe that every engineer has a responsibility to make the world a better place. We are gifted with an amazing power to take people’s wishes and make them a reality.”

The full details of the 52 Awardees in the 2020 Silicon Valley Robotics ‘Good Robot’ Industry Awards can be seen at https://svrobo.org/awards . 

Overall Excellence Award:

Fetch Robotics 

Ambidextrous 

Innovation Award:

Eve – Halodi
FHA-C with Integrated Servo Drive – Harmonic Drive LLC
FieldPrinter – Dusty Robotics
Inception Drive – SRI International
nanoScan3 – SICK
QRB5 – Qualcomm
Stretch – Hello Robot
Tensegrity Robots – Squishy Robotics
Titan – FarmWise
Velabit – Velodyne Lidar Inc.

Visionary Award:

Agility Robotics
Built Robotics
Covariant.ai
Cruise
Dishcraft Robotics
Embark
Formant
Iron Ox
Robust.ai
Zipline
Zoox

Commercialization Award:

Canvas
Catalia Health
Haddington Dynamics
Kindred.ai
Matternet
Multiply Labs
OhmniLabs
Simbe Robotics
Ubiquity Robotics

Entrepreneurship Award:

Yateou

Community Champion Award:

Companies:

NASA Intelligent Robotics Group
Open Robotics
PickNik Robotics
Robohub
SICK
Willow Garage (best to see the Red Hat series How to Start a Robot Revolution)

Individuals:

Alex Padilla
Ayanna Howard
Evan Ackerman
Frank Tobe
Henrik Christensen
Joy Buolamwini
Katherine Scott
Khari Johnson
Louise Poubel
Mark Martin
Rodney Brooks
Rumman Chowdhury
Timnit Gebru

About Silicon Valley Robotics

Silicon Valley Robotics (SVR) supports the innovation and commercialization of robotics technologies, as a non-profit industry association. Our first strategic plan focused on connecting startups with investment, and since our founding in 2010, our membership has grown tenfold, reflecting our success in increasing investment into robotics. We believe that with robotics, we can improve productivity, meet labor shortages, get rid of jobs that treat humans like robots and finally create precision, personalized food, mobility, housing and health technologies. For more information, please visit https://svrobo.org

SOURCE: Silicon Valley Robotics (SVR)

PRESS CONTACT: Andra Keay andra@svrobo.org

The gendering of robots is something I’ve found fascinating since I first started building robots out of legos with my brother. We all ascribe character to robots, consciously or not, even when we understand exactly how robots work. Until recently we’ve been able to write this off as science fiction stuff, because real robots were boring industrial arms and anything else was fictional. However, since 2010, robots have been rolling out into the real world in a whole range of shapes, characters and notably, stereotypes. My original research on the naming of robots gave some indications as to just how insidious this human tendency to anthropomorphize and gender robots really is. Now we’re starting to face the consequences and it matters.

Firstly, let’s consider that many languages have gendered nouns, so there is a preliminary linguistic layer of labelling, ahead of the naming of robots, which if not defined, then tends to happen informally. The founders of two different robot companies have told me that they know when their robot has been accepted in a workplace by when it’s been named by teammates, and they deliberately leave the robot unnamed. Whereas some other companies focus on a more nuanced brand name such as Pepper or Relay, which can minimize gender stereotypes, but even then the effects persist.

Because with robots the physical appearance can’t be ignored and often aligns with ideas of gender. Next, there is the robot voice. Then, there are other layers of operation which can affect both a robot’s learning and its response. And finally, there is the robot’s task or occupation and its socio-cultural context.

Names are both informative and performative. We can usually ascribe a gender to a named object. Similarly, we can ascribe gender based on a robot’s appearance or voice, although it can differ in socio-cultural contexts.

Astro Boy original comic and Pepper from SoftBank Robotics

The robot Pepper was designed to be a childlike humanoid and according to SoftBank Robotics, Pepper is gender neutral. But in general, I’ve found that US people tend to see Pepper as female helper, while Asian people are more likely to see Pepper as a boy robot helper. This probably has something to do with the popularity of Astro Boy (Mighty Atom) from 1952 to 1968.

One of the significant issues with gendering robots is that once embodied, individuals are unlikely to have the power to change the robot that they interact with. Even if they rename it, recostume it and change the voice, the residual gender markers will be pervasive and ‘neutral’ will still elicit a gender response in everybody.

This will have an impact on how we treat and trust robots. This also has much deeper social implications for all of us, not just those who interact with robots, as robots are recreating all of our existing gender biases. And once the literal die is cast and robots are rolling out of a factory, it will be very hard to subsequently change the robot body.

Interestingly, I’m noticing a transition from a default male style of robot (think of all the small humanoid fighting, dancing and soccer playing robots) to a default female style of robot as the service robotics industry starts to grow. Even when the robot is simply a box shape on wheels, the use of voice can completely change our perception. One of the pioneering service robots from Savioke, Relay, deliberately preselected a neutral name for their robot and avoided using a human voice completely. Relay makes sounds but doesn’t use words. Just like R2D2, Relay expresses character through beeps and boops. This was a conscious, and significant, design choice for Savioke. Their preliminary experimentation on human-robot interaction showed that robots that spoke were expected to answer questions, and perform tasks at a higher level of competency than a robot that beeped.

Relay from Savioke delivering at Aloft Hotel

Not only did Savioke remove the cognitive dissonance of having a robot seem more human that it really is, but they removed some of the reiterative stereotyping that is starting to occur with less thoughtful robot deployments. The best practice for designing robots for real world interaction is to minimize human expressivity and remove any gender markers. (more about that next).

The concept of ‘marked’ and ‘unmarked’ arose in linguistics in the 1930s, but we’ve seen it play out in Natural Language Processing, search and deep learning repeatedly since then, perpetuating, reiterating and exaggerating the use of masculine terminology as the default, and feminine terminology used only in explicit (or marked) circumstances. Marked circumstances almost always relate to sexual characteristics or inferiority within power dynamics, rather than anything more interesting.

An example of unmarked or default terminology is the use of ‘man’ to describe people, but ‘woman’ to only describe a subset of ‘man’. This is also commonly seen in the use of a female specifier on a profession, ie. female police officer, female president, or female doctor. Otherwise, in spite of there being many female doctors, the search will return male examples, call female doctors he, or miscategorize them as nurse. We are all familiar with those mistakes in real life but had developed social policies to reduce the frequency of them. Now AI and robotics are bringing the stereotype back.

And so it happens that the ‘neutral’ physical appearance of robots is usually assumed to be male, rather than female, unless the robot has explicit female features. Sadly, female robots mean either a sexualized robot, or a robot performing a stereotypically female role. This is how people actually see and receive robots unless a company, like Savioke, consciously refrains from triggering our stereotypically gendered responses.

I can vouch for the fact that searching for images using the term “female roboticists”, for example, always presents me with lots of men building female robots instead. It will take a concerted effort to change things. Robot builders have the tendency to give our robots character. And unless you happen to be a very good (and rich) robotics company, there is also no financial incentive to degender robots. Quite the opposite. There is financial pressure to take advantage of our inherent anthropomorphism and gender stereotypes.

In The Media Equation in 1996, Clifford Reeves and Byron Nass demonstrated how we all attributed character, including gender, to our computing machines, and that this then affected our thoughts and actions, even though most people consciously deny conflating a computer with a personality. This unconscious anthropomorphizing can be used to make us respond differently, so of course robot builders will increasingly utilize the effect as more robots enter society and competition increases.

Can human beings relate to computer or television programs in the same way they relate to other human beings? Based on numerous psychological studies, this book concludes that people not only can but do treat computers, televisions, and new media as real people and places. Studies demonstrate that people are “polite” to computers; that they treat computers with female voices differently than “male” ones; that large faces on a screen can invade our personal space; and that on-screen and real-life motion can provoke the same physical responses.

The Media Equation

The history of voice assistants shows a sad trend. These days, they are all female, with the exception of IBM Watson, but then Watson occupies a different ecosystem niche. Watson is an expert. Watson is the doctor to the rest of our subservient, map reading, shopping list helpful nurses. By default, unless you’re in Arabia, your voice assistant device will have a female voice. You have to go through quite a few steps to consciously change it and there are very few options. In 2019, Q, a genderless voice assistant was introduced, however I can’t find it offered on any devices yet.

And while it may be possible to upload a different voice to a robot, there’s nothing we can do if the physical design of the robot evokes gender. Alan Winfield wrote a very good article “Should robots be gendered?” here on Robohub in 2016, in which he outlines three reasons that gendered robots are a bad idea, all stemming from the 4th of the EPSRC Principles of Robotics, that robots should be transparent in action, rather than capitalizing on the illusion of character, so as not to influence vulnerable people.

Robots are manufactured artefacts: the illusion of emotions and intent should not be used to exploit vulnerable users.

EPSRC Principles of Robotics

My biggest quibble with the EPSRC Principles is underestimating the size of the problem. By stating that vulnerable users are the young or the elderly, the principles imply that the rest of us are immune from emotional reaction to robots, whereas Reeves and Nass clearly show the opposite. We are all easily manipulated by our digital voice and robot assistants. And while Winfield recognizes that gender queues are powerful enough to elicit a response in everybody, he only sees the explicit gender markers rather than understanding that unmarked or neutral seeming robots also elicit a gendered response, as ‘not female’.

So Winfield’s first concern is emotional manipulation for vulnerable users (all of us!), his second concern is anthropomorphism inducing cognitive dissonance (over promising and under delivering), and his final concern is that the all the negative stereotypes contributing to sexism will be reproduced and reiterated as normal through the introduction of gendered robots in stereotyped roles (it’s happening!). These are all valid concerns, and yet while we’re just waking up to the problem, the service robot industry is growing by more than 30% per annum.

Where the growth of the industrial robotics segment is comparatively predictable, the world’s most trusted robotics statistics body, the International Federation of Robotics is consistently underestimating the growth of the service robotics industry. In 2016, the IFR predicted 10% growth for professional service robotics over the next few years from \$4.6 Billion, but by 2018 they were recording 61% growth to \$12.6B and by 2020 the IFR has recorded 85% overall growth expecting revenue from service robotics to hit \$37B by 2021.

It’s unlikely that we’ll recall robots, once designed, built and deployed, for anything other than a physical safety issue. And the gendering of robots isn’t something we can roll out a software update to fix. We need to start requesting companies to not deploy robots that reinforce gender stereotyping. They can still be cute and lovable, I’m not opposed to the R2D2 robot stereotype!

Consumers are starting to fight back against the gender stereotyping of toys, which really only started in the 20th century as a way to extract more money from parents, and some brands are realizing that there’s an opportunity for them in developing gender neutral toys. Recent research from the Pew Research Center found that overall 64% of US adults wanted boys to play with toys associated with girls, and 76% of US adults wanted girls to play with toys associated with boys. The difference between girls and boys can be explained because girls’ role playing (caring and nurturing) is still seen as more negative than boys’ roles (fighting and leadership). But the overall range that shows that society has developed a real desire to avoid gender stereotyping completely.

Sadly, it’s like knowing sugar is bad for us, while it still tastes sweet.

In 2016, I debated Ben Goertzel, maker of Sophia the Robot, on the main stage of the Web Summit on whether humanoid robots were good or bad. I believe I made the better case in terms of argument, but ultimately the crowd sided with Goertzel, and by default with Sophia. (there are a couple of descriptions of the debate referenced below).

Robots are still bright shiny new toys to us. When are we going to realize that we’ve already opened the box and played this game, and women, or any underrepresented group, or any stereotype role, is going to be the loser. No, we’re all going to lose! Because we don’t want these stereotypes any more and robots are just going to reinforce the stereotypes that we already know we don’t want.

And did I mention how white all the robots are? Yes, they are racially stereotyped too. (See Ayanna Howard’s new book “Sex, Race and Robots: How to be human in an age of AI”)

References:

• Should robots be gendered? – Robohub
• Machine Translation: Analyzing Gender – Gendered Innovations (Stanford University)
• The Media Equation: How People Treat Computers, Television, and New Media Like Real People and Places – Byron Reeves and Clifford Nass
• Alexa, Siri, Cortana: The Problem With All-Female Digital Assistants – The Wall Street Journal
• I’d blush if I could: closing gender divides in digital skills through education – UNESCO
• Principles of robotics – EPSRC
• Web Summit: A Debate on Robots and People – IEEE Transmitter
• Should robots look and act like humans? – Keycass on Medium
• Web Summit Lisbon 2016 – Cristina Turbatu
• IFR’s two reports for 2015 show double-digit growth for remainder of decade – The Robot Report
• World Robotics Report: Global Sales of Robots Hit $16.5B in 2018 – Robotics Business Review
• What are Professional Service Robots? – Robotic Industries Association
• How toys became gendered – and why it’ll take more than a gender-neutral doll to change how boys perceive femininity – The Conversation
• Most Americans see value in steering children toward toys, activities associated with opposite gender – Pew Research Center
• Why Are So Many Robots White? Study Shows There’s a Racial Bias – Observer
• Should robots have a gender or ethnicity? One roboticist says no – Marketplace

“Girls are natural engineers, highly capable in maths and physics. We need to show them that these tools can be used to design a better world….So far, we’ve done a poor job of communicating to girls the very powerful impact they can make through an engineering career.” Croft continues, providing us with the inspiration to introduce the second of our new series of Women in Robotics Updates, featuring Elizabeth Croft, Helen Greiner and Heather Knight from our first “25 women in robotics you need to know about” list in 2013.

Elizabeth Croft Dean and Faculty of Engineering at Monash University Elizabeth Croft (featured 2013) is now a Dean and Faculty of Engineering division at Monash University in Australia, advancing human-robot interaction, industrial robotics, trajectory generation and diversity in STEM. Previously she was the Founding Director of the Collaborative Advanced Robotics and Intelligent Systems Laboratory at the University of British Columbia (UBC). As the Marshall Bauder Professor in Engineering Economics, Business and Management Training from 2015-2017, she launched the Master of Engineering Leadership degrees at the UBC. Recognized as one of the 100 most powerful women in Canada in 2014 by Women’s Executive Network, Croft also received the RA McLachlan Peak Career Award for Professional Engineering in the Province of British Columbia, Canada in 2018. She is a fellow of the ASME, Engineers Australia, Engineers Canada, and the Canadian Academy of Engineering. She is also the recipient of other awards such as the Wendy MacDonald Award, Diversity Champion, Vancouver Board of Trade of 2016, and Just Desserts Award of University British Columbia, Alma Mater Society in 2015. She has more than 200 research publications and almost 6000 citations. She is an advocate for women in Engineering and has an exceptional record of propelling women’s representation and participation in engineering. As the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Chair for Women in Science and Engineering (2010-2015), she worked with partners in funding agencies, industry, academe, and the education system on comprehensive strategies to improve women’s participation and retention in the STEM disciplines at all levels. During this period Croft successfully increased female enrollment in Engineering to 30%.

Helen Greiner CEO, Cofounder and Founder of Tertill, iRobot and Cyphy Works Helen Greiner (featured in 2013), is now a founder of Tertill , in addition to founding iRobot and CyPhy Works (aka Aria Insights). Tertill is a solar-powered, weed-snipping robot for home gardens patrolling throughout the day and looks somewhat like an outdoor Roomba, one of the products from iRobot, the world’s first commercially successful consumer robotics product. Greiner has received numerous awards and accolades, including being named an “Innovator for the Next Century” by Technology Review Magazine. She received the DEMO God Award at the DEMO Conference in 2014 and was named a Presidential Ambassador for Global Leadership (PAGE) by US President, Barack Obama and US Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker. She was recognized for leadership in the design, development, and application of practical robots by the National Academy of Engineering, and was named “woman of the year” at Wentworth Institute of Technology in 2018. In 2018, she was also sworn in as a Highly Qualified Expert for the US Army. You can hear her speak in 2021 at the finals of the $2m GoFly competition . As a child Greiner became fascinated by the robots of StarWars, particularly the three-foot-tall spunky R2D2. Says Greiner “He had moods, emotions, and dare I say, his own agenda. This was exciting to me—he was a creature, an artificial creature.” Consistently pioneering in building the helping robots to perform dull, dirty and dangerous jobs and launching robotics into the consumer market since 2008, she says, “If we don’t take robots to the next level, we’ll have a lot of explaining to do to our grandchildren.”

Heather Knight Assistant Professor at Oregon State University Heather Knight, (featured 2013) is now an Assistant Professor in the Computer Science department at Oregon State University and directs the CHARISMA* Research Lab. In CHARISMA Research Lab, she operationalizes methods for the performing arts to make more emotive and engaging robots, exploring minimal social robots, robot ethics, charismatic machines, and multi-robot/multi-human social interaction. Knight has presented a TED talk: Silicon-Based Comedy in 2010 where she demonstrated a robot stand-up comedian “Data” which has gotten almost 1 million views. She was mentioned in Forbes List’s 30 under 30 in Science and named one of AdWeek’s top 100 creatives in 2017. In 2017, she was also a Robotic Artist in Residence at X, the Moonshot Factory. Her installations have been featured at the Smithsonian-Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, TED, Pop! Tech, LACMA, SIGGRAPH, and the Fortezza da Basso in Florence, Italy. She is also the Assistant Director of Robotics at Humanity+ and a fellow at the Hybrid Realities Institute and a National Science Foundation (NSF) Fellow. She is also a founder of Marilyn Monrobot, a robot theater company performing comedy, dance and even Rube Goldberg Machine installations. Here, she successfully organizes the annual ‘Robot Film Festival’ which awards Botskers to various robot films and robot film stars. The film archives make for great viewing.

Want to keep reading? There are 180 more stories on our 2013 to 2020 lists. Why not nominate someone for inclusion next year!

And we encourage #womeninrobotics and women who’d like to work in robotics to join our professional network at http://womeninrobotics.org

In spite of the amazing contributions of women in the field of robotics, it’s still possible to attend robotics conferences or see panels that don’t have a single female face. Let alone seeing people of color represented! Civil rights activist Marian Wright Edelman said that “You can’t be what you don’t see”. Women in Robotics was formed to show that there were wonderful female role models in robotics, as well as providing an online professional network for women working in robotics and women who’d like to work in robotics. We’re facing an incredible skill shortage in the rapidly growing robotics industry, so we’d like to attract newcomers from other industries, as well as inspiring the next generation of girls. Introducing the first of our new series of Women in Robotics Updates, featuring Sarah Bergbreiter, Aude Billard and Cynthia Breazeal from our first “25 women in robotics you need to know about” list in 2013.

Sarah Bergbreiter Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Principle Investigator at the Microrobotics Lab at Carnegie Mellon University Sarah Bergbreiter (featured 2013) as an assistant professor at the University of Maryland and acting director of Maryland Robotics Center has now moved to Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) as a full professor, expanding the frontiers of knowledge pertaining to the actuation, sensing, power, and computational aspects of making tiny robots at Microrobotics lab at CMU. She was made a 2019 Fellow in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) for her significant and critical engineering achievements, active practice, and membership in the organization. She was the winner of the Institute of System Research’s Outstanding Faculty Award in 2017 and received the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) awards from the U.S. Army in 2019. She also made InStyle’s ’50 Badass Women’ list in 2019. “Inspired by Star Wars, the professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon made her first foray into robotics at age 7 or 8. “I tried to build a robot to clean my room,” she recalls, laughing. Now she has loftier goals. Her robots, which can be smaller than an ant and up to the size of a Tic Tac, may eventually be used for microsurgery, search and rescue, and safety inspections for hard-to-reach spaces, like inside jet engines. She doesn’t envision a dystopian world where robots replace humans, however: “You want robots to complement humans.” She has more than 100 publications with almost 1500 citations and her 2014 TED talk about microrobotics has been viewed 1.68 million times. She specializes in micro/nanorobots and has brought impressive capabilities in millimeter-sized jumpers which can overcome obstacles 80x their height. She collaborates with experts from biology, neuroscience, dynamics and other fields to build agile robots with mechanosensors.

Aude Billard Professor and Director of the Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory at EPFL Aude Billard (featured 2013) is now a full professor at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) at the Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory (LASA), teaching robots to perform skills with the level of dexterity displayed by humans in similar tasks. These robots move seamlessly with smooth motions. They adapt adequately and on-the-fly to the presence of obstacles and to sudden perturbations, hence mimicking humans’ immediate response when facing unexpected and dangerous situations. Billard has been nominated for the Outstanding Women in Academia by Swiss National Science Foundation, where she is a member of the Scientific Research Council, and was also nominated to the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences. She is currently the vice president for publication activities of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, the associate editor of the International Journal of Social Robotics, elected president of the EPFL Teaching Body Assembly, and elected president of the EPFL Teachers’ Council. In 2017, Billard received a European Research Council Advanced Grant for Skill Acquisition in Humans and Robots. She is also cofounder of AICA, a young start-up from EPFL, active in the domain of artificial intelligence and robotics, which provides novel software for creating safe and flexible installations of industrial robots, with a modular approach. She specializes in building robots that can interact with, learn from, and help humans. She has also been studying the neural and cognitive processes underpinning imitation learning in humans. She has over 500 publications and more than 18000 citations, and you can watch her plenary talk at AAAI 2020 on ‘Combining Machine Learning and Control for Reactive Robots’.

Cynthia Breazeal Professor and Associate Director at MIT Media Lab | Founder and Director of the Personal Robots Group | Founder, Chief Scientist and Chief Experience Officer at Jibo Cynthia Breazeal (featured 2013) is currently a professor at the MIT Media Lab where she founded and directs the Personal Robots Group. She is also Associate Director of the Media Lab in charge of new strategic initiatives and spearheads MIT’s K-12 education initiative on AI. She is a leading expert in designing personal robots that naturally interact with humans and specializes in balancing AI, UX design, and understanding the psychology of engagement to design personified AI technologies that promote human flourishing and personal growth. Breazeal was recently elected as a Fellow of the AAAI Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence for significant sustained contributions. She has more than 350 publications and 23000 citations, and has spoken at prominent venues such as TED, the World Economic Forum, the UN, SXSW, CES. She was recognized as a Finalist in the National Design Awards. In 2014, she received the George R. Stibitz Computer & Communications Pioneer Award for seminal contributions to the development of Social Robotics and Human Robot Interaction. Breazeal has also been recognized for her entrepreneurship. She is the Founder and Chief Scientist of Jibo, the pioneering crowdfunded social robot featured on the cover of TIME magazine’s 25 Best Inventions of 2017. Her journey with Jibo isn’t over. NTT Disruption is relaunching the robot as an enterprise product in healthcare and education. Breazeal shared her experiences in a recent IROS 2020 plenary ‘Living with Social Robots: from Research to Commercialization and Back’. Make sure you watch the extra feature ‘Jibo Succeeded by Failing’ which includes the classic goodbye. We can’t wait to see the hello.

Want to keep reading? There are 180 more stories on our 2013 to 2020 lists. Why not nominate someone for inclusion next year!

And we encourage #womeninrobotics and women who’d like to work in robotics to join our professional network at http://womeninrobotics.org

We’d like to share the video from our 2020 Ada Lovelace Day celebration of Women in Robotics. The speakers were all on this year’s list, last year’s list, or nominated for next year’s list! and they present a range of cutting edge robotics research and commercial products. They are also all representatives of the new organization Black in Robotics which makes this video doubly powerful. Please enjoy the impactful work of:

Dr Ayanna Howard – Chair of Interactive Computing, Georgia Tech

Dr Carlotta Berry – Professor Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Angelique Taylor – PhD student in Health Robotics at UCSD and Research Intern at Facebook

Dr Ariel Anders – roboticist and first technical hire at Robust.AI

Moderated by Jasmine Lawrence – Product Manager at X the Moonshot Factory

Follow them on twitter at @robotsmarts @DRCABerry @Lique_Taylor @Ariel_Anders @EDENsJasmine

Some of the takeaways from the talk were collected by Jasmine Lawrence at the end of the discussion and include the encouragement that you’re never too old to start working in robotics. While some of the panelists knew from an early age that robotics was their passion, for others it was a discovery later in life. Particularly as robotics has a fairly small academic footprint, compared to the impact in the world.

We also learned that Dr Ayanna Howard has a book available “Sex, Race and Robots: How to be human in the age of AI”

Another insight from the panel was that as the only woman in the room, and often the only person of color too, the pressure was on to be mindful of the impact on communities of new technologies, and to represent a diversity of viewpoints. This knowledge has contributed to these amazing women focusing on robotics projects with significant social impact.

And finally, that contrary to popular opinion, girls and women could be just as competitive as male counterparts and really enjoy the experience of robotics competitions, as long as they were treated with respect. That means letting them build and program, not just manage social media.

You can sign up for Women in Robotics online community here, or the newsletter here. And please enjoy the stories of 2020’s “30 women in robotics you need to know about” as well as reading the previous years’ lists!

Series of protein-based artificial muscles, with performance exceeding that of biological muscle. Other soft robotic parts could include soft grippers and soft actuators. IMAGE: ABDON PENA-FRANCESCH, LEAD AUTHOR OF THE PAPER AND A FORMER DOCTORAL STUDENT IN DEMIREL’S LAB (NOW STARTING HIS OWN GROUP IN UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN).

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Repeated activity wears on soft robotic actuators, but these machines’ moving parts need to be reliable and easily fixed. Now a team of researchers has a biosynthetic polymer, patterned after squid ring teeth, that is self-healing and biodegradable, creating a material not only good for actuators, but also for hazmat suits and other applications where tiny holes could cause a danger.

“Current self-healing materials have shortcomings that limit their practical application, such as low healing strength and long healing times (hours),” the researchers report in today’s (July 27) issue of Nature Materials.

The researchers produced high-strength synthetic proteins that mimic those found in nature. Like the creatures they are patterned on, the proteins can self-heal both minute and visible damage.

“Our goal is to create self-healing programmable materials with unprecedented control over their physical properties using synthetic biology,” said Melik Demirel, professor of engineering science and mechanics and holder of the Lloyd and Dorothy Foehr Huck Chair in Biomimetic Materials at Penn State.

Robotic machines with industrial robotic arms and prosthetic legs have joints that move and require a soft material that will accommodate this movement. So do ventilators and personal protective equipment of various kinds. But, all materials under continual repetitive motion develop tiny tears and cracks and eventually break. Using a self-healing material, the initial tiny defects are repairable before catastrophic failure ensues.

Demirel’s team creates the self-healing polymer by using a series of DNA tandem repeats made up of amino acids produced by gene duplication. Tandem repeats are usually short series of molecules arranged to repeat themselves any number of times. The researchers manufacture the polymer in standard bacterial bioreactors.

“We were able to reduce a typical 24-hour healing period to one second so our protein-based soft robots can now repair themselves immediately,” said Abdon Pena-Francesch, lead author of the paper and a former doctoral student in Demirel’s lab. “In nature, self-healing takes a long time. In this sense, our technology outsmarts nature.”

The self-healing polymer heals with the application of water and heat, although Demirel said that it could also heal using light.

“If you cut this polymer in half, when it heals it gains back 100% of its strength,” said Demirel.

Metin Sitti, director of the Physical Intelligence Department at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart, Germany, and his team were working with the polymer, creating holes and healing them.  They then created soft actuators that, through use, cracked and then healed in real time — about one second.

“Self-repairing, physically intelligent soft materials are essential for building robust and fault-tolerant soft robots and actuators in the near future,” said Sitti.

By adjusting the number of tandem repeats, Demirel’s team created a soft polymer that healed rapidly and retained its original strength, but they also created a polymer that is 100% biodegradable and 100% recyclable into the same, original polymer.

“We want to minimize the use of petroleum-based polymers for many reasons,” said Demirel. “Sooner or later we will run out of petroleum and it is also polluting and causing global warming. We can’t compete with the really inexpensive plastics. The only way to compete is to supply something the petroleum-based polymers can’t deliver and self-healing provides the performance needed.”

Demirel explained that while many petroleum-based polymers can be recycled, they are recycled into something different. For example, polyester t-shirts can be recycled into bottles, but not into polyester fibers again.

Just as the squid that the polymer mimics biodegrades in the ocean, the biomimetic polymer will biodegrade. With the addition of an acid-like vinegar, the polymer will also recycle into a powder that is again manufacturable into the same, soft, self-healing polymer.

“This research illuminates the landscape of material properties that become accessible by going beyond proteins that exist in nature using synthetic biology approaches,” said Stephanie McElhinny, biochemistry program manager in the Army Research Office, an element of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Army Research Laboratory. “The rapid and high-strength self-healing of these synthetic proteins demonstrates the potential of this approach to deliver novel materials for future Army applications, such as personal protective equipment or flexible robots that could maneuver in confined spaces.”

Also working on this project was Huihun Jung, postdoctoral fellow in engineering science and mechanics, Penn State.

The Max Planck Society, the Alexander von Humbolt Foundation, the Federal Ministry for Education and Research of Germany, the U.S. Army Research Office, and the Huck Endowment of the Pennsylvania State University supported this work.

Originally posted as “Soft robotic actuators heal themselves” at Penn State on July 27 2020

The DARPA Subterranean (SubT) Challenge aims to develop innovative technologies that would augment operations underground.

The SubT Challenge allows teams to demonstrate new approaches for robotic systems to rapidly map, navigate, and search complex underground environments, including human-made tunnel systems, urban underground, and natural cave networks.

The SubT Challenge is organized into two Competitions (Systems and Virtual), each with two tracks (DARPA-funded and self-funded).

The Cave Circuit, the final of three Circuit events, is planned for later this year. Final Event, planned for summer of 2021, will put both Systems and Virtual teams to the test with courses that incorporate diverse elements from all three environments. Teams will compete for up to $2 million in the Systems Final Event and up to $1.5 million in the Virtual Final Event, with additional prizes.

Learn more about the opportunities to participate either virtual or systems Team: https://www.subtchallenge.com/

Dr. Timothy Chung – Program Manager

Dr. Timothy Chung joined DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office as a program manager in February 2016. He serves as the Program Manager for the OFFensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics Program and the DARPA Subterranean (SubT) Challenge. His interests include autonomous/unmanned air vehicles, collaborative autonomy for unmanned swarm system capabilities, distributed perception, distributed decision-making, and counter unmanned system technologies.

Prior to joining DARPA, Dr. Chung served as an Assistant Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School and Director of the Advanced Robotic Systems Engineering Laboratory (ARSENL). His academic interests included modeling, analysis, and systems engineering of operational settings involving unmanned systems, combining collaborative autonomy development efforts with an extensive live-fly field experimentation program for swarm and counter-swarm unmanned system tactics and associated technologies.

Dr. Chung holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University. He also earned Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology.

Learn more about DARPA here: www.darpa.mil

During our online series, we heard from roboticists directly helping with all sorts of COVID-19 response, like Gui Cavalcanti of Open Source Medical Supplies and Alder Riley of Helpful Engineering. Both groups are great examples of the incredible power of people working together.

Open Source Medical Supplies (OSMS) was formed in March 2020 to research and disseminate open source plans for medical supplies used to treat and reduce the spread of COVID-19 that could be fabricated locally. Additionally, Open Source Medical Supplies supports, mentors, and guides local communities as they self-organize hospital systems, essential services, professional fabricators, makerspaces, and local governments into resilient, self-supporting supply units.

In its first two months of operation, Open Source Medical Supplies helped organize over 73,000 people in its Facebook group, produced 6 iterations of its Open Source COVID-19 Medical Supply Guide featuring 20 design categories and 90+ curated open source designs, engaged over 200 Local Response groups in 50 countries. OSMS materials are being translated into 40 languages, and OSMS guidance and collaboration platforms have catalyzed volunteers around the world to produce and deliver over 11 million medical supply items to their local communities (as of May 30).

Speakers like Mark Martin from California Community Colleges who started the Bay Area Manufacturers Discussion Forum and Rich Stump from Studio Fathom shared how the manufacturing community was coping with pivoting to making PPE instead of other products, and some of the issues with regulations and the supply chain.

Speakers like Tom Low and Roy Kornbluh from SRI International and Eric Bennett from Frontier Bio talked about redesigning ventilators, including designing robots to teleoperate ventilators. Ventilators are critical in treating COVID-19 but there is also a lack of trained operators, and FDA regulations don’t allow devices to be adapted or changed. And Rachel McCrafty Sadd (aka The Crafty Avenger) from Ace Monster Toys talked about making hundreds thousands of cloth masks and what sort of robots would have been useful.

In general, teleoperation is the trojan horse for adopting robots in workplaces in new ways. People trust a robot being remotely operated much more readily than a fully autonomous one. We spoke to Tra Vu from OhmniLabs and David Crawley of Ubiquity Robotics both of whom produce very affordable mobile bases for telepresence and other use cases, including disinfecting. The demand for both robots is rapidly increasing and people are asking for add-on abilities, like the ability to push a button, or open a door. Not all of these tasks are going to be simple to add but clearly once a hospital, facility or household has successfully used one robot, they are very willing to add more robots.

Rescue robotics expert Robin Murphy, who is Raytheon Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M, IEEE Fellow, ACM Fellow and Chair of the new Robotics for Infectious Diseases Organization joined us on several evenings to share a global tally of robot use cases around the world. Not only did the facts get the discussion going but she shared tips and tricks for how to design and deploy robots successfully in pandemic conditions.

Robotics for Infectious Diseases has launched two new interview series: Series 1 provides information from Public Health, Public Safety and Emergency Management Experts that answer many questions about what and how to deploy technology in a disaster response scenario (like COVID-19). The interviews are intended to give roboticists and robotics startups insights into the problems and requirements for technology in the health sector. Series 2 follows roboticists like Antonio Bicchi and Gangtie Zheng working on COVID-19 applications and describes the lessons learned.

Figure from Robotics for Infectious Diseases Organization

Figure from Robotics for Infectious Diseases Organization

Figure from Robotics for Infectious Diseases Organization

Murphy’s primary research is in artificial intelligence for mobile robots as applied to disaster robotics. She has literally written the book about “Disaster Robotics”. Her analyses have shown that 50% of the terminal failures in disaster robotics are due to human error, so a significant portion of her work is in human-robot interaction. Murphy works with responders and agency stakeholders to determine gaps that lead to the formulation of applied and fundamental research thrusts with her non-profit Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR). Her research group has participated in 27 disasters or incidents and over 35 exercises gathering data spanning urban search and rescue, structural inspection, hurricanes, flooding, mudslides, mine disasters, radiological events, and wilderness search and rescue.

In our COVID-19, robots and us series, we also heard from Sue Keay, the head of Australia’s robotics research cluster and organizer of the Australian Robotics Roadmap about some successful deployments for COVID response, and also disaster scenarios of other sorts, including their 4th place finish in the recent DARPA Subterranean Robotics Challenge.

In the Systems competition of the Urban Circuit, 10 teams navigated two courses winding through an unfinished nuclear power plant in Elma, Washington, Feb. 18-27, 2020. DARPA designed the courses to represent complex urban underground infrastructure. The Virtual competition with eight teams took place Jan. 23-30, with results announced Feb. 27. Teams from eleven countries participated across the Virtual and Systems competitions in the Urban Circuit.

“Teams are under tremendous pressure in the SubT Challenge, not just because of the prize money at stake, but because of the significance of winning a DARPA Grand Challenge, events that have a history of jumpstarting innovation,” said Dr. Timothy Chung, program manager for the Subterranean Challenge in DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office. “At the core of the SubT Challenge is the mission to face an unknown environment and respond to changing situations.”

The focus turns now to the Cave Circuit, set for August 2020. DARPA will announce the location about three months prior to the start of the event. DARPA-funded and self-funded teams compete side-by-side throughout the Subterranean Challenge. Only self-funded teams are eligible for prizes in the Circuit Events, but they must finish in the top six overall for the Systems competition and top five overall for the Virtual competition. All qualified teams are eligible for prizes in the Final Event.

“We knew heading into the Urban Circuit that verticality would be one of the significant obstacles. Teams that traveled between floors, either flying, walking, or rolling, found more artifacts,” said Dr. Chung. “Teams designed their approaches to tackle uncertainty up front, and then toward the end of the Urban Circuit, we saw them put their platforms out there and take more risks, I look forward to seeing how they adapt for the Cave Circuit.”

Finally, if you have experiences to share deploying robots for COVID-19 applications, there is a Call for Papers for a Special Issue of IEEE RAM.

This special issue, edited by the IEEE RAS Special Interest Group on Humanitarian Technologies (SIGHT), aims to present up-to-date results and innovative advanced solutions on how robotics and automation technologies are used to fight the outbreak, giving particular emphasis to works involving the actual deployments of robots with meaningful analysis and lessons learned for the robotics community. The editors will accept both conventional full length contributions and short contributions reporting practical solutions to the problem that have proven effective in the field. The topics of interest for paper submissions include, but are not limited to:

• autonomous or teleoperated robots for hospital disinfection and disinfection of public spaces.
• telehealth and physical human-robot interaction systems enabling healthcare workers to remotely diagnose and treat patients.
• hospital and laboratory supply chain robots for handling and transportation of samples and contaminated materials.
• robots use by public safety and public health departments for quarantine enforcement and public service announcements.
• social robots for families interacting with patients or with relatives in nursing homes.
• robots enabling or assisting humans to return to work or companies to continue to function.
• case studies of experimental use of robots in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Important Dates:

May 2020 – Call for papers
31 July 2020 – Submission deadline
15 September 2020 – First decisions on manuscripts
30 October 2020 – Resubmission
30 November 2020 – Final decisions
10 December 2020 – Final manuscripts uploaded
March 2021 – Publication

Click here for more details.

Talking about racism and its impact on robotics and roboticists was the first conversation in our new monthly online discussion series “Society, Robots and Us” on last Tuesday of the month at 6pm PDT. It was a generous, honest and painful discussion that I hope has left a lasting impact on everyone who listened. There is systemic racism in America, and this does have an impact on robotics and roboticists in many many ways. UPDATE: Black in Robotics has launched on twitter and online https://blackinrobotics.org

The US Senator Elizabeth Warren in conversation today with Alicia Garza from Black Futures Lab said, “America was founded on principles of liberty and freedom, but it was built on the backs of enslaved people. This is a truth we must not ignore. Racism and white supremacy have shaped every crucial aspect of our economy, and our political system for generations now.”

The speakers in ‘Society, Robots and Us’ were Chad Jenkins, Monroe Kennedy III, Jasmine Lawrence, Tom Williams, Ken Goldberg and Maynard Holliday explored the impact of racism in their experiences in robotics, along with explicit information about changes that we all can make. And we discussed learnings for allies and supporters and what a difference support could make. Please listen to the full discussion but Chad Jenkin’s notes capture some of the critical insights.

“I have been in computing for nearly 30 years and a roboticist for over 20 years.  Thus, I have been able to experience firsthand many of the systemic problems that face our field. Let me build on some of the recommendations from the blackincomputing.org open letter and call to action. “

In particular, I believe we can bring equal opportunity to STEM quickly by upholding Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 for institutions receiving federal funding, and public funding more generally.  We now incentivize systemic disparate impacts in STEM.

Like law enforcement, university faculty are asked to do too much. Given our bandwidth limits, we have to make hard choices about what gets our attention and effort.

This creates a dilemma in every faculty member about whether to bolster their own personal advancement (by gaining social acceptance in the establishments of the field that control access to funding, hiring, and publishing through peer review) or further create and extend opportunity to others (taking a professional sacrifice to provide mentorship and empathy to future generations towards broadening participation in the STEM workforce).

It is clear STEM incentivizes the former given systemic exclusion of underrepresented minorities, with disastrous results thus far.

I believe we are a vastly better society with the upholding of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 yesterday by the Supreme Court to prohibit employment discrimination against LGBTQ+ citizens.  Discrimination is wrong.  My hope is that we can apply this same standard and attention for Title VI of this statue to outcomes in STEM. This is not an issue of altruism, it reflects our true values at a nation and affects the quality of our work and its impact on the world.

There are placeholder measures that can be enacted to incentivize equal opportunity.  For example, universities could decline sabbatical and leave requests from faculty seeking to collaborate with companies that have failed to provide equal opportunity, such as OpenAI and Google DeepMind.

To achieve systemic fairness in robotics, however, we must go beyond token gestures to address the causal factors of inequity rooted in the core economic incentives of our universities.  It is universities that are the central ladder to opportunity through the development of future leaders, innovators, and contributors to our society.

We have the tools at hand today to create equal opportunity in STEM.  The question is whether we have the will.

Equal opportunity cannot be true for anyone unless equal opportunity is true for everyone.

Odeste Chadwicke Jenkins, Associate Professor University of Michigan Robotics Institute

Our next episode of “Society, Robots and Us” on June 30 is going to discuss the role and the roll out of killer robots, but we’ll be coming back to talk more about racism, diversity and inclusion in robotics because we’ve only just scratched the surface. Sept 29 episode will be about Open Source Robotics.

In a lively discussion, the speakers weighed in on what key factors for success or failure were most likely in their experience. Andra Keay believes that lack of business fundamentals is the most critical error a young company faces. “There are a lot of resources out there to help startups pitch, value their company, draw up cap tables and divide equity. We’ve never had such a well educated set of founders from that perspective. But still simple business fundamentals bring down startups, whereas serial entrepreneurs know how to avoid a lot of those pitfalls.”

As Eric Klein continued, “We’re entering a golden era for applied robotics. It’s never been easier or cheaper from a technological standpoint to build robotics companies. But from a venture capital perspective there are still business barriers, particularly in understanding the customer’s economics.”

From a wealth of experience at FedEx working with robotics companies, Aaron Prather agrees that customer knowledge and understanding was the most significant point of failure from startups. “One of the things that we’re really big on at FedEx is seeing if you are matching technology to the right use case. How well do you know your customer’s problems and needs?”

According to the whitepaper, the five central themes that are consistent among failed robotics companies are:

• lacking in business fundamentals,
• poor market fit and timing,
• bad user experience and integration,
• misaligned investors and partners
• and focusing on the wrong problem.

Is it the investor or the startup who should take the blame for failure? The panelists all agreed that misalignment is the key issue. Keay said “it’s honestly scary that startups still need to be told to ask their investors questions! It’s not just about getting money, it’s about finding the right partners for your company’s growth. Some investors are hands-on, some are not, which is fine. Startups need to ask questions about what value they’re getting out of the deal.”

According to Klein, “if you don’t have strong business fundamentals or you’re doing all your learning real time, then that’s like driving into the fog of war and hoping to find your way out. Your selection of a venture capitalist is a two way relationship. A serial entrepreneur may say, Hey, I know a lot of what I need to do and what I need is access to silent capital. But for other folks it may be their first time, even if they’re an amazing crew of mechatronics folks coming out of the best schools on a global basis, Waterloo or Tel Aviv or Shenzhen or Sydney. Wherever you come from, your mechatronics degree means you can build the product. And the first risk any venture capitalist is trying to disassemble is engineering risk. But the second equally important risk is product market fit”

The discussion continued with the pros and cons of the Robot-As-A-Service business model, which is becoming very popular in the venture capital community but doesn’t make as much sense for some larger customers, for example like Fedex, who are happy to put robots on the capex budget, not the opex budget. If the customer is always right, then a startup needs to adapt their business model, in spite of push from the investors eager for ARR (annual returning revenue), or similar business models borrowed from the software industry.

Another discussion point was that finding the right metrics for success for each company is still a black art. Is it volume? Is it revenue? Is it number of customers? And the more innovative you are, the harder it might be to arrive at the right metrics. Keay suggested Series C funding as one metric in proxy for number of deployments, and Klein pointed out that in his opinion most robotics startups were seriously undervalued at a Series B and C stage at the moment, because investors don’t yet place sufficient value on the ability to produce multiple physical robots.

Final comments from the panel included request for startups to get in touch. Both Fedex, Lemnos Labs and Silicon Valley Robotics are there to share knowledge that can help startups succeed, and as Klein said, “Between the three of us as panelists we have this collective scar tissue from having done this for a while. And I want you to make spectacular mistakes. Don’t make the silly mistakes I made as an entrepreneur for 20 years, make a new spectacular one. So network in the robotics community.”

We hope you enjoyed this in-depth discussion on the topic of “Why Robotics Companies Succeed or Fail” as much as we did. In case you missed it, we’ve made the webinar recording available for you to watch online! Click here to view the recording.

If you haven’t already, please use this link to download our newest white paper, “Why Robotics Companies Fail,” which provides a deeper exploration into the topics and themes we discussed with our panelists.

From Mexican immigrant to MIT, from Girl Power in Latin America to robotics entrepreneurs in Africa and India, the 2019 annual “women in robotics you need to know about” list is here! We’ve featured 150 women so far, from 2013 to 2018, and this time we’re not stopping at 25. We’re featuring 30 inspiring #womeninrobotics because robotics is growing and there are many new stories to be told.

So, without further ado, here are the 30 Women In Robotics you need to know about – 2019 edition!

Alice Agogino CEO & CTO – Squishy Robotics Squishy robots are rapidly deployable mobile sensing robots for disaster rescue, remote monitoring and space exploration, developed from the research at the BEST Lab or Berkeley Emergent Space Tensegrities Lab. Prof. Alice Agogino is the Roscoe and Elizabeth Hughes Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Product Design Concentration Founder and Head Advisor, MEng Program at the University of California, Berkeley, and has a long history of combining research, entrepreneurship and inclusion in engineering. Agogino won the AAAS Lifetime Mentor Award in 2012 and the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring in 2018.

Danielle Applestone CEO & CoFounder – Daughters of Rosies While working at Otherlab, Danielle Applestone developed the Other Machine, a desktop CNC machine and machine control software suitable for students, and funded by DARPA. The company is now known as Bantam Tools, and was acquired by Bre Pettis. Currently, Applestone is CEO and CoFounder of Daughters of Rosie, on a mission to solve the labor shortage in the U.S. manufacturing industry by getting more women into stable manufacturing jobs with purpose, growth potential, and benefits.

Cindy Bethel Professor and Billie J. Ball Endowed Professorship in Engineering – Mississippi State University Prof. Cindy Bethel’s research at MSU ranges from designing social robots for trauma victims to mobile robots for law enforcement and first responders. She focuses on human-robot interaction, human-computer interaction and interface design, robotics, affective computing, and cognitive science. Bethel was a NSF Computing Innovation Postdoctoral Research Fellow (CIFellow) at Yale University, is the Billie J. Ball Endowed Professorship of Engineering, the Director of the Social, Therapeutic, and Robotic Systems (STaRS) Lab, and is the 2019 U.S. – Australian Fulbright Senior Scholar at the University of Technology, Sydney.

Sonja Betschart Co-Founder & Chief Entrepreneurship Officer – WeRobotics Sonja Betschart is the Co-Founder and Chief Entrepreneurship Officer of WeRobotics, a US/Swiss based non-profit organization that addresses the Digital Divide through local capacity and inclusive participation in the application of emerging technologies in Africa, Latin America, Asia and Oceania. Betschart is a passionate “”Tech for Good”” entrepreneur with a longstanding career in SME’s, multinationals and start-ups, including in the drone industry and for digital transformation initiatives. She holds Master degrees both in Marketing and SME Management and has been voted as one of Switzerlands’ Digital Shapers in 2018.

Susanne Bieller General Secretary – International Federation of Robotics (IFR) Dr. Susanne Bieller is General Secretary, of The International Federation of Robotics (IFR), a non-profit organization representing more than 50 manufacturers of industrial robots and national robot associations from over twenty countries. Before then, Dr Bieller was project manager of the European Robotics Association EUnited Robotics. After completing her PhD in Chemistry, she began her professional career at the European Commission in Brussels, then managed the flat-panel display group at the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) in Frankfurt.

Noramay Cadena Managing Partner – MiLA Capital Noramay Cadena is an engineer, entrepreneur, investor, and former nonprofit leader. She’s the Cofounder and Managing Director of Make in LA, an early stage hardware accelerator and venture fund in Los Angeles. Since launching in 2015, Make in LA’s venture fund has invested over a million dollars in seed stage companies who have have collectively raised over 25 million dollars and created jobs across the United States and in several other countries. Previously Cadena worked in aerospace with The Boeing Company, and cofounded the Latinas in STEM Foundation in 2013 to inspire and empower Latinas to pursue and thrive in STEM fields.

Madeline Gannon Principal Researcher – ATONATON Madeline Gannon is a multidisciplinary designer inventing better ways to communicate with machines. Her recent works taming giant industrial robots focus on developing new frontiers in human-robot relations. Her interactive installation, Mimus, was awarded a 2017 Ars Electronica STARTS Prize Honorable Mention. She was also named a 2017/2018 World Economic Forum Cultural Leader. She holds a PhD in Computational Design from Carnegie Mellon University, where she explored human-centered interfaces for autonomous fabrication machines. She also holds a Masters in Architecture from Florida International University.

Colombia Girl Powered Program Girl Powered – VEX The Girl Powered Program is a recent initiative from VEX and the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation, showcasing examples of how women can change the world, providing tools to enable girls to succeed, and providing safe spaces for them to do it in. Girl Powered focuses on supporting diverse creative teams, building inclusive environments, and redefining what a roboticist looks like.

Verity Harding Co-Lead, DeepMind Ethics and Society – DeepMind Verity Harding is Co-Lead of DeepMind Ethics & Society, a research unit established to explore the real-world impacts of artificial intelligence. The unit has a dual aim: to help technologists put ethics into practice, and to help society anticipate and direct the impact of AI so that it works for the benefit of all. Prior to this Verity was Head of Security Policy for Google in Europe, and previously the Special Adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Sir Nick Clegg MP, with responsibility for Home Affairs and Justice. She is a graduate of Pembroke College, Oxford University, and was a Michael Von Clemm Fellow at Harvard University. In her spare time, Verity sits on the Board of the Friends of the Royal Academy of Arts.

Lydia Kavraki Nora Harding Professor – Rice University Prof. Lydia Kavraki is known for her pioneering works concerning paths for robots, reflected in her influential book Principles of Robot Motion. A professor of Computer Science and Bioengineering at Rice University, she is the developer of Probabilistic Roadmap Method (PRM), a system that uses randomizing and sampling-based motion planners to keep robots from crashing. She’s also the recipient of numerous accolades, including an ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award, an NSF CAREER Award, a Sloan Fellowship and the ACM Athena Award in 2017/2018.

Dana Kulic Professor – Monash University Prof. Dana Kulić develops autonomous systems that can operate in concert with humans, using natural and intuitive interaction strategies while learning from user feedback to improve and individualise operation over long-term use. She serves as the Global Innovation Research Visiting Professor at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, and the August-Wilhelm Scheer Visiting Professor at the Technical University of Munich. Before coming to Monash, she established the Adaptive Systems Lab at the University of Waterloo, and collaborated with colleagues to establish Waterloo as one of Canada’s leading research centers in robotics.

Jean Liu President – Didi Chuxing Jean Liu runs the largest mobility company in China, rapidly innovating in the smart cityscape. A native of China, Liu, 40, studied at Peking University and earned a master’s degree in computer science at Harvard. After a decade at Goldman Sachs, Liu joined Didi in 2014 as chief operating officer. During Liu’s tenure, Didi secured investments from all three of China’s largest internet service companies — Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent. It also bought Uber’s China operations in China and has announced a joint venture with the Japan’s Softbank. Liu is outspoken about the need for inclusion and women’s empowerment, also the role of technology in creating a better society.

Amy Loutfi Professor at the AASS Research Center, Department of Science and Technology – Örebro University Prof. Loutfi is head of the Center for Applied Autonomous Sensor Systems at Örebro University. She is also a professor in Information Technology at Örebro University. She received her Ph.d in Computer Science with a focus on the integration of artificial olfaction on robotic and intelligent systems. She currently leads one of the labs at the Center, the machine perception and interaction lab (www.mpi.aass.oru.se). Her general interests are in the area of integration of artificial intelligence with autonomous systems, and over the years has looked into applications where robots closely interact with humans in both industry and domestic environments.

Sheila McIlraith Professor – University of Toronto Prof. Sheila McIlraith researches knowledge representation and automated reasoning, and is known for her practical contributions to next-generation NASA space systems and to emerging Web standards. She is a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) and an associate editor of the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research (JAIR). In 2018, McIlraith served as program co-chair of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-18). In 2011 she and her co-authors were honoured with the SWSA 10-year Award, recognizing the highest impact paper from the International Semantic Web Conference.

Nancy McIntyre Community Innovation Manager – REC Foundation Nancy McIntyre has a Masters in Education and over 23 years of experience as a science teacher. As a coach and organizer, she has seen the impact of competition robotics programs in preparing young women for a career in STEM, whether it be an aerospace engineer or doing biomedical research. Since 2012, McIntyre has been the Regional Manager of the REC (Robotics Education & Competition) Foundation in the California and Silicon Valley region. Currently, she is also the Community Innovation Manager for the new global Girl Powered program run by VEX and REC Foundation.

Malika Meghjani Assistant Professor – Singapore University of Technology Dr. Meghjani received her PhD degree in Computer Science from McGill University, Canada, then was a Research Scientist and Technical Lead at Autonomous Vehicle Lab within Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART). She was awarded SMART Postdoctoral Fellowship for her research proposals on “Multi-Class Autonomous Mobility-on-Demand System” and “Context and Intention Aware Planning under Uncertainty for Self-Driving Cars”. Her work on “Multi-Target Rendezvous Search”, was nominated as the finalist for the best paper award at IEEE/RSJ IROS. A start-up proposal based on her work, titled, “Multi-Agent Rendezvous on Street Networks”, won her the NSERC Strategic Network Enhancement Initiative Award.

Cristina Olaverri Monreal BMVIT Endowed Professorship and Chair for Sustainable Transport Logistics 4.0 – Johannes Kepler University Prof. Cristina Olaverri-Monreal graduated with a Master’s degree in Computational Linguistics, Computer Science and Phonetics from the Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU) in Munich and received her PhD in cooperation with BMW. She worked several years internationally in industry and academia. Currently she is full professor and holds an BMVIT Endowed Professorship and Chair for Sustainable Transport Logistics 4.0 at Johannes Kepler University Linz, in Austria. Her research in Intelligent Transportation Systems focuses on minimizing the barrier between users and road systems with automation, wireless communication and sensing technologies.

Wendy Moyle Program Director – Menzies Health Institute Prof. Wendy Moyle’s research focus is in the areas of ageing and mental health, specifically neurocognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. Her research aims to achieve the best evidence possible for care of people with dementia and to reduce the distresses of the disease for the individual and their carers. She is internationally recognised for her research with social robots and assistive technologies. In 2012, she was invited to be advise the World Health Organization (WHO) Consultation Group on the Classification of Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms in Neurocognitive disorders for ICD-11. Currently, she is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Plymouth.

Yukie Nagai Project Professor and Director of Cognitive Developmental Robotics Lab – University of Tokyo Prof. Yukie Nagai is Director of the Cognitive Developmental Robotics Lab at the University of Tokyo, where she studies the neural mechanisms of human cognitive development using computational and robotic technologies, designing neural network models for robots to learn to acquire cognitive functions, in order to better understand the causes for social difficulties with among people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Nagai received her Ph.D. in Engineering from Osaka University in 2004, was a Post-Doctoral Researcher with the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) from 2004 to 2006, at Bielefeld University from 2006 to 2009, a Specially Appointed Associate Professor with Osaka University in 2009, and a Senior Researcher with NICT in 2017. Since April 2019, she is a Project Professor with the University of Tokyo.

Temitope Oladokun Robotics Trainer – TechieGeeks Temitope Oladokun is a Robotics Trainer who teaches robotics to high school and primary school students. After finishing her Bachelor of Engineering at the University of Maiduguri, Oladokun has focused on her company TechieGeeks and also volunteer work to alleviate poverty and spread science and techology literacy in Lagos, Nigeria. Since joining #WomenInRobotics, Oladokun is keen to set up mentorships between African students and overseas.

Svetlana Potyagaylo SLAM Algorithm Engineer – Indoor Robotics Svetlana Potyagaylo received her PhD in Aerospace Engineering on Planning and Operational Algorithms for Autonomous Helicopters at Technion-Machon Technologi Le’ Israel. She then developed an underwater autonomous robotic system for inspection and monitoring of aquacultures as part of the research project AQUABOT co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and the Republic of Cyprus, before returning to Technion as a research scientist. Potyagaylo is now an engineer at Indoor Robotics, a stealth mode startup.

Suriya Prabha Founder & CEO YouCode Suriya Prabha is the founder and CEO of YouCode, on a mission to teach rural Indian children AI skills, starting with remote villages and schools in Tamilnadu, India. Her curricula develops computational thinking via play, so robots are an integral part of the AI class. She believes that every small town and village in India should have the opportunity to learn about electronics and coding to help build a Intellectual, Innovative & Incredible India. So far she has trained 2500 students in 25 schools and is campaigning to get an AI lab in all government run schools.

Amanda Prorok Assistant Professor – University of Cambridge Amanda Prorok is a Lecturer in Cyber-Physical Systems at the University of Cambridge, UK. Previously, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception (GRASP) Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania, USA, where she worked on networked robotic systems. Her PhD at EPFL, Switzerland, addressed the topic of localization with ultra-wideband sensing for robotic networks. Her dissertation was awarded the Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) award for the best thesis at EPFL in the fields of Computer Sciences, Automatics and Telecommunications. Further awards include Best Paper Award at DARS 2018, Finalist for Best Multi-Robot Systems Paper at ICRA 2017, Best Paper at BICT 2015, and MIT Rising Stars 2015.

Ellen Purdy Director, Emerging Capabilities & Prototyping Initiatives & Analysis Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense Ellen M. Purdy currently serves as the Director, Emerging Capabilities & Prototyping Initiatives & Analysis in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (R&E). She is responsible for rapid development of fieldable prototypes and capability supporting emerging needs in autonomy, communications, sensing, and electronic warfare, with a focus on assessing resilience of new capabilities against adaptive adversaries. Previously, Purdy served as the Enterprise Director, Joint Ground Robotics where she had oversight of the unmanned ground systems portfolio, strategic planning for ground robotics and the annual RDT&E funding for ground robotic technology development, and where ground robotics inventory grew from under 1000 systems to over 6000 under her tenure.

Signe Redfield Engineer – Naval Research Laboratory Signe A. Redfield is currently working on the DARPA Robotic Servicing of Geostationary Satellites (RSGS) project as the Payload Mission Manager Lead. Prior to joining NRL in 2014, she was an engineer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division in Panama City, Florida, supporting autonomous robotics projects and providing expertise gained during a three-year tour as the Associate Director for Autonomy and Unmanned Systems at the U.S. Office of Naval Research Global (ONRG) in London. She is currently participating in a NATO Research Task Group focused on autonomy in limited-communications environments, and is part of the working group that developed the first IEEE RAS standard, covering core ontologies for robotics and automation.

Marcela Riccillo Specialist in Artificial Intelligence & Robotics – Professor Machine Learning & Data Science Prof. Marcela Riccillo specializes in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. She has more than 15 years of experience in companies like IBM, carrying out consulting projects in predictive analytics, data mining, machine learning, information management and Artificial Intelligence applied to the industry. She was also a robotics columnist for Radio Palermo, part of the Jury in the TV show Eureka of Canal Encuentro, and writes about robotics and AI for popular magazines, courses and seminars. She currently works as a Professor in Data Science and Machine Learning at ITBA.

Selma Sabanovic Associate Professor – Indiana University Bloomington Prof. Selma Sabanovic works in human-robot interaction focusing on the design, use, and consequences of socially interactive and assistive robots in different social and cultural contexts. Sabanovic was a Visiting Professor at Bielefeld University’s Cluster of Excellence Center in Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC), lecturer in Stanford University’s Program in Science, Technology and Society in 2008/2009, and a visiting scholar at the Intelligent Systems Institute in AIST, Tsukuba, Japan and the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.

Maria Telleria Cofounder and CTO – Canvas Maria Telleria is co-founder and CTO of Canvas – a startup making new machines for construction that empower the current workforce to be more productive and free from repetitive, physically taxing, and dangerous tasks. She moved from Mexico when she was 14, and then discovered a passion for robotics through robotics clubs. She studied Mechanical Engineering at MIT, and went on to do a PhD there studying centimeter-scale robotics (tools that can get into small places) and “no barcode” machines (inexpensive, low-energy use robotics feasible for one-time use).

Ann Whittaker Head of People and Culture – Vicarious Surgical Ann Whittaker is Head of People and Culture at Vicarious Surgical. Previously, she was co-founder of Rethink Robotics, and held high-level administration and communications roles in educational, philanthropic and life sciences organizations. Her past affiliations include MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, the David Rockefeller Jr. Family Office, Millennium Pharmaceuticals and PAREXEL International Corporation. Ann holds a Bachelor of Arts from the American University and an MBA from Babson College.

Jinger Zeng Community & Partnership – Auterion Jinger Zeng is a technologist and entrepreneur. A mechanical engineer by training, she led a team in the development of a net-zero solar house that won international awards when she was at University of Nevada Las Vegas. She then co-founded Dronesmith Technologies in 2014, a company that develops drone hardware and software for developers and corporates. She graduated from Women’s Startup Lab and Techstars IoT. Currently, she works for Swiss startup Auterion, which builds open source infrastructure for autonomous robots. Her role is to develop global partnerships bringing state-of-art drone innovations to market.

Want to keep reading? There are 150 more stories on our 2013 to 2018 lists. Why not nominate someone for inclusion next year! Want to show your support in another fashion? Join the fashionistas with your very own #womeninrobotics tshirt, scarf or mug.

And we encourage #womeninrobotics and women who’d like to work in robotics to join our professional network at https://womeninrobotics.org

From driving rovers on Mars to improving farm automation for Indian women, once again we’re bringing you a list of 25 amazing women in robotics! These women cover all aspects of the robotics industry, both research, product and policy. They are founders and leaders, they are investigators and activists. They are early career stage and emeritus. There is a role model here for everyone! And there is no excuse – ever – not to have a woman speaking on a panel on robotics and AI.

But to start, here’s some news about previous nominees (and this is just a sample because we’ve showcased over 125 women so far and this is our 6th year).

In 2013, Melonee Wise was just launching her first startup! Since then she’s raised $48 million USD for Fetch Robotics and Fetch and Freight robots are rolling out in warehouses all over the world! Maja Mataric’s startup Embodied Inc has raised $34.4 million for home companion robots. Amy Villeneuve has moved from President and COO of Kiva Systems, VP at Amazon Robotics to the Board of Directors of 4 new robotics startups. And Manuela Veloso joined the Corporate & Investment Bank J.P. Morgan as head of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research.

In 2014, Sampriti Bhattacharya was a PhD student at MIT, since then she has turned her research into a startup Hydroswarm and been named one of Forbes 30 most powerful young change agents. Noriko Kageki moved from Kawada Robotics Corp in Japan to join the very female friendly Omron Adept Technologies in Silicon Valley.

2015’s Cecilia Laschi and Barbara Mazzolai are driving the Preparatory action for a European Robotics Flagship, which has the potential to become a 1B EUR project. The goal is to make new robots and AIs that are ethically, socially, economically, energetically, and environmentally responsible and sustainable. And PhD candidate Kavita Krishnaswamy. who depends on robots to travel, has received Microsoft, Google, Ford and NSF fellowships to help her design robots for people with disabilities.

2015’s Hanna Kurniawati was a Keynote Speaker at IROS 2018 (Oct 1-5) in Madrid, Spain. As were nominees Raquel Urtasun, Jamie Paik, Barbara Mazzolai, Anca Dragan, Amy Loutfi (and many more women!) 2017’s Raia Hadsell was the Plenary Speaker at ICRA 2018 (May 21-25) in Brisbane, Australia. And while it’s great to see so many women showcased this year at robotics conferences – don’t forget 2015 when the entire ICRA organizing committee  was comprised of women.

ICRA 2015 Organizing Committee

2016’s Vivian Chu finished her Social Robotics PhD and founded the robotics startup Diligent Robotics with her supervisor Dr Andrea Thomaz (featured in 2013). Their hospital robot Moxi was just featured on the BBC . And 2016’s Gudrun Litzenberger was just awarded the Engelberger Award by the RIA, joining 2013’s Daniela Rus. (The RIA is finally recognizing the role of women after we/Andra pointed out that they’d given out 120 awards and only 1 was to a woman – Bala Krishnamurthy in 2007 – and are now also offering grants for eldercare robots and women in robotics.)

We try to cover the whole globe, not just the whole career journey for women in robotics – so we welcome a nominee from Ashesi University in Ghana to this year’s list!  So, without further ado, here are the 25 Women In Robotics you need to know about – 2018 edition!

Crystal Chao Chief Scientist of AI/Robotics – Huawei Crystal Chao is Chief Scientist at Huawei and the Global Lead of Robotics Projects, overseeing a team that operates in Silicon Valley, Boston, Shenzhen, Beijing, and Tokyo. She has worked with every part of the robotics software stack in her previous experience, including a stint at X, Google’s moonshot factory. In 2012, Chao won Outstanding Doctoral Consortium Paper Award, ICMI, for her PhD at Georgia Tech, where she developed an architecture for social human-robot interaction (HRI) called CADENCE: Control Architecture for the Dynamics of Natural Embodied Coordination and Engagement, enabling a robot to collaborate fluently with humans using dialogue and manipulation.

Sougwen Chung Interdisciplinary Artist Sougwen Chung is a Chinese-born, Canadian-raised artist based in New York. Her work explores the mark-made-by-hand and the mark-made-by-machine as an approach to understanding the interaction between humans and computers. Her speculative critical practice spans installation, sculpture, still image, drawing, and performance. She is a former researcher fellow at MIT’s Media Lab and inaugural member of NEW INC, the first museum-led art and technology in collaboration with The New Museum. She received a BFA from Indiana University and a masters diploma in interactive art from Hyper Island in Sweden.

Emily Cross Professor of Social Robotics / Director of SoBA Lab Emily Cross is a cognitive neuroscientist and dancer. As the Director of the Social Brain in Action Laboratory (www.soba-lab.com), she explores how our brains and behaviors are shaped by different kinds of experience throughout our lifespans and across cultures. She is currently the Principal Investigator on the European Research Council Starting Grant entitled ‘Social Robots’, which runs from 2016-2021.

Rita Cucchiara Full Professor / Head of AImage Lab Rita Cucchiara is Full Professor of Computer Vision at the Department of Engineering “Enzo Ferrari” of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, where since 1998 she has led the AImageLab, a lab devoted to computer vision and pattern recognition, AI and multimedia. She coordinates the RedVision Lab UNIMORE-Ferrari for human-vehicle interaction. She was President of the Italian Association in Computer Vision, Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning (CVPL) from 2016 to 2018, and is currently Director of the Italian CINI Lab in Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Systems. In 2018 she was recipient of the Maria Petrou Prize of IAPR

Sanja Fidler Assistant Professor / Director of AI at NVIDIA Sanja Fidler is Director of AI at NVIDIA’s new Toronto Lab, conducting cutting-edge research projects in machine learning, computer vision, graphics, and the intersection of language and vision. She remains Assistant Professor at the Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto. She is recipient of the Amazon Academic Research Award (2017) and the NVIDIA Pioneer of AI Award (2016). She completed her PhD in computer science at University of Ljubljana in 2010, and has served as a Program Chair of the 3DV conference, and as an Area Chair of CVPR, EMNLP, ICCV, ICLR, and NIPS.

Kanako Harada ImPACT Program Manager Kanako Harada, is Program Manager of the ImPACT program “Bionic Humanoids Propelling New Industrial Revolution” of the Cabinet Office, Japan. She is also Associate Professor of the departments of Bioengineering and Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering and the University of Tokyo, Japan. She obtained her M.Sc. in Engineering from the University of Tokyo in 2001, and her Ph.D. in Engineering from Waseda University in 2007. She worked for Hitachi Ltd., Japan Association for the Advancement of Medical Equipment, and Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Italy, before joining the University of Tokyo. Her research interests include surgical robots and surgical skill assessment.

Jessica Hodgins Professor / FAIR Research Mgr and Operations Lead Jessica Hodgins is a Professor in the Robotics Institute and Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University, and the new lead of Facebook’s AI Research Lab in Pittsburgh. The FAIR lab will focus on robotics, lifelong-learning systems that learn continuously, teaching machines to reason and AI in support of creativity. From 2008-2016, Hodgins founded and ran research labs for Disney, rising to VP of Research and leading the labs in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles. She received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University in 1989. She has received an NSF Young Investigator Award, a Packard Fellowship, a Sloan Fellowship, the ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Achievement Award, and in 2017 she was awarded the Steven Anson Coons Award for Outstanding Creative Contributions to Computer Graphics. Her groundbreaking research focuses on computer graphics, animation, and robotics, with an emphasis on generating and analyzing human motion.

Heather Justice Mars Exploration Rover Driver Heather Justice has the dream job title of Mars Exploration Rover Driver, and is a Software Engineer at NASA JPL. As a 16-year-old watching the first Rover landing on Mars, she said: “I saw just how far robotics could take us and I was inspired to pursue my interests in computer science and engineering.” Justice graduated from Harvey Mudd College with a B.S. in computer science in 2009 and an M.S. from the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in 2011, having also interned at three different NASA centers, and working in a variety of research areas including computer vision, mobile robot path planning, and spacecraft flight rule validation.

Sue Keay COO Sue Keay is the Chief Operating Officer of the ACRV and in 2018 launched Australia’s first National Robotics Roadmap at Parliament House. A university medallist and Jaeger scholar, Sue has more than 20 years experience in the research sector, managing and ensuring impact from multidisciplinary R&D programs and teams. She has a PhD in Earth Sciences from the Australian National University and was an ARC post-doctoral fellow at the University of Queensland, before turning to science communication, research management, research commercialisation, and IP management. Keay is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and Chairs the IP and Commercialisation Committee for the Board of the CRC for Optimising Resource Extraction. In 2017, Keay was also named one of the first Superstars of STEM by Science & Technology Australia.

Erin Kennedy Founder Erin Kennedy is a robot maker and the founder of Robot Missions, an organization that empowers communities to embark on missions aimed at helping our planet using robots. She designed and developed a robot to collect shoreline debris, replicable anywhere with a 3D printer. Kennedy studied digital fabrication at the Fab Academy, and worked with a global team at MIT on a forty-eight-hour challenge during Fab11 to build a fully functional submarine. A former fellow in social innovation and systems thinking at the MaRS Discovery District’s Studio Y, Kennedy has been recognized as a finalist in the Lieutenant Governor’s Visionaries Prize (Ontario), and her previous robotic work has been featured in Forbes, Wired, and IEEE Spectrum, and on the Discovery Channel.

Kathrine Kuchenbecker Director at Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems / Associate Professor Katherine J. Kuchenbecker is Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, on leave from the Department of Computer and Information Science at UPenn. Kuchenbecker received her PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University in 2006. She received the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Academic Early Career Award, NSF CAREER Award, and Best Haptic Technology Paper at the IEEE World Haptics Conference. Her keynote at RSS 2018 is online. Kuchenbecker’s research expertise is in the design and control of robotic systems that enable a user to touch virtual objects and distant environments as though they were real and within reach, uncovering new opportunities for its use in interactions between humans, computers, and machines.

Jasmine Lawrence Technical Program Manager – Facebook Jasmine Lawrence currently serves as a Technical Program Manager on the Building 8 team at Facebook, a research lab to develop hardware projects in the style of DARPA. Previously, she served as a Technical Program Manager at SoftBank Robotics where she lead a multidisciplinary team to create software for social, humanoid robots. Before that she was a Program Manager at Microsoft on the HoloLens Experience team and the Xbox Engineering team. Lawrence earned her B.S. in Computer Science, from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and her M.S. in Human Centered Design & Engineering from U of Washington. At the age of 13, after attending a NFTE BizCamp, Jasmine founded EDEN BodyWorks to meet her own need for affordable natural hair and body care products. After almost 14 years in business her products are available at Target, Wal-Mart, CVS, Walgreens, Amazon.com , Kroger, HEB, and Sally Beauty Supply stores just to name a few.

Jade Le Maître CTO & CoFounder – Hease Robotics Jade Le Maître spearheads the technical side of Hease Robotics, a robot catered to the retail industry and customer service. With a background in engineering and having conducted a research project about human-robot interaction, Le Maître found her passion in working in the science communication sector. Since then she has cofounded Hease Robotics to bring the robotics experience to the consumer.

Laura Margheri Programme Manager and Knowledge Transfer Fellow – Imperial College London Laura Margheri develops the scientific program and manages the research projects at the Aerial Robotics Laboratory at the Imperial College London, managing international and multidisciplinary partnerships. Before joining Imperial College, she was project manager and post doc fellow at the BioRobotics Institute of the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna. Margheri has an M.S. in Biomedical Engineering (with Honours) and the PhD in BioRobotics (with Honours). She is also member of the IEEE RAS Technical Committee on Soft Robotics and of the euRobotics Topic Group on Aerial Robotics, with interdisciplinary expertise in bio-inspired robotics, soft robotics, and aerial robotics. Since the beginning of 2014 she is the Chair of the Women In Engineering (WIE) Committee of the Robotics & Automation Society.

Brenda Mboya Undergraduate Student – Ashesi University Ghana Brenda Mboya is just finishing a B.S. in Computer Science at Ashesi University in Ghana. A technology enthusiast who enjoys working with young people, she also volunteers in VR at Ashesi University, with Future of Africa, Tech Era, and as a coach with the Ashesi Innovation Experience (AIX). Mboya was a Norman Foster Fellows in 2017, one of 10 scholars chosen from around the world to attend a one week robotics atelier in Madrid. “Through this conference, the great potential robotics has, especially in Africa, been reaffirmed in my mind.” said Mboya.

Katja Mombaur Professor at the Institute of Computer Engineering (ZITI) – Heidelberg University Katja Mombaur is coordinator of the newly founded Heidelberg Center for Motion Research and full professor at the Institute of Computer Engineering (ZITI), where she is head of the Optimization in Robotics & Biomechanics (ORB) group and the Robotics Lab. She holds a diploma degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Stuttgart and a Ph.D. degree in Mathematics from Heidelberg University. Mombaur is PI in the European H2020 project SPEXOR. She coordinated the EU project KoroiBot and was PI in MOBOT and ECHORD–GOP, and founding chair of the IEEE RAS technical committee on Model-based optimization for robotics. Her research focuses on the interactions of humans with exoskeletons, prostheses, and external physical devices.

Devi Murthy CEO – Kamal Kisan Devi Murthy has a Bachelors degree in Engineering from Drexel University, USA and a Masters in Entrepreneurship from IIM, Bangalore. She has over 6 years of experience in Product Development & Business Development at Kamal Bells, a sheet metal fabrications and components manufacturing company. In 2013 she founded Kamal Kisan, a for-profit Social Enterprise that works on improving farmer livelihoods through smart mechanization interventions that help them adopt modern agricultural practices, and cultivate high value crops while reducing inputs costs to make them more profitable and sustainable.

Sarah Osentoski COO – Mayfield Robotics Sarah Osentoski is COO at Mayfield Robotics, who produced Kuri, ‘the adorable home robot’. Previously she was the manager of the Personal Robotics Group at the Bosch Research and Technology Center in Palo Alto, CA. Osentoski is one of the authors of Robot Web Tools. She was also a postdoctoral research associate at Brown University working with Chad Jenkins in the Brown Robotics Laboratory. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, under Sridhar Mahadevan. Her research interests include robotics, shared autonomy, web interfaces for robots, reinforcement learning, and machine learning. Osentoski featured as a 2017 Silicon Valley Biz Journal “Women of Influence”.

Kirsten H. Petersen Assistant Professor – Cornell University Kirstin H. Petersen is Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. She is interested in design and coordination of bio-inspired robot collectives and studies of their natural counterparts, especially in relation to construction. Her thesis work on a termite-inspired robot construction team made the cover of Science, and was ranked among the journal’s top ten scientific breakthroughs of 2014. Petersen continued on to a postdoc with Director Metin Sitti at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems 2014-2016, and became a fellow with the Max Planck ETH Center for Learning Systems in 2015. Petersen started the Collective Embodied Intelligence Lab in 2016 as part of the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at Cornell University, and has field memberships in Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering.

Kristen Y. Pettersen Professor Department of Engineering Cybernetics – NTNU Kristin Ytterstad Pettersen (1969) is a Professor at the Department of Engineering Cybernetics, and holds a PhD and an MSc in Engineering Cybernetics from NTNU. She is also a Key Scientist at the Center of Excellence: Autonomous marine operations and systems (NTNU AMOS) and an Adjunct Professor at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI). Her research interests include nonlinear control theory and motion control, in particular for marine vessels, AUVs, robot manipulators, and snake robots. She is also Co-Founder and Board Member of Eelume AS, a company that develops technology for for subsea inspection, maintenance, and repair. In 2017 she received the Outstanding Paper Award from IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, and in 2018 she was appointed Member of the Academy of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters.

Veronica Santos Assoc. Prof. of UCLA Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering / Principal Investigator – Director of the UCLA Biomechatronics Laboratory Veronica J. Santos is an Associate Professor in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at UCLA, and Director of the UCLA Biomechatronics Lab. She is one of 16 individuals selected for the Defense Science Study Group (DSSG), a two year opportunity for emerging scientific leaders to participate in dialogues related to US security challenges. She received her B.S. from UC Berkeley in 1999 and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mech. Eng. with a biometry minor from Cornell University in 2007. Santos was a postdoctoral research associate at the Alfred E. Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering at USC where she worked on a team to develop a novel biomimetic tactile sensor for prosthetic hands. She then directed the ASU Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program and ASU Biomechatronics Lab. Santos has received many honors and awards for both research and teaching.

Casey Schulz Systems Engineer – Omron Adept Casey Schulz is a Systems Engineer at Omron Adept Technologies (OAT). She currently leads the engineering and design verification testing for a new mobile robot. Prior to OAT, Schulz worked at several Silicon Valley startups, a biotech consulting firm, and the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Labs.Casey received her M.S in Mech. Eng. from Carnegie Mellon University in 2009 for NSF funded research in biologically inspired mobile robotics. She received her B.S from Santa Clara University in 2008 by building a proof-of-concept urban search and rescue mobile robot. Her focus is the development of new robotics technologies to better society.

Kavitha Velusamy Senior Director Computer Vision – BossaNova Robotics Kavita Velusamy is the Senior Director of Computer Vision at BossaNova Robotics, where she builds robot vision applications. Previously, she was a Senior Manager at NVIDA, where she managed a global team responsible for delivering computer vision and deep learning software for self-driving vehicles. Prior to this, she was Senior Manager at Amazon, where she wrote the “far field” white paper that defined the device side of Amazon Echo, its vision, its architecture and its price points, and got approval from Jeff Bezos to build a team and lead Amazon Echo’s technology from concept to product. She holds a PhD in Signal Processing/Electrical Communication Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science.

Martha Wells Author Martha Wells is a New York Times bestselling author of sci-fi and speculative fiction. Her Hugo award-winning series, The Murderbot Diaries, is about a self-aware security robot that hacks its “governor module”. Known for her world-building narratives, and detailed descriptions of fictional societies, Wells brings an academic grounding in anthropology to her fantasy writing. She holds a B.A. in Anthropology from Texas A&M University, and is the winner of over a dozen awards and nominations for fiction, including a Hugo Award, Nebula Award, and Locus Award.

Andie Zhang Global Product Manager – ABB Collaborative Robotics Andie Zhang is Global Product Manager of Robotics at ABB, where she has full global ownership of a portfolio of industrial robot products, develops strategy for the company’s product portfolio, and drives product branding. Zhang’s previous experience includes 10+ years working for world leading companies in Supply Chain, Quality, Marketing and Sales Management. She holds a Masters in Engineering from KTH in Stockholm. Her focus is on collaborative applications for robots and user centered interface design.

Join more than 700 women in our global online community https://womeninrobotics.org and find or host your own Women in Robotics event locally! Women In Robotics is a grassroots not-for-profit organization supported by Robohub and Silicon Valley Robotics.

And don’t forget to browse previous year’s lists, add all these women to wikipedia (let’s have a Wikipedia Hackathon!), or nominate someone for inclusion next year!

The four-legged design of ANYmal allows the robot to conquer difficult terrain such as gravel, sand, and snow. Photo credit: ETH Zurich / Andreas Eggenberger.

ANYbotics led the way in the ICRA 2018 Robot Launch Startup Competition on May 22, 2018 at the Brisbane Conference Center in Australia. Although ANYbotics pitched last out of the 10 startups presenting, they clearly won over the judges and audience. As competition winners, ANYbotics received a $3,000 prize from QUT bluebox, Australia’s robotics accelerator (currently taking applications for 2018!), plus Silicon Valley Robotics membership and mentoring from The Robotics Hub.

ANYbotics is a Swiss startup creating fabulous four legged robots like ANYmal and the core component, the ANYdrive highly integrated modular robotic joint actuator. Founded in 2016 by a group of ETH Zurich engineers, ANYbotics is a spin-off company of the Robotic Systems Lab (RSL), ETH Zurich.

ANYmal moves and operates autonomously in challenging terrain and interacts safely with the environment. As a multi-purpose robot platform, it is applicable on industrial indoor or outdoor sites for inspection and manipulation tasks, in natural terrain or debris areas for search and rescue tasks, or on stage for animation and entertainment. Its four legs allow the robot to crawl, walk, run, dance, jump, climb, carry — whatever the task requires.

https://youtu.be/lESsdD3o78k

ANYdrive is a highly integrated modular robotic joint actuator that guarantees

• very precise, low-impedance torque control,
• high impact robustness,
• safe interaction,
• intermittent energy storage and peak power amplification

Motor, gear, titanium spring, sensors, and motor electronics are incorporated in a compact and sealed (IP67) unit and connected by a EtherCAT and power bus. With ANYdrive joint actuators, any kinematic structure such as a robot arm or leg can be built without additional bearings, encoders or power electronics.

ANYdrive’s innovative design allows for highly dynamic movements and collision maneuvers without damage from impulsive contact forces, and at the same time for highly sensitive force controlled interaction with the environment. This is of special interest for robots that should interact with humans, such as collaborative and mobile robots.

ICRA 2018 finalists and judges; Roland Siegwart from ETH Zurich, Juliana Lim from SGInnovate, Yotam Rosenbaum from QUT bluebox, Martin Duursma from Main Sequence Ventures and Chris Moehle from The Robotics Hub Fund.

The ICRA 2018 Robot Launch Startup Competition was judged by experienced roboticists, investors and entrepreneurs. Roland Siegwart is a Professor at ETH Zurich’s Autonomous Systems Lab and cofounder of many successful robotics spinouts. Juliana Lim is Head of Talent from SGInnovate, a Singapore venture capital arm specializing in pre-seed, seed, startup, early-stage, and Series A investments in deep technologies, starting with artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics.

Yotam Rosenbaum is the ICT Entrepreneur in Residence at QUT bluebox, building on successful exits from global startups. Martin Duursma is a venture partner in Main Sequence Ventures, Australia’s new innovation fund specializing in AI, robotics and deep tech like biotech, quantum computing and the space industry. Chris Moehle is the managing partner at The Robotics Hub Fund, who may invest up to $250,000 in the overall winner of the Robot Launch Startup Competition 2018.

Organized by Silicon Valley Robotics, the Robot Launch competition is in it’s 5th year and has seen hundreds of startups from more than 20 countries around the globe. The MC for the evening, Silicon Valley Robotics Director Andra Keay, said “Some of the best robotics startups come from places like Switzerland or Australia, but to get funding and to grow fast, they usually need to spend some time in Silicon Valley.”

“The Robot Launch competition allows us to reach startups from all over the world and get them in front of top investors. Many of these startups have gone on to win major events and awards like TechCrunch Battlefield and CES Innovation Awards. So we know that robotics is also coming of age.”

As well as ANYbotics, the other 9 startups gave great pitches. In order of appearance they were:

• Purple Robotics
• Micromelon Robotics
• EXGwear
• HEBI Robotics
• Abyss Solutions
• EyeSyght
• Niska Retail Robotics
• Aubot
• Sevensense

Purple Robotics creates drones for work, which fly for 3x longer than, or carry 3x the payload of existing commercial drones, due to their innovative design. They are not standard quadrocopters but they use the same battery technology. Purple Robotics drones are also gust resistant, providing maximum stability in the air and enabling them to fly closer to structures.

Micromelon creates a seamless integration between visual and text coding, with the ability to translate between the two languages in real time. Students and teachers are able to quickly begin programming the wireless robots. The teacher dashboard and software are designed to work together to assist teachers who may have minimal experience in coding, to instruct a class of students through the transition. Students are able to backtrack to blocks, see how the program looks as text or view both views at once students are able to be supported throughout the entire journey.

EXGwear is currently developing a “hands-free”, intuitive interaction method, in the form of a portable wearable device that is extremely compact, non-obtrusive, and comfortable to wear long hours to help disabled people solve their daily interaction problems with the environment. Our first product, EXGbuds, a customizable earbud-like device is based on patent-pending biosensing technology and machine learning-enabled App. It can measure eye movement and facial expression physiological signals at extremely high accuracy to generate user-specific actionable commands for seamless interaction with the smart IoTs and robotic devices.

HEBI Robotics produces Lego-like robotic building blocks. Our platform consists of hardware and software that make it easy to design, build and program world class robotics quickly. Our hardware platform is robust, flexible, and safe. Our cross-platform software development tools take care of the difficult math that’s required to develop a robot so that the roboticist can focus on the creative aspects of robot design.

Abyss Solutions delivers key innovations in Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) and sensor technology to collect high fidelity, multi-modal data comprehensively across underwater inspections. By pushing the state-of-the-art in machine learning and data analytics, accurate and efficient condition assessments can be conducted and used to build an asset database. The database is able to grow over repeat inspection and the objectivity of the analytics enables automated change tracking. The output is a comprehensive asset representation that can enable efficient risk management for critical infrastructure.

EyeSyght is TV for your fingers. As humans we use our senses to gather and collect information to analyse the environment around us and create a mental picture of our surroundings. But what about touch? When we operate our smartphones, tablets and computers we interact with a flat piece of glass. Now through the use of Haptic Feedback, Electrical Impulses, Ultra Sound, EyeSyght will enable any surface to render Shapes, Textures, Depth, and much much more.

Niska Retail Robotics is reimagining retail, starting with icecream. “Customer demands are shifting away from products and towards services and experiences.” (CSIRO, 2017) Niska creates wonderful customer experiences with robot servers scooping out delicious gourmet icecream for you, 24/7.

Aubot (‘au’ is to meet in Japanese – pronounced “our-bot”) is focused on building robots that help us in our everyday lives. The company was founded in April 2013 by Marita Cheng, Young Australian of the Year 2012. Our first product, Teleport, is a telepresence robot. Teleport will reduce people’s need to travel while allowing them greater freedom to explore new surroundings. In the future, aubot aims to combine Jeva and Teleport to create a telepresence robot with an arm attached.

Sevensense (still based at ETH Zurich Autonomous Systems Lab) provide a visual localization system tailored to the needs of professional service robots. The use of cameras instead of laser rangefinders enables our product to perform more reliably, particularly in dynamic and geometrically ambiguous environments, and allows for a cost advantage. In addition, we offer market specific application modules along with the engineering services to successfully apply our product on the customer’s machinery.

We thank all the startups for sharing their pitches with us – the main hall at ICRA was packed and we look forward to hearing from more startups in the next rounds of Robot Launch 2018.

Magni is a robust mobile platform capable of carrying a payload of over 100 kilos, developed by Ubiquity Robotics. It comes with all the sensors you need for autonomous navigation, indoor or outdoor, has a sophisticated power train, and runs on a Raspberry Pi and ROS. Magni is more than a hobbyist package, you can build commercial applications on the top of the base platform, for food or package delivery, mobile manipulation, kiosk robots or security, inventory…. etc.

Here’s what you get with Magni:

• Payload: 100 kg
• Drive System: 2 x 200 W hub motors, 2 m/s top speed
• Power: 7 A+ 5 V and 7 A+ 12 V DC power
• Computer: Quad-core ARM A9 — Raspberry Pi3
• Software: Ubuntu 16.04, ROS Kinetic
• Camera: Single upward facing
• Navigation: Ceiling fiducial based navigation
• Battery life: With 10 Ah batteries, 8 hours of normal operation. Up to 32 Ah lead acid batteries can be installed, which will provide 24 hours+ of normal operation
• 3D sensor (optional): 2x time of flight cameras, 120 degree field of view

In addition, Ubiquity is offering Loki, a small and more or less affordable learning platform that you can use to develop applications for Magni. The team at Ubiquity Robotics are well known in Silicon Valley as robotics experts and members of the Homebrew Robotics Club.

Misty Robotics also has a great pedigree, as the team is a spin off from Sphero by Orbotix. Sphero and sister/brother robot BB8 have been immensely popular, but cofounder Ian Bernstein felt that it was time to build a personal home robot with more capabilities than a toy. Misty Robotics was formed in 2017 but have kept their robot under wraps until this year — showcasing the first version of Misty 1 as a developer product in January and now releasing Misty 2 as a crowdfunding campaign.

From IEEE Spectrum: One of the things that should set Misty apart is that it’s been designed specifically to be able to perform advanced behaviors without requiring advanced knowledge of robotics. Out of the box, Misty II can:

• Move autonomously as well as dynamically respond to her environment
• Recognize faces
• Create a 3D map of her surroundings
• Perform seeing, hearing, and speaking capabilities
• Receive and respond to commands
• Locate her charger to charge herself
• Display emotive eyes and other emotional characteristics

All of this stuff can be accessed and leveraged if you know how to code, even a little bit. Or even not at all, since Misty can be programmed through Blockly. Misty is a great introduction to the realm of robotics!

Sadly what is also clear is that Misty Robotics has a far greater customer/support base than Ubiquity Robotics because both robots are worth purchasing (albeit for slightly different purchases) but the Ubiquity Robotics campaign hasn’t spread far beyond their Silicon Valley supporter base. I hope the campaign crosses the line because I want my robots!

The 2018 Nissan Leaf receives CES2018 Tech For a Better World Innovation Award.

Cars, cars, cars, cars. CES2018, the Consumer Technology Association’s massive annual expo, was full of self driving electric and augmented cars. Every hardware startup should visit CES before they build anything. It has to be the most humbling experience any small robotics startup could have. CES2018 is what big marketing budgets look like. And as robotics shifts more and more to consumer facing, this is what the competition looks like.

CES2018 covered a massive record breaking 2.75 million net square feet of exhibit space, featuring more than 3,900 exhibitors, including some 900 startups in the Eureka Park Innovation Zone. More than 20,000 products launched at CES 2018.

Whill’s new Model Ci intelligent personal electric vehicle

Robomart’s self driving vehicles will bring you fresh food

“The future of innovation is on display this week at CES, with technology that will empower consumers and change our world for the better,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CTA. “Every major industry is represented here at CES 2018, with global brands and a record-number of startups unveiling products that will revolutionize how we live, work and play. From the latest in self-driving vehicles, smart cities, AI, sports tech, robotics, health and fitness tech and more, the innovation at CES 2018 will further global business and spur new jobs and new markets around the world.”

In 2014, we helped produce a special “Robots on the Runway” event to bring robotics to CES. Fast forward four short years and new robots were everywhere at CES2018, ranging from agbots, tennisbots, drones, robot arms, robot prosthetics and robot wheelchairs, to the smart home companion and security robots.

Tennibot, a Robot Launch 2018 Finalist and CES2018 Innovation Award Winner

Soft Robotics a CES2018 Innovation Award Winner

It was inspiring to see so many Silicon Valley Robotics members or Robot Launch startup competition alumni winning Innovation Awards at CES2018, including Sproutel’s My Aflac Duck, Soft Robotics, Tennibot, Foldimate, Whill, Buddy from Blue Frog Robotics and Omron Adept’s robot playing ping pong.

Buddy from Blue Frog Robotics

For startups the big question is – do you build the car? Or the drone? Or do you do something innovative with the hardware, or create a platform for it? CES2018 is also shifting towards industrial and enterprise facing with their new Smart Cities Marketplace, joining the AI, Robotics, AR & VR marketplaces, and a slew of others.

With some 300,000 NSF of automotive exhibit space, the vehicle footprint at CES makes it the fifth largest stand-alone automotive show in the U.S. and was backed up by conference sessions with politicians and policy makers.

Intel celebrated innovation, explored what’s next for big data and set a Guinness World Record with its Shooting Star Mini Drone show – the most advanced software fleet of 100 drones controlled without GPS by one pilot.

CES2018 was also a little conflicted about the rise of robotics. The marketing message this year was “Let’s Go Humans”, celebrating human augmentation. However, as the second ad panel shows, CTA recognize their main attraction is showcasing the latest technologies, not necessarily the greatest technologies.

And from the looks of crowds around certain exhibits in the CES2018 Innovation Zone, after the carfest that was this year’s CES, all things Quantum will be the next big frontier. But I don’t think you have to be a Goliath at CES2018 to win the hardware market. I was most impressed by a couple of ‘Davids’ not ‘Goliaths’ in my admittedly very short CES2018 tour.

IBM’s quantum computing display at CES2018 Innovation Zone

Vesper’s VM1010 – First ZeroPower Listening MEMS Microphone

For example, Vesper’s VN1010 is the First ZeroPower Listening MEMS Microphone – a piezo electric embedded microphone chip that will allow virtually powerless voice recognition technology. With voice interface being the primary method of communicating with all of these robots and smart devices, then this little chip is worth it’s weight in cryptocurrency.

And there were robot pets everywhere. But forget the robot dogs and robot cats, shiny and metallic, plastic pastel or fur covered and cute as they were. Once again, I’m betting on the David of the field and plugging Petronic’s Mousr. I was as hooked as a feline on catnip when I saw the smart mouse in action. After a succesful Kickstarter, Mousr is now available for preorder with expected delivery in March 2018. I’ve been badly burned ordering robots from crowdfunding campaigns more than once, but I ordered a Mousr anyway.

One of many many robot pets at CES2018. But gorgeous!

Mousr, the tail that wags the cat from Petronics

CES2018 also predicted that the 2018 tech industry revenue will be $351 billion dollars – a 3.9 percent increase over 2017. For the slides and more information, visit here.

Semio from Southern California is a software platform for developing and deploying social robot skills. Ross Mead, founder and CEO of Semio said that “he was greatly looking forward to spending more time with The Robotics Hub, and is excited about the potential for Semio moving forward.”

Apellix from Florida provides software controlled aerial robotic systems that utilize tethered and untethered drones to move workers from harm’s way; such as window washers on skyscrapers (window washing drone, windmill blade cleaning and coating drone), painters on scaffolding (spray painting drone, graffiti removal drone), and workers spraying toxic chemicals (corrosion control).

Robert Dahlstrom, founder and CEO of Apellix said, “As an entrepreneur I strongly believe in startup’s potential to improve lives, create jobs, and make the world a more exciting place. I also know first hand how difficult and challenging a startup can be (an emotional roller coaster ride) and how valuable the work Robot Launch is.”

Mothership Aeronautics from Silicon Valley have a solar powered drone capable of ‘infinity cruise’ where more power is generated than consumed. The drone can perform aerial surveillance and inspection for large scale infrastructures, like pipelines, railways and powerlines. Mothership may also fulfill the ‘warehouse in the sky’ vision that both Amazon and Walmart have tried to patent.

Jonathan Nutzati, founder and CEO of Mothership Aero, accepting his Robot Launch trophy from Michael Harries, Investor at The Robotics Hub.

The other awardees are….

• Kinema Systems, impressive approach to logistical challenges from the original Silicon Valley team that developed ROS.
• BotsandUs, highly awarded UK startup with a beautifully designed social robot for retail.
• Fotokite, smart team from ETHZurich with a unique approach to using drones in large scale venues.
• C2RO, from Canada are creating an expansive cloud based AI platform for service robots.
• krtkl, from Silicon Valley are high end embedded board designed for both prototyping and deployment.
• Tennibot, from Alabama have a well designed tennis ball collecting robot. And it’s portable and it’s cute.

And as mentioned in our previous article, the three startups who won the Robohub Choice award were UniExo, BotsAndUs and Northstar Robotics. All the award winners will be featured on Robohub and get access to the Silicon Valley Robotics accelerator program and cowork space, where the award ceremony took place as part of a larger investor/startup showcase.

The Silicon Valley Robotics cowork space is at the newly opened Circuit Launch, and provides more than 30,000 sq ft of hot desks and office spaces with professional prototyping facilities. Access to the space is for interesting robotics, AI, AR/VR and sensor technologies, and can include access to the Silicon Valley Robotics startup accelerator program.

The other startups that pitched on the day were; Vecna, Twisted Field, RoboLoco, Dash Shipping, Tekuma, Sake Robotics and Kinema Systems.

Not all of the startups were from the Bay Area – Dash flew up from LA, and Vecna/Twisted Field from Boston, while Tekuma came from Australia as part of an Australian government startup program.

Paul Ekas presenting SAKE Robotics

Daniel Theobald presenting Vecna Robotics and Twisted Field

The most popular startup was UniExo with 70.6% of the vote, followed by BotsAndUs on 14.8% and Northstar Robotics on 13.2%.

These three startups will be able to spend time in the Silicon Valley Robotics Accelerator/Cowork Space in Oakland, and we hope to have a feature about each startup on Robohub over the coming year. The overall winner(s) of the Robot Launch 2017 competition will be announced on December 15. The grand prize is investment of up to $500,000 from The Robotics Hub, while all award winners get access to the Silicon Valley Robotics accelerator program and cowork space.

UniExo | ukraine 

UniExo aims to help people with injuries and movement problems to restore the motor functions of their bodies with modular robotic exoskeleton devices, without additional help of doctors.

Thanks to our device, with its advantages, we can help these users in rehabilitation. The use of the product provides free movement for people with disabilities in a comfortable and safe form for them, without the use of outside help, as well as people in the post-opined period, post-traumatic state, being on rehabilitation.

We can give a second chance to people for a normal life, and motivate to do things for our world that can help other people.

https://youtu.be/kjHN35zasvE

BotsAndUs | uk (@botsandus)

BotsAndUs believe in humans and robots collaborating towards a better life. Our aim is to create physical and emotional comfort with robots to support wide adoption.

In May ‘17 we launched Bo, a social robot for events, hospitality and retail. Bo approaches you in shops, hotels or hospitals, finds out what you need, takes you to it and gives you tips on the latest bargains.

In a short time the business has grown considerably: global brands as customers (British Telecom, Etisalat, Dixons), a Government award for our Human-Robot-Interaction tech, members of Nvidia’s Inception program and intuAccelerate (bringing Bo to UK’s top 10 malls), >15k Bo interactions.

https://youtu.be/jrLaoKShKT4

Northstar Robotics | canada (@northstarrobot)

Northstar Robotics is an agricultural technology company that was founded by an experienced farmer and robotics engineer.

Our vision is to create the fully autonomous farm which will address the labour shortage problem and lower farm input costs.  We will make this vision a reality by first providing an open hardware and software platform to allow current farm equipment to become autonomous.  In parallel, we are going to build super awesome robots that will transform farming and set the standard for what modern agricultural equipment should be.

https://youtu.be/o2C4Cx-m2es

Vote for Robohub Choice! (in alphabetic order)

BotsAndUs believe in humans and robots collaborating towards a better life. Our aim is to create physical and emotional comfort with robots to support wide adoption.

In May ‘17 we launched Bo, a social robot for events, hospitality and retail. Bo approaches you in shops, hotels or hospitals, finds out what you need, takes you to it and gives you tips on the latest bargains.

In a short time the business has grown considerably: global brands as customers (British Telecom, Etisalat, Dixons), a Government award for our Human-Robot-Interaction tech, members of Nvidia’s Inception program and intuAccelerate (bringing Bo to UK’s top 10 malls), >15k Bo interactions.

https://youtu.be/jrLaoKShKT4

C2RO (Collaborative Cloud Robotics) has developed a cloud-based software platform that uses real-time data processing technologies to provide AI-enabled solutions for robots. It dramatically augments the perceptive, cognitive and collaborative abilities of robots with a software-only solution that is portable to any cloud environment. C2RO is releasing it’s Beta offering in November 2017, has over 40 organizations signed up for early access, and is currently working with 4 lead customers on HW integrations and joint marketing.

no video

Kinema Systems has developed Kinema Pick, the world’s first deep-learning based 3D Vision system for robotic picking tasks in logistics and manufacturing. Kinema Pick is used for picking boxes off pallets onto conveyors with little a-priori knowledge of the types of boxes and their arrangement on the pallet. Kinema Pick requires minimal training for new boxes. Kinema Pick uses 3D workcell information and motion planning to be self-driving, requiring no programming for new workcells. The founders and employees of Kinema Pick include veterans of Willow Garage, SRI, Apple and KTH who created MoveIt!, ROS-Control, SimTrack and other open-source packages used by thousands of companies, researchers and start-ups around the world.

https://youtu.be/PrQc-od2jeY

The future is here. Mothership’s solar powered airship will enable robotic aerial persistence by serving as a charging/docking station and communications hub for drones. This enables not only a globally connected logistical network with 1 hour delivery on any product or service but also flying charging stations for flying cars. Imagine a Tesla supercharger network in the sky.

Our first stepping stone to this future is a solar powered airship for long range aerial data collection to tackle the troublesome linear infrastructure inspection market.

A vote for mothership is a vote for the Jetsons future we were promised.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsLM8vy7aDo&t=1s

Northstar Robotics is an agricultural technology company that was founded by an experienced farmer and robotics engineer.

Our vision is to create the fully autonomous farm which will address the labour shortage problem and lower farm input costs.  We will make this vision a reality by first providing an open hardware and software platform to allow current farm equipment to become autonomous.  In parallel, we are going to build super awesome robots that will transform farming and set the standard for what modern agricultural equipment should be.

https://youtu.be/o2C4Cx-m2es

BLKTATU Autonomous drone delivery platform using computer vision allowing deliveries to hard to reach places like highrise buildings and apartments. We deliver to where you are, autonomously.

https://youtu.be/2l7x2-xJ2As

Tennibot is the world’s first autonomous ball collector. It perfectly integrates computer vision and robotics to offer tennis players and coaches an innovative solution to a tedious task: picking up balls during practice. The Tennibot saves valuable time that is currently wasted bending over for balls. It allows the user to focus on hitting and let the robot take care of the hard work. Tennibot stays out of the way of players and works silently in an area specified by the user. It also comes with a companion app that gives the user full control of their personal ball boy.

https://youtu.be/BcHl1RKVhaM

UniExo aims to help people with injuries and movement problems to restore the motor functions of their bodies with modular robotic exoskeleton devices, without additional help of doctors.

Thanks to our device, with its advantages, we can help these users in rehabilitation. The use of the product provides free movement for people with disabilities in a comfortable and safe form for them, without the use of outside help, as well as people in the post-opined period, post-traumatic state, being on rehabilitation.

We can give a second chance to people for a normal life, and motivate to do things for our world that can help other people.

https://youtu.be/kjHN35zasvE

Woobo unfolds a world of imagination, fun, and knowledge to children, bringing the magic of a robot companion into children’s life. Relying on cutting-edge robotics and AI technologies, our team is aiming to realize the dream of millions of children – bringing them a fluffy and soft buddy that can talk to them, amuse them, inspire them, and learn along with them. For parents, Woobo is an intelligent assistant with customized content that can help entertain, educate, and engage children, as well as further strengthen the parent-child bond.

https://youtu.be/Z_ip6nigzDg

CAST YOUR VOTE FOR “ROBOHUB CHOICE”

VOTING CLOSES ON SUNDAY DEC 10 AT 6:00 PM [PDT]

A team of judges has shortlisted 25 robotics startups who all deserve mention. Eight startups will be in our public voting which will start on Dec 1st and continue till December 10 on Robohub.org. Also eight startups are currently giving longer pitches to a panel of judges, so that the final winner(s) can be announced at the Silicon Valley Robotics investor showcase on December 14.

The Top 25 in alphabetical order are:

Achille, Inc.
Apellix
Augmented Robots (spin-off from GESTALT Robotics)
Betterment Labs (formerly known as MOTI)
BotsAndUs
C2RO Cloud Robotics
DroidX
Fotokite
Fruitbot, Inc.
Holotron
INF Robotics Inc.
Kinema Systems Inc.
Kiwi Campus
KOMPAÏ robotics
krtkl inc.
Mothership Aeronautics
Northstar Robotics Inc
Rabbit Tractors, Inc
Semio
TatuRobotics PTY LTD
Tennibot
UniExo
Woobo Inc.

The winners of last year’s Robot Launch 2016 startup competition, Vidi Systems, were acquired by Cognex earlier this year for an undisclosed amount. Some of the other finalists have gone on to expo at TechCrunch, and other competitions. Franklin Robotics raised $312,810 in a Kickstarter campaign, more than doubling their target. Business Insider called Franklin’s Tertill weed whacker ‘a Roomba for your garden’.

Modular Science were accepted into YCombinators Summer 2017 intake, and Dash Robotics, the spin off from Berkeley Biomimetics Lab, make the Kamigami foldable toy robots that are now being sold at all major retailers.

This year, the top 8 startups will receive space in the Silicon Valley Robotics Cowork Space @CircuitLaunch in Oakland. The space has lots of room for testing, full electronics lab and various prototyping equipment such as laser cutters, cnc machines, 3d printers. It’s located near Oakland International Airport and is convenient to San Francisco and the rest of Silicon Valley. There are also plenty of meeting and conference rooms. We also hold networking/mentor/investor events so you can connect with the robotics community.

Finalists also receive invaluable exposure on Robohub.org to an audience of robotics professionals and those interested in the latest robotics technologies, as well as the experience of pitching their startup to an audience of top VCs, investors and experts.

Robot Launch is supported by Silicon Valley Robotics to help more robotics startups present their technology and business models to prominent investors. Silicon Valley Robotics is the not-for-profit industry group supporting innovation and commercialization in robotics technologies. The Robotics Hub is the first investor in advanced robotics and AI startups, helping to get from ‘zero to one’ with their network of robotics and market experts.

Learn more about previous Robot Launch competitions here.

Sydney Padua’s Ada Lovelace is a continual inspiration.

At #WebSummit 2017, I was part of a panel on what the future will bring in 2030 with John Vickers from Blue Abyss, Jacques Van den Broek from Randstad and Stewart Rogers from Venture Beat. John talked about how technology will allow humans to explore amazing new places. Jacques demonstrated how humans were more complex than our most sophisticated AI and thus would be an integral part of any advances. And I focused on how the current technological changes would look amplified over a 10–12 year period.

After all, 2030 isn’t that far off, so we have already invented all the tech, but it isn’t widespread yet and we’re only guessing what changes will come about with the network effects. As William Gibson said, “The future is here, it’s just not evenly distributed yet.”

What worries me is that right now we’re worried about robots taking jobs. And yet the jobs at most risk are the ones in which humans are treated most like machines. So I say, bring on the robots! But what also worries me is that the current trend towards a gig economy and micro transactions powered by AI, ubiquitous connectivity and soon blockchain, will mean that we turn individuals back into machines. Just part of a giant economic network, working in fragments of gigs not on projects or jobs. I think that this inherent ‘replaceability’ is ultimately inhumane.

When people say they want jobs, they really mean they want a living wage and a rewarding occupation. So let’s give the robots the gigs.

Here’s the talk: “Life in 2030”
It’s morning, the house gently blends real light tones and a selection of bird song to wake me up. Then my retro ‘Teasmade’ serves tea and the wall changes from sunrise to news channels and my calendar for today. I ask the house to see if my daughter’s awake and moving. And to remind her that the clothes only clean themselves if they’re in the cupboard, not on the floor.

Affordable ‘Pick up’ bots are still no good at picking up clothing although they’re good at toys. In the kitchen I spend a while recalibrating the house farm. I’m enough of a geek to put the time into growing legumes and broccoli. It’s pretty automatic to grow leafy greens and berries, but larger fruits and veg are tricky. And only total hippies spend the time on home grown vat meat or meat substitutes.

I’m proud of how energy neutral our lifestyle is, although humans always seem to need more electricity than we can produce. We still have our own car, which shuttles my daughter to school in remote operated semi autonomous mode where control is distributed between the car, the road network and a dedicated 5 star operator. Statistically it’s the safest form of transport, and she has the comfort of traveling in her own family vehicle.

Whereas I travel in efficiency mode — getting whatever vehicle is nearby heading to my destination. I usually pick the quiet setting. I don’t mind sharing my ride with other people or drivers but I like to work or think as I travel.

I work in a creative collective — we provide services and we built the collective around shared interests like historical punk rock and farming. Branding our business or building our network isn’t as important as it used to be because our business algorithms adjust our marketing strategies and bid on potential jobs faster than we could.

The collective allows us to have better health and social plans than the usual gig economy. Some services, like healthcare or manufacturing still have to have a lot of infrastructure, but most information services can cowork or remote work and our biggest business expense is data subscriptions.

This is the utopic future. For the poor, it doesn’t look as good. Rewind..
It’s morning. I’m on Basic Income, so to get my morning data & calendar I have to listen to 5 ads and submit 5 feedbacks. Everyone in our family has to do some, but I do extra so that I get parental supervision privileges and can veto some of the kid’s surveys.

We can’t afford to modify the house to generate electricity, so we can’t afford decent house farms. I try to grow things the old way, in dirt, but we don’t have automation and if I’m busy we lose produce through lack of water or bugs or something. Everyone can afford Soylent though. And if I’ve got some cash we can splurge on junk food, like burgers or pizza.

My youngest still goes to a community school meetup but the older kids homeschool themselves on the public school system. It’s supposed to be a personalized AI for them but we still have to select which traditional value package we subscribed to.

I’m already running late for work. I see that I have a real assortment of jobs in my queue. At least I’ll be getting out of the house driving people around for a while, but I’ve got to finish more product feedbacks while I drive and be on call for remote customer support. Plus I need to do all the paperwork for my DNA to be used on another trial or maybe a commercial product. Still, that’s how you get health care — you contribute your cells to the health system.

We also go bug catching, where you scrape little pieces of lichen, or dog poo, or insects into the samplers, anything that you think might be new to the databases. One of my friends hit jackpot last year when their sample was licensed as a super new psychoactive and she got residuals.

I can’t afford to go online shopping so I’ll have to go to a mall this weekend. Physical shopping is so exhausting. There are holo ads and robots everywhere spamming you for feedback and getting in your face. You might have some privacy at home but in public, everyone can eye track you, emote you and push ads. It’s on every screen and following you with friendly robots.

It’s tiring having to participate all the time. Plus you have to take selfies and foodies and feedback and survey and share and emote. It used to be ok doing it with a group of friends but now that I have kids ….
Robots and AI make many things better although we don’t always notice it much. But they also make it easier to optimize us and turn us into data, not people.

Ada Lovelace Day on October 10 2017 is a day to celebrate the achievements of women in technology and there was no shortage of women to feature on Robohub’s annual Ada Lovelace Day “25 women in robotics you need to know about” list. (If you don’t see someone you expected then they’ll probably be on next year’s list, or on our first four lists from 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 – please read them too!)

This year we are featuring women from all over the world, including early stage entrepreneurs, seasoned business women, investors, inventors, makers, educators, and organizers; we also feature early career researchers, established academics, senior scientists and politicians. The unifying characteristic of all these women is their inspirational story, their enthusiasm, their fearlessness, their vision, ambition, and accomplishments. Every year we’re inspired and hope that you are too.

It’s been a roller coaster year of tough headlines for tech diversity … In February, engineer Susan Fowler wrote a blog post “Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber. For some it was a wake-up call to the sexual harassment in tech culture, and for others it was just a public confirmation of what was already well-known. A series of high-profile mea culpa’s from male investors and CEOs ensued; then James Damore was fired from Google after implying that biological differences — not sexism — lie behind the gender gap.

It seems negative, but the publicity around bias, harassment and lack of diversity does provide public vindication for women like Susan Fowler, Tracy Chou, Erica Joy Baker and Ellen Pao who took stands against sexism and suffered for it. We’re now starting to see some positive outcomes. For example, Ellen Pao has just released a book, Reset, about her experience suing a prominent venture capital firm for bias and says, “My lawsuit failed. Others won’t.”

This year, Ellen Pao, Tracy Chou, Erica Joy Baker joined other women fighting against sexism and racism in the tech industry by starting Project Include, a non-profit that uses data and advocacy to accelerate diversity and inclusion solutions in the tech industry. Tracy Chou was also named as one of MIT Tech review’s Innovators under 35 alongside some 25 Women in Robotics alumni – Angela Schoellig [2013] and Anca Draga [2016].

Women in robotics still face challenges, even danger, such as Stella Uzochukwu-Denis and her fearless female robotics students face from Boko Haram extremists. And we all face the relentless lack of diversity and general apathy about the gender gap in our daily workplaces.

And yet robotics itself faces huge challenges. We are a very small segment of the very rich tech industry and robotics startups struggle to attract great talent. We have an opportunity to improve our diversity hiring practices to gain more recruits as well as increasing our internal innovation capacity, something that Linda Pouliot of Dishcraft writes about with elegance. As Pouliot notes, if you’re a robotics startup looking to hire, your personal network is your biggest asset — yet another reason for women in robotics to know about each other and to network, like with the Women in Robotics organization.

Speaking of networks, we’re biased towards the countries and careers that we know well. It’s a challenge to provide a representative sample of the wide range of jobs around the world that women are doing in robotics. Perhaps you can help us for next time with more nominations from other regions? Email nominations@womeninrobotics.org with suggestions.

Without further ado, here are 25 women in robotics you should know about (in alphabetical order) for 2017. Enjoy!

Muyinatu Bell Assistant Professor at Johns HopkinsMuyinatu A. Lediju Bell is the director of the Photoacoustic and Ultrasonic Systems Engineering (PULSE) Lab, a highly interdisciplinary research program to engineer and deploy innovative biomedical imaging systems that address unmet clinical needs in neurosurgical navigation, cardiovascular disease, women’s health, cancer detection and treatment.  Before Johns Hopkins, she obtained a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University and spent a year abroad at the Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden Hospital in the UK. Dr Bell is also the recipient of the NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award and was named one of MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35.

Jeanette Bohg Assistant Professor at Stanford and Guest Researcher at Max Planck Institute for Intelligent SystemsJeannette Bohg is an Assistant Professor in Computer Science at Stanford and Guest Researcher at the Autonomous Motion Department of MPI. Her research focuses on perception for autonomous robotic manipulation and grasping, and she is specifically interested in developing methods that are goal-directed, real-time and multi-modal such that they can provide meaningful feedback for execution and learning. Before joining the Autonomous Motion lab in January 2012, she was a PhD student at the Computer Vision and Active Perception lab (CVAP) at KTH in Stockholm. Her thesis on Multi-modal scene understanding for Robotic Grasping was performed under the supervision of Prof. Danica Kragic. She studied at Chalmers in Gothenburg and at the Technical University in Dresden where she received her Master in Art and Technology and her Diploma in Computer Science, respectively.

Maria Chiara Carozza Professor of Biorobotics at Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (SSSUP)After graduating in Physics at the university of Pisa and obtaining a PhD in Engineering, Maria Chiara Carozza became Professor of Biorobotics. She was Director of the Research Department, Coordinator of the SSSUP Laboratory ARTS and elected Rector of SSSUP in 2007. As well as being involved in many EU and multinational projects such as CYBERLEGS, ROBOCASA, WAY, CogLaboration, Nanobiotouch, Evryon, SmartHand, Neurobotics, RobotCub and CyberHand, she is also active in politics. She was Minister of Education, University and Research in the Letta Government developing a national research program and remains active in Italian Parliament. Recipient of many awards, Dr Carozza has published more than 80 ISI publications,130 papers, holds 15 patents and is active in international conferences and professional societies. Her primary interest remain improving conditions for all in society through bioengineering, HRI, humanoid robotics, intelligent environments, prosthetics, tactile sensors and artificial skin.

Helen Chan Wolf Original Shakey Team at SRI InternationalHelen Chan Wolf joined the SRI AI Group in 1966 and worked on Shakey the world’s first mobile autonomous robot. In 2017 Shakey was honored by an IEEE Milestone. Shakey was the first robot to embody artificial intelligence, to perceive its surroundings, deduce facts, make a plan to achieve a goal, navigate from place to place, monitor execution of the plan, and improve through learning. Wolf’s job was to work with the images and extract coordinates for Shakey. Her research papers included scene analysis, image matching and map guided interpretation of remotely sensed images. She was also one of the pioneers of automated facial recognition.

Neha Chaudhry Founder of Walk to Beat / Bristol Robotics Lab IncubatorAfter studying a Masters Degree in Marketing at UWE Bristol, Product Design Engineer Neha Chaudhry went on to develop award winning Walk to Beat. Inspired by her late grandad who suffered from Parkinson’s for 8 years, her product is a robotic walking stick with an innovative technology that gives out pulses in the handle – it’s discreet and looks good, so people feel empowered instead of disabled. She has won five prizes for her work including three awards for entrepreneurship, and the Entrepreneurship award – European Robotics Forum.

Sonia Chernova Assistant Professor at the School of Interactive Computing, Georgia TechSonia Chernova is the Catherine M. and James E. Allchin Early-Career Assistant Professor in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech. She received her Ph.D. and B.S. degrees in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University, and held positions as a Postdoctoral Associate at the MIT Media Lab and as Assistant Professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute prior to joining Georgia Tech. She directs the Robot Autonomy and Interactive Learning (RAIL) lab, working on developing robots that are able to effectively operate in human environments. Her research interests span robotics and artificial intelligence, including semantic reasoning, adjustable autonomy, human computation and cloud robotics.

Maartje De Graaf Postdoctoral Research Associate Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences, Brown UniversityMaartje De Graaf joined Brown’s Humanity Centered Robotics Initiative in 2017 with a Rubicon grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) to investigate the underlying psychological and cognitive processes of how people explain robot behaviors, and whether and how these processes differentiate from how people explain human behaviors. Before starting at Brown University, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Communication Science, University of Twente, The Netherlands. She has a Bachelor of Business Administration in Communication Management, a Master of Science in Communication Studies and a PhD in Human-Robot Interaction.

Kay Firth-Butterfield Project Head for AI and Machine Learning at World Economic Forum / Executive Committee Vice-Chair for IEEE Global Initiative for Ethical Considerations in AI and Autonomous Systems / CoFounder of AI Austin Kay Firth-Butterfield is a Barrister and Judge who works on the societal impact of AI and robotics. She is also a Distinguished Scholar of the Robert E Strauss Center at the University of Texas, where she cofounded the Consortium for Law and Policy of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. She is the former Chief Officer of the Lucid.ai Ethics Advisory Panel and Vice-Chair of The IEEE Global Initiative for Ethical Considerations in AI and Autonomous Systems. Additionally, she is a Partner in the Cognitive Finance group and an adjunct Professor of Law. She advises governments, think tanks, businesses, inter-governmental bodies and non-profits about artificial intelligence, law and policy.

Gabby Frierson aka RoboGabby Student at Cane Bay Middle SchoolGabby is a young middle schooler who posts about building and programming robots as “RoboGabby”. Her goal is to attract more young girls, like herself, to exploring STEM. Gabby shares tutorials on VEX IQ, ROBOTC, Robot Virtual Worlds, Python, Java and is currently shooting some new tutorials. Her sheros are Katherine Johnson and Ayanna Howard who have proved that all girls of color, or just girls in general can be into STEM, robotics and more.

Frances Gabe VALE: 1915-2016 Inventor and roboticistFrances Gabe was a renowned inventor, and a woman ahead of her time. Daughter of a builder, she was happier on the building site than in school “which moved too slow for me”. As an adult she took issue with housework. “Housework is a thankless, unending job,” she told The Ottawa Citizen in 1996. “It’s a nerve-twangling bore. Who wants it? Nobody!” Touring the US speaking to women’s groups, she self funded, and over 15 years, built her prototype house, where she lived for most of her life. She patented 68 different inventions, perhaps most cleverly her insitu dishwashing drawer and clothes laundering cupboards. But by the time she died in Dec 2016 aged 101, few people remembered her passion for automating ‘women’s work’, let alone celebrated her as the world’s first self taught female roboticist.

Simone Giertz aka Queen of Shitty Robots Inventor, Youtuber and DIY Astronaut Simone Giertz started building robots as a child, however it wasn’t the career she had planned, which ranged from studying physics in Stockholm, to being an MMA sports journalist and working on Sweden’s website. She started a youtube channel for her comedy sketches and ended up showing off her ‘shitty robots’ and blowing up the internet. In an interview with Paper she describes how she got tired of being too serious and started to enjoy everything that she did. Now Simone is in San Francisco as a part time host of Tested and continuing her own Youtube. You can support her on Patreon.

Suzanne Gildert CoFounder & CSO of Kindred.AISuzanne Gildert is co-founder and CSO of Kindred AI building personal robots that use machine learning to recognize patterns and make decisions. She oversees the design and engineering of the company’s human-like robots and is responsible for the development of cognitive architectures that allow these robots to learn about themselves and their environments. Before founding Kindred, Suzanne worked as a physicist at D-Wave, designing and building superconducting quantum processors, and as a researcher in quantum artificial intelligence software applications. She received her PhD in experimental physics from the University of Birmingham and likes science outreach, retro tech art, coffee, cats, electronic music and extreme lifelogging. She is a published author of a book of art and poetry.

Raia Hadsell Research Scientist at Google DeepMindRaia Hadsell joined DeepMind in London in early 2014, to extend her research interests in robotics, neural networks, and real world learning systems. After an undergraduate degree in religion and philosophy from Reed College, Raia did a computer science PhD with Yann LeCun, at NYU, focused on machine learning using Siamese neural nets (often called a ‘triplet loss’ today) and on deep learning for mobile robots in the wild. Her thesis, ‘Learning Long-range vision for offroad robots’, was awarded the Outstanding Dissertation award in 2009. She spent a post-doc at CMU Robotics Institute, working with Drew Bagnell and Martial Hebert, and then became a research scientist at SRI International, at the Vision and Robotics group in Princeton, NJ. Her current work focuses on a number of fundamental challenges in AGI, including continual and transfer learning, deep reinforcement learning, and neural models of navigation.

Sarah Hensley MIT EECS Angle Undergraduate Research and Innovation Scholar at MIT & NASASarah Hensley is in the SuperUROP program at MIT which combines her undergraduate and masters EE studies with “real world research” at the Jet Propulsion Lab and the DARPA Robotics Challenge. Sarah is continuing to work on evaluating the force and torque control capabilities of Valkyrie’s series elastic actuators, in readiness for space-related tasks such as opening airlock hatches, attaching and removing power cables, repairing equipment, and retrieving samples.

Anjali Jaiprakash Advance QLD Research Fellow, Australian Center for Robotic Vision QUTAnjali Jaiprakash is a life sciences researcher who embraces novel technologies to solve medical challenges. She has experience in the fields of medical robotics, medical devices, orthopaedics, trauman, bone and cartilage biology, with research in hospital and clinical settings. Anjali is the core scientist for 2 research teams; Developing vision and control systems for robotic knee arthroscopy; and Developing a universal retinal diagnostic system. She was also a finalist for Imperial College London’s 2016 Best Project Award and recipient of the 2017 Tall Poppy Science Award from the Australian Institute of Policy and Science.

Leslie P Kaelbling Panasonic Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and Research Director of CSAIL at MITLeslie Kaelbling has previously held positions at Brown University, the Artificial Intelligence Center of SRI International, and at Teleos Research. She received an A. B. in Philosophy in 1983 and a Ph. D. in Computer Science in 1990, both from Stanford University. Prof. Kaelbling has done substantial research on designing situated agents, mobile robotics, reinforcement learning, and decision-theoretic planning. In 2000, she founded the Journal of Machine Learning Research where she currently serves as editor-in-chief. Prof. Kaelbling is an NSF Presidential Faculty Fellow, a former member of the AAAI Executive Council, the 1997 recipient of the IJCAI Computers and Thought Award, a trustee of IJCAII and a fellow of the AAAI.

Valery Komissarova Hardware VC at Grishin RoboticsValery Komissarova is a robotics investor with Grishin Robotics. Prior to that, she oversaw the internal and external relations at the internet company Mail.Ru Group, which is the biggest player in Eastern Europe, for 4 years, navigating the company’s communication policy through numerous M&As and IPOs as well as fast growth from 300 employees to 3,000. She has an extensive technological background in software engineering and systems architecture and has written books and articles about topics ranging from developing drivers to information security. Valery studied international business and management at Bournemouth University, and she also has a diploma from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and Certificate in IR of the Investor Relations Society UK.

Sharon (Soon Bok) Lee CEO of Robot of the FutureThe first product from Korean startup Robot Of The Future is Windowmate – a robot windowcleaner. CEO Sharon (Soon Bok) Lee founded the company in mid 2014, developed the IP and prototypes and was selected by the Korean Govt for a Silicon Valley Startup Program. Since then, Sharon has been rolling out a global sales campaign starting with Japan and then moving to Europe, with use cases being both residential for high density apartment living and commercial. Sharon brings lengthy experience as a technology manager and CEO to Robot of the Future and was awarded the 2015 VIP ASIA Award for CEOs.

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Wanxi Liu Systems Analyst at Intuitive Surgical and Robotics BloggerWanxi Liu graduated from Stanford as a Mechanical Engineering master in June, 2015, and is currently working at Intuitive Surgical as Systems Analyst (Control/Robotics Engineer). She did her undergraduate in Optical Engineering, but her strong interests in personal assistance or service robots and medical robots lead her to developing robotic simulations, haptics applictions, and mechatronic system design. She also write regular robotics blogs. “For those of you who are interested in robotics, read Chinese, and use WeChat – search for official account ROBOTICS and you’ll find all the interesting articles I wrote about various aspects of robots. Hit Follow if you like them!”

Linda Pouliot CoFounder of Neato & Dishcraft RoboticsLinda Pouliot is a serial entrepreneur with deep expertise in robotics, product management, operations and manufacturing. In 2004 she co-founded Neato Robotics and was VP Product Management and Operations, leading the design, development and manufacturing of Neato’s laser guided vacuum cleaner. The company is now the number two player globally in consumer robotic vacuums. After Neato, Linda became the Chief Operating Officer of Adiri (acquired by ReliaBrand), where she oversaw the redesign and manufacturing of the international award winning Adiri bottle. She then co-founded the game advertising platform Mahoot. Linda is currently the Founder/CEO of Dishcraft Robotics.

Julie Schoenfeld Founder & CEO of StrobeJulie Schoenfeld is a serial entrepreneur, and Founder and CEO of Stobe Inc., a technology company that develops laser-imaging for self-driving cars. Recently acquired by GM for an undisclosed amount, Strobe will be folded into GM’s self-driving subsidiary Cruise Automation. Schoenfeld has been CEO of four other companies in her career and is adept at raising venture capital and navigating aquisitions. Her first company, Net Effect, was acquired by Ask Jeeves for $288 million in stock. More recently she helped Perfect Market navigate its aquisition by Taboola.

Catherine Simon President and Founder of Innorobo / InnoEchoCatherine Simon is the President and Founder of Innorobo, one of Europe’s key events dedicated to the service robotics sector, which brings together robotics companies, laboratories, start-ups, inventors, SMEs and funding providers in order to drive innovation. She also founded InnoEcho, a business strategy consultancy for the new technologies sector. Innorobo began as a regional show in Lyon, France, and recently moved to Paris to reflect its recent growth; the 2017 Innorobo event ran over three days and attracted 170 exhibitors and over 7K visitors.

Raquel Urtasun Assistant Professor at University of Toronto, Head of Uber ATG, Co-Founder of Vector Institute for AIRaquel Urtasun is the Head of Uber ATG Toronto. She is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto, a Canada Research Chair in Machine Learning and Computer Vision and a co-founder of the Vector Institute for AI. She is a world leading expert in machine perception for self-driving cars, and her research interests include machine learning, computer vision, robotics and remote sensing.

Stella Uzochukwu-Denis Program Coordinator at Odyssey Educational FoundationStella Uzochukwu-Denis is an electrical engineer and the founder of The Odyssey Educational Foundation, a Nigerian NGO that provides STEM education and robotics experiences to school children in Abuja – a region of Nigeria where militant attacks have kept hundreds of thousands of children out of school in recent years. The foundation’s main goal is to encourage children, and girls in particular, to pursue careers in science and technology. The foundation has trained well over 450 school age girls since its launch in 2013. “My utlimate goal is to ensure that kids become college-ready, career-ready and world-ready.”

Aimee van Wynsberghe Co-Founder of Foundation for Responsible Robotics, Assistant Professor at Delft University of TechnologyAimee van Wynsberghe is assistant professor of ethics and technology at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. She is co-founder and president of the Foundation for Responsible Robotics. She is also a member of the 4TU center for ethics and technology where she heads the robotics task force. With the help of an NWO personal research grant she is researching how we can responsibly design service robots. Her past research looked at evaluating and designing care robots.

Do you have a story to tell about how visibility helped your robotics career? Would you like to nominate someone for next year’s list? Do you want to help organize Women in Robotics events or join the Women in Robotics network? We’d love to hear from you. Know of any great women in robotics who should be on this list next year? Check the lists from our previous years (2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016), and feel free to leave your nominations in the comments section below, or email us at nominations [at] womeninrobotics.org.

If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:

• 25 women in robotics you need to know about (2013)
• 25 women in robotics you need to know about (2014)
• 25 women in robotics you need to know about (2015)
• 25 women in robotics you need to know about (2016)
• How to hire women from Silicon Valley Robotics
• Five women robotics experts from Silicon Valley share their stories
• Steffi Paepcke on Robots, women and design: Opportunities abound

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Robotics manufacturing in the US will be getting federal support to match business or startup investments via the new Advanced Robotics Manufacturing (ARM) Institute. Perhaps more importantly, the ARM Institute can act as a conduit to connect and amplify robotics innovations between regions of the USA. As the global robotics ecosystem becomes flooded with interest, and investors, any technological lead the USA currently has is rapidly disappearing.

The ARM Institute is now one of 14 Manufacturing USA institutes and the 8th funded by the DOD. Each Manufacturing USA Institute focuses on a technology area critical to future competitiveness – such as additive manufacturing, integrated photonics, or smart sensors.  The federal government has committed over $1 billion, matched by over $2 billion in non-federal investment, across the Manufacturing USA network.

At the time of the launch, the ARM Institute had attracted 267 industry and academic partners, with a commitment of $173 million to be added to the $80 million DOD investment. Of course, this level of funding is not very much when compared to European and Asian investments into advanced manufacturing.

The European SPARC program is the largest research and innovation initiative in civilian robotics in the world. It was launched in 2014 by the joint public-private partnership between the European Commission and the robotics industry and academia. Investments under this joint initiative are expected to reach 2.8 billion euro with 700 million euro in financial investments coming from the European Commission under Horizon 2020 over 7 years.

Image via UK-RAS Network

In 2015, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for a “robotics revolution”, a five-year plan to increase the use of intelligent machines and boost sales. Abe urged companies to “spread the use of robotics from large-scale factories to every corner of our economy and society”, increasing the use of intelligent machines in manufacturing, supply chains, construction, and health care, while expanding robotics sales from 600 billion yen ($6.4 billion) annually to 2.4 trillion yen by 2020. The 2020 Olympics being hosted in Tokyo is also pushing innovation forward rapidly, with plans for Tokyo to have self-driving vehicles, and robots in as many places as possible.

The Korean government is also planning to invest 500 billion won into robotics manufacturing, between 2016 and 2020, in over 80 pilot projects and corporate research centers for robotics manufacturing. After growing at a compound rate of 17 per cent a year, the robot market will be worth $135bn by 2019, according to IDC, a tech research firm, with Asia now accounting for the majority of all robot spending. In 2014, President Xi Jinping of China called for a “robot revolution” that would transform first China, and then the world. “Our country will be the biggest market for robots,” he said in a speech to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, “but can our technology and manufacturing capacity cope with the competition? Not only do we need to upgrade our robots, we also need to capture markets in many places.”

China is now the world’s largest purchaser of industrial robots from overseas, but is now creating Chinese robot manufacturing companies. China is also now the leader in global robotics patent filing. The ARM Institute in the USA will need to use their comparatively small amount of federal grant money with very clear focus in order to maintain competitiveness in the global environment.

“Robotics are increasingly necessary to achieve the level of precision required for defense and other industrial manufacturing needs, “according to the Department of Defense (DOD), “but the capital cost and complexity of use often limits small to mid-size manufacturers from utilizing the technology. The ARM Institute’s mission therefore is to create and then deploy robotic technology by integrating the diverse collection of industry practices and institutional knowledge across many disciplines – sensor technologies, end-effector development, software and artificial intelligence, materials science, human and machine behavior modeling, and quality assurance – to realize the promises of a robust manufacturing innovation ecosystem.”

On June 15, the ARM Institute held an Informational and Technology Review Meeting in Los Angeles for ecosystem partners from all over the US. As one of the industry partners, Silicon Valley Robotics was represented and I’m providing a summary of my notes on the event and presentations. Speakers were; SK Gupta, USC; Howie Choset, ARM Institute; Lisa Masciantonio, ARM Institute; Suzy Teele, ARM Institute; Elena Messina, NIST; Valerie Patrick, Boston Consulting Group; followed by breakout sessions for specific technological areas.

The meeting really had two purposes. The first was to let us know how rapidly the ARM Institute was taking shape in terms of organization, staff and membership structure. While staying faithful to the original mission documents in the proposal of 2016, the Institute is able to start taking formal memberships not just letters of intent. They are still seeking staff for the position of CEO and other vacancies, although some interim positions are simply in the more stringent process of vetting.

And to inform members and potential members of the ARM Institute of the membership process and project application process. It should be noted that the DOD has said that there will also be money assigned to projects outside of the ARM Institute funding, where the company or startup might receive an extension of ARM funding or a completely separate commission.

The other was to align the ARM Institute with the most up-to-date industry challenges. The intention is to develop regional councils and hold regular meetings in order to remain at the forefront of the rapid change in robotics manufacturing innovation and to deliver meaningful assistance. Silicon Valley Robotics members can contact me for a full copy of my notes.

Cobalt Robotics has launched their stylish security robot. The robot was designed by Yves Behar and as a fabric covered robot, it’s putting a new spin on soft robotics! Behar’s goal was to create a robot that didn’t conform to Hollywood stereotypes but instead as an augmentation of human ability and an enhancement to the human environment.

“Creating the right form for Cobalt is crucial to its success. As a service for security and concierge, it becomes part of an office culture. This balance between approachability and discretion became a thematic challenge throughout the design process. We decided that the robot should not adopt a humanoid personality. Instead, it should aesthetically align with the furniture and décor of the office environment. The Cobalt robot’s semi-cylindrical self-driving mechanism, sensors and cameras are covered by a tensile fabric skirt. This helps maximize the access and usability of the internal technologies, creates airflow to prevent overheating, and conveys a soft and friendly persona.” said Behar.

Cobalt Robotics was founded by Travis Deyle and Erik Schluntz, former GoogleX and SpaceX engineers. After a thorough analysis of the various emerging service robotics industries, they focused on the security industry rather than retail, logistics, or hospitality, because the economics made the most sense.

“A fleet of Cobalt robots is comparable to an extremely competent guard with superhuman capabilities and omnipresent situational awareness across an entire organization,” said Cobalt CEO and Co-Founder Travis Deyle.

Security is necessary but it’s often cost prohibitive for companies to provide a 24-hour security presence. The Cobalt robot allows security to have a presence so that they can remote in, see what’s going on, look for intruders, and it also serves a purpose for the employees. If something bad happens, it’s currently on the employee to either call the police or fumble around looking for the security number of their corporate office. Cobalt lets them go up to the robot and immediately get a person to talk to.

“One of the core fundamental values of Cobalt is to enable human-to-machine interactions,” said Erik Schluntz, Cobalt CTO and Co-Founder. “The way we do that is designing a robot to interact with and around people.”

Cobalt worked with world-renowned designer Yves Behar and his company, fuseproject, to define the form and interactions. The balance between approachability and discretion became a thematic challenge throughout the design process.

“As robotics and AI touch more areas of our daily lives, the role of the designer is to make these technologies accessible, augment our abilities and create our best possible future,” says industrial designer Yves Behar. “The Cobalt design is very different in that it is made of fabric and aluminum, an aesthetic more akin to furniture and workspaces than a Hollywood robot.”

Using extremely capable sensors (day-night 360° cameras, thermal cameras, depth cameras, LIDAR, etc.) and cutting-edge algorithms (machine learning, semantic mapping, novelty detection, and deep neural networks), the Cobalt robot detects and flags security-relevant conditions or anomalies — things like people, doors & windows, suspicious items, items that have moved or changed, and water leaks. Bloomberg Beta and Promus Ventures led Cobalt’s seed round, with participation from Haystack, Subtraction Capital, Comet Labs and various individual angel investors.

“Our fund has been searching for the most immediately useful applications of robotics, and Cobalt has found one. We look forward to seeing safer and better workplaces, served by Cobalt,” said Roy Bahat, head of Bloomberg Beta.

Shakey the Robot, the world’s first mobile, intelligent robot, developed at SRI International between 1966-1972, was the first robot to be honored with a prestigious IEEE Milestone in Electrical Engineering and Computing. The IEEE Milestone program honors significant inventions, locations or events related to electrical engineering and computing that have benefitted humanity, and which are at least 25 years old.

“Shakey was groundbreaking in its ability to perceive, reason about and act in its surroundings,” said Bill Mark, Ph.D., president of SRI’s Information and Computing Sciences Division. “We are thrilled that Shakey has received this prestigious recognition from the IEEE as it is a testament to its profound influence on modern robotics and AI techniques even to this day.”

The original Shakey robot is on display at the Computer History Museum where it is the centerpiece of the Artificial Intelligence portion of its “Revolution: The First 2000 Years of Computing” exhibition.  In 1970, Life magazine referred to Shakey as the “first electronic person”, and National Geographic also carried a picture of Shakey in an article on the present uses and future possibilities of computers. Shakey was also inducted into the Carnegie Mellon’s Robot Hall of Fame in 2004.

The Shakey project was initiated by Charles A. Rosen, who envisioned it not just as a “mobile automaton”, but as an experimental platform for integrating all the subfields of artificial intelligence as then understood. Logical reasoning, autonomous plan creation, robust real-world plan execution, machine learning, computer vision, navigation, and communication in ordinary English were integrated in a physical system for the first time. Nils J. Nilsson, Bertram Raphael and Peter E. Hart led the project subsequent to Rosen.

In more specific technical terms, Shakey is historically significant for three distinct reasons: (1) Its control software was structured—a first for robots—in a layered architecture that became a model for subsequent robots; (2) Its computer vision, planning and navigation methods have been used not only in many subsequent robots but in a wide variety of consumer and industrial applications; and (3) Shakey served as an existence proof that encouraged later developers to develop more advanced robots.

The significance of these contributions is captured by an unsolicited quote from James Kuffner, who as of 2016 has led robotics research at Google for seven years. In a private communication, he wrote: “It is truly amazing how both in terms of architecture and algorithms the Shakey project was ahead of its time and became a model for future robot systems for half a century”.

1.1 Layered Control Software for Robots

Shakey’s control software was structured as a multi-level hierarchy with physical actions at the lowest levels, autonomous planning in a middle level, and plan execution (with error recovery) at the top level [Ref. 1: SRI-AIC Tech Note 323]. This design has been adopted by many subsequent robots. An outstanding example is STANLEY, the self-driving vehicle that won the DARPA Grand Challenge in 2005 for driving itself across the Mojave Desert. Sebastian Thrun, the project leader wrote (in a personal communication), “…at the core we had layers just like Shakey. Figure 5 in this paper summarizes the high-level software architecture, which should look familiar.” Ref. 2: Thrun] An inspection of Figure 5 will confirm the layered software design at the core of the “Planning and Control” section.

1.2 Shakey’s Algorithms

Of the many computational methods developed in the course of the Shakey project, three in particular have had long-term impacts on both technology and in the daily lives for all of us.

1.2.1 The “Hough” Transform for Detecting Lines in Images

In 1962 Paul Hough patented a method for detecting co-linear points in images by transforming image points to straight lines in a transform space. His method was not widely used because his transform space is infinite in extent and therefore computationally infeasible. In 1972, Peter E. Hart and Richard O. Duda introduced a new sinusoidal version of the transform that eliminated this difficulty (though they did not rename the transform) [Ref. 3: Hough]. The history of this invention was later documented by Hart. [Ref. 4: Hough History]

Hart’s version of the Hough transform is one of the most widely-used algorithms in computer vision. It has been used for decades in applications like visual inspection in manufacturing. By 2014 it started appearing in automobiles, where it enables a safety feature that alerts the driver if the car is drifting out of lane.

According to Google Scholar, the referenced paper has been cited nearly 5,000 times as of 2015. According to the US Patent and Trademarks Office database, 2,115 US patents reference the Hough Transform by this same date.

1.2.2 STRIPS “Rules”; Real World Plan Execution and Error Recovery

Shakey’s planning system was named STRIPS [Ref. 5: STRIPS] (for Stanford Research Institute Problem Solver). STRIPS represented the logic of actions available to it by a set of three “Rules”: The Pre-conditions, Delete List, and Add List of the action. This representation is a practical solution to a famous problem in Artificial Intelligence called the Frame Problem. STRIPS, and particularly STRIPS Rules, were the basis of many subsequent planning systems, as this quote shows: “…. the STRIPS representation and reasoning framework was used as the basis for most automatic planning research for many years.“ [Ref. 6: STRIPS Retro]

STRIPS plans were “learned” so they could be used in future problems and they also were integrated into a plan execution monitoring and error-recovery system called PLANEX. A seminal paper [Ref. 7: STRIPS.PLANEX] on this system is among the most re-published papers in the history of artificial intelligence, the most recent re-publication occurring more than 20 years after initial publication.[Ref. 8: Re.Pub]

1.2.3 The A* Shortest Path Algorithm

The A* algorithm [Ref. 9: AStar] provably computes the shortest (or in general minimum cost) path through a network, and probably does so with minimum computation (as measured by the number of branch points considered). These attractive properties have made A*, and its later elaborations and variants, the path-finding algorithm of choice for a wide variety of applications. These include computing driving directions (whether by a web service or a car navigation system), planning the paths of characters in video games [Ref. 10: Woodcock], parsing strings, or plotting the path of Mars rover vehicles [Ref. 11: DStar].

By 2015, according to Google Scholar, the referenced A* paper has been cited nearly 5,000 times. By the same date, according to the US Patent and Trademarks Office database, 460 US Patents reference A*.

1.3 Shakey as an Existence Proof for Intelligent Robots

At the 2015 meeting of the International Conference on Robotics and Automation, there was a special session called a Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Shakey. The session included a discussion by a distinguished panel: Prof. Ruzena Bajcsy (UC Berkeley, Director of CITRIS), Rodney Brooks (former head of the CS/AI Lab at MIT, founder of both iRobot and Rethink Robotics), Peter Hart (Shakey project leader and the most-cited author in the field of Robotics according to Google Scholar), Nils Nilsson (Shakey project leader, former Chair of CS at Stanford), James Kuffner (Director of Robotics Research at Google), Prof. Benjamin Kuipers (University of Michigan), and Prof Manuela Veloso (endowed Chair in AI and Robotics at CMU). The panel was asked to name Shakey’s biggest impact or major contribution. The panel’s consensus was that the totality of Shakey—the first physical system with computational abilities to perceive, reason and act—was the single biggest contribution. A video of the panel discussion can also be viewed here.

As cast on a bronze plaque at SRI International, the IEEE Milestone’s citation reads: “Stanford Research Institute’s Artificial Intelligence Center developed the world’s first mobile, intelligent robot, SHAKEY. It could perceive its surroundings, infer implicit facts from explicit ones, create plans, recover from errors in plan execution, and communicate using ordinary English. SHAKEY’s software architecture, computer vision, and methods for navigation and planning proved seminal in robotics and in the design of web servers, automobiles, factories, video games, and Mars rovers.”

References:

http://ieeemilestones.ethw.org/Milestone-Proposal:Shakey:_The_World%E2%80%99s_First_Mobile,_Intelligent_Robot,_1972

https://www.sri.com/work/timeline-innovation/timeline.php?timeline=computing-digital#!&innovation=shakey-the-robot

https://www.sri.com/newsroom/press-releases/sri-internationals-shakey-robot-be-honored-ieee-milestone-computer-history

Read more here.

The largest markets for robots is for when there aren’t any people around. We often call those jobs the dirty, dull and dangerous ones. But then there are devices like CleverPet which play with your dog when you aren’t home. What’s not to love about playing with dogs? And yet there is a huge industry growing up around looking after your pet when you simply aren’t available to do it. CleverPet won the 2015 Robot Launch startup competition and took home 1st place at CES 2016.

In 2017, we are seeing many ‘robots’ advertise themselves as being able to play with your pets or even your children and parents when you aren’t home. What’s really involved in creating a good experience with a smart home robot? CleverPet is very tightly focused in how it delivers value.

Interview with Leo Trottier, Founder & CEO of CleverPet (edited for clarity)

What is CleverPet?

CleverPet Hub is like a game console for dogs. It teaches dogs to play games and keeps them from getting bored so that you can feel better about the time your dog needs to spend alone at home without you. It has three touchpads that light up in colors that your dogs can see, it has a speaker so your dog and hear your voice, and it’s got a microphone so you can hear your dog bark. In the morning, instead of putting your dog’s food in a bowl, you put it in the CleverPet Hub, and then our software gives your dog a single piece of his food when he does the right action for the game. There’s also a mobile app that will teach you how to use the Hub, and that allows you to see your dog’s progress.

I love your description of CleverPet as a game console for dogs. But as someone who’s not a dog owner, it looks rather complicated. How many dogs manage to get past Level 1 on this?

Most dogs are able to get to the final level.

The techniques that we’re using have been used for decades by trainers to teach agility and tricks to dogs. They’ve also been used in university contexts with a variety of other animals: monkeys, birds, cats, mice, flies. We know that, given the right curriculum, most dogs can be taught to touch touchpads in a sequence, though of course some dogs will take longer to learn it than others.

The limiting factor is not the cognitive capacity of the dogs, but their motivation to learn. The problem isn’t getting from Step 5 to Step 10; it’s getting from Step 0 to Step 1, and from Step 1 to Step 2. Those early steps are the most challenging, and it all depends on how curious, food- motivated, fearless, and open-minded the dog is.

This is a challenging UI (user interface) problem, because on the one hand this is a product for interacting with pets, and on the other hand, the product has to interact with the consumer — the person who’s buying it, setting it up, and monitoring it.

Can you describe a little bit about each of these two streams?

Both the person and the dog have to learn a sequence of actions, and at first, the progress is gated primarily by what the dog is able to do at any given point in time.

In the beginning, it’s easier for a human to understand what the goal of the sequence is, because we can use words to describe to a person what the dog should be doing. For example: “Right now we’re teaching the dog to use these touchpads.”

It’s trickier for the dog. People sometimes overestimate what their dog can actually understand, and so they might do things like grab their dog’s paw and put it onto the touchpad.

But we don’t want people to interfere with the learning that their dog is doing because if the dog develops a negative association with using the Hub, it will set the whole learning process back. On the other hand, if this is something that the dog discovers on his own, then he is likely to associate the Hub instead with a new thing that he can do in the world, and that is interesting and exciting to him.

Is there a significant population of pet owners who feel that their pets need something like CleverPet?

We know that there are people who feel bad about needing to leave their dog alone at home. I have hundreds of quotes from people saying things like, “My dog has separation anxiety and I can’t afford dog daycare. I feel horrible about it, and I wish I could give him something to do during the day.” That’s the ‘why buy?’— the thing that everyone can understand, and why most people make the initial purchase.

But what is much more interesting and powerful is the excitement of having a new way to interact with your dog. Most people have a very relatively small area of potential interaction with their dog because it only consists of the times when they can be together (which is intrinsically limited) and because there is no data associated with it. But by adding data, adding more time, and also adding insight through analytics, we can greatly expand the interaction surface in a way that I think people who love their dogs and are desperate to understand them better will find deeply exciting.

People love talking about their dogs and showing pictures of them. But now they’re not just going to be showing you pictures, they’re going to be showing you pictures and data and charts and explanations about when their dog leveled up, and why they do well on particular days and not other days, and what kind of progress their dog is making. We’re really excited about developing fodder for this kind of conversation — it will be the reason why we go from being a company that is selling a hundred thousand CleverPet Hubs to one that is selling tens of millions.

Are you able to extrapolate information about the mood of pets from this?

With this version of the Hub, we’ll be able to make indirect inferences about mood. For example, by looking at how active or inactive the dog is, especially as compared with previous days, we can recognize whether he’s feeling high energy or low energy, which might imply an underlying health issue.

Other pet devices are either tele-operated or pure auto-feed or auto-play. CleverPet stands out by having a smart interaction that adapts to the individual animal. Can you tell us more?

The key thing that we’ve got is this combination of input from the person, input from the dog, and all of that is through a flexible interface that is the source of a good chunk of the dog’s food for the day. All this is fed into a framework that allows for relatively sensitive analysis and adaptation.

What’s great about computerized interaction is you can be extremely precise: you can provide the feedback at exactly the right time and you can be extremely consistent. In other words, you only provide the feedback when the animal does the right thing, and that is something that humans are notoriously bad at.

Computerized interaction also provides great memory, so you can look at what the dog did last week, or yesterday, or ten minutes ago, and you can precisely change the way the feedback works based on all that information.

Finally, you can provide the interaction all the time — over the course of thousands of hours a year, rather than merely an hour a day. And this lets you become a fixture in the dog’s world.

These techniques are well developed in neuroscience and cognitive science, but the potential for computerized interaction with animals is not commonly understood. I did four or five years of cognitive science before I knew that this was available.

What led you from Cognitive Science to CleverPet? And why choose animal behavior rather than impacting human behavior?

If you asked someone what makes humans special, as compared to other animals, they’ll say: insight, creativity, reason. But anthropologists will say that what made the development of humanity possible over the last 20,000 years are technological developments — like agriculture, science and the development of writing — that allowed us the luxury to develop our insight, creativity and reason.

But if technology enabled humans to make these big advancements, what could technology make possible for animals? Especially animals as cognitively sophisticated as dogs appear to be?

Now, the counter-argument to that is you look at the performance of babies, at 1 and 2 years old, and compare them to the performances of dogs, and there are things that babies can do that dogs can’t and you can’t attribute the cognitive performance of babies to technological development. There’s a kind of recursive property of trained ability and connections that exist between mother and child, and it might just be that we don’t know what the inputs are to dogs in order to mold their behavior and elevate their performance.

There are dogs that seem to have some very sophisticated abilities, and so in the same way that there are humans that can do physics, although they’re in the minority, I believe there’s likely the same amount of heterogeneity in dogs and so that means there’s also potential for us to develop specialization, potentially, in dogs, that gives them additional ability, as much as there’s specialization in people. There are these huge generalizations that people tend to make, about human ability and dog ability, and I think those are all wrong- headed for the most part, because there’s massive amounts of individual difference.

When did you launch the first CleverPet prototypes into the wild, as it were, and what have you learned along the way?

We did a lot of internal work ourselves. Last summer we set ourselves a rigorous program of sending three CleverPet Hubs out every Friday, for about 12 weeks, and we learned a lot there. There’s still much more to learn: a lot of the value that will develop around this technology has yet to be invented, yet to be developed, yet to be written. But it can only really be developed once this product on the market, and sold. We now have a bunch of CleverPet Hubs coming in from China that we’re very excited about, and we’ll be distributing them so we can begin the next stage of learning. Note – Since this interview the first batch of CleverPets were distributed and the company is now taking orders for Christmas.

It’s very challenging to turn a research interest into a consumer product, and so, why this specific market and product?

To me the most powerful way of teaching people something is to demonstrate it to them. If I think it would be valuable for people to understand the process of learning and cognitive potential better, what better way to do that then to demonstrate it for them in their home with an animal that they love? That is to me the most powerful way of opening people up to that possibility and making them more curious about it. That’s why it needed to be a consumer product.

What are your hopes and plans for the future?

We want to CleverPet to become a household name. We want millions of dogs to be happier and lead more fulfilled lives, and for tens of millions of people to feel even closer to their dog, and have a much better understanding of what they’re capable of. And we want a general acceptance that there is a whole other world of cognitive behavior change that’s available and technology can help us get there.

CleverPet

CleverPet uses smart hardware to offer animals engagement anytime, automatically, whether their humans are home or not. Founded in 2013 by Leo Trottier (Clever Executive Officer), Dr. Philip Meier (Clever Product Officer) and Dan Knudsen, PhD (Clever Science Officer, Clever Technology Officer), CleverPet took root and continues to grow in San Diego, California. In 2015 CleverPet won the Robot Launch global startup competition run by Silicon Valley Robotics. CleverPet uses advanced cognitive and behavioral science techniques to develop elegant, durable technology solutions for the animals we love.

SILICON VALLEY ROBOTICS

Silicon Valley Robotics is the industry group for robotics and AI companies in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, and is a not- for-profit (501c6) that supports innovation and commercialization of robotics technologies. We host the Silicon Valley Robot Block Party, networking events, investor forums, a directory, and a jobs board, and we provide additional services and information for members, such as these reports.

We’ll be releasing additional essays from the reports every week or so. Or, read the full reports at: https://svrobo.org/reports

The Association for Advancing Automation (A3) has announced a call for startup companies in robotics, machine vision and motion control for its Automate Launch Pad Competition. The competition will be held at the Automate 2017 Show and Conference in Chicago, Illinois on April 5, 2017. The presenting sponsor of the competition is GE. The event is co-produced with Silicon Valley Robotics.

Automation applications in robotics, vision, motion and motors are impacting many industries today. Recently, there has been a groundswell of startup companies introducing new products in the sector. The Automate Launch Pad Startup Competition seeks out these startups to generate awareness of their technology and help them find new funding.

Eight (8) semi-finalist companies will be invited to participate in the competition that features a grand prize of $10,000. Companies will have three minutes to pitch their technology to a panel of investors and automation experts. Eligible companies include those in the automation space (robotics, vision, motion control, etc.) who were founded in the last 5 years; raised less than US $2 million since creation; and are not affiliated with a larger group. All semi-finalists will be provided booth space on the Automate show floor, putting them in front of an expected audience of over 20,000 people interested in automation. The exhibit space must be staffed during Automate show hours.

“We recognize the critical role of startup companies in driving innovation and bringing forth new technologies to foster continued growth,” said Jeff Burnstein, President of A3. “We encourage startups to take advantage of this opportunity to spread awareness and take their company to the next level.”

To apply for the Automate Launch Pad Competition, fill out the form here. Deadline for applications is February 17, 2017.

Robotics isn’t gender neutral, it’s gender blind. And that means that there are a lot of hidden opportunities for savvy investors and entrepreneurs. One of the first robotics companies I followed was Restoration Robotics, a Silicon Valley based company that’s raised more than $111 M USD in 6 rounds. Restoration Robotics saw a niche for robotics in treating male baldness.

Pree Walia, CEO and founder of Preemadonna has her eyes set on a robotics/computer vision nail art solution. Preemadonna’s Nailbot was runner-up in 2015 Robot Launch startup competition and went on to become a finalist on TechCrunch Disrupt. Her startup was the only one targeting female consumers. Not only does less than 7% of venture funding go to female founders [Bloomberg], but female focused products are also much less likely to get funded, even though they may be addressing a huge market.

Let’s face it — the nail salon industry in the US alone has an annual turnover in excess of $8B according to Statista and that’s before including nail products and home treatments, estimated at another $8–9B, for a total market size of approx $16B.

To put that in context, the entire US apple industry has an annual revenue of half that at around $4 B, with an overall downstream economic impact of $16B, according to the US Apple Association. And the US is the second largest apple producer in the world.

We’ve all heard about the Maker Community and how 3D printers and digital tools can reshape the economy and why 21st century STEM education needs access to fab labs. But meanwhile, there’s been a quiet crafting revolution, which is sending ripples into many adjacent areas. Women have traded their sewing machines in for digital machines, stitchers, knitters, cutters, etchers, embroiderers, etc. Many industries, from the sign industry to textile companies are moving from professional to prosumer, even consumer and DIY. The beauty industry is following.

Preemadonna was accepted into L’Oréal and Founders Factory’s accelerator program. CEO, Pree, presented to senior executives (including L’Oréal’s CEO) at L’Oréal’s Headquarters in France late last year and became one of only five startups to win a spot in the elite program.

Seems like a few robotics startups are now realizing that there are untapped markets in female facing products. The only downside is that robot solutions may start to displace women’s jobs. For example, being a nail artist is a lucrative yet low skilled job. However, there are opportunities both for female entrepreneurs ie for opening up beauty robot service salons, and for female founders and inventors, who may be first to market with new robot products and services.

Credit: Catalia Health

Catalia Health is leading the surge in social robotics, with Mabu, their patient care management system. Catalia Health likes to be seen primarily as a health company that utilizes robots, rather than a robotics company. This focus on solving real world problems while shipping a product has seen Catalia attract both customers and investors, and recently close their Series A round.

Interview with Cory Kidd, Founder & CEO of Catalia Health

(edited for clarity)

What is Catalia Health?

Catalia Health is a patient care management company. We focus on helping patients adhere to their treatment, whether that be taking medication, or managing chronic disease over the long term. That’s the focus of what we do, and part of how we deliver this to patients is through a cute little robot called Mabu who engages with patients through conversation. She’s a little over a foot tall, and can sit wherever you want to put her … on a countertop or bedside table … and she has big eyes that make eye contact with you while you’re talking to her. Conversations with her might last a minute or two, or maybe five or ten minutes; it really depends on the individual patient and what they want to talk about.

Mabu has a touch screen on the front that she can use to display information, but our overall focus is to create an engaging relationship between the technology and the patient. The reason that we use the robot — as opposed to just delivering this through a phone screen or a tablet or PC — is about psychology and not about technology. When we are in front of a robot that has eyes that can look at us and blink, we tend to be more engaged, and we find the robot to be more credible and informative than if the same information were delivered to us through an app. While we have a lot of healthcare applications that we’re looking to build, the core of this is really just basic psychology: how can we create engagement that lasts for a long time? Psychologists have studied the benefits of face-to-face communication for decades.

Is speech the primary interaction that people have with Mabu?

Our platform’s primary means of interaction is conversation, but this can happen in more than one way. For example, when Mabu is talking, she also displays what she is saying on her screen, to make it easy for anyone to understand what’s going on. And when I reply, I can speak back to her, or I can touch a button or location on the screen. And if I’m not at home, I can also get a reminder via text message … in the future this might happen through an app or other desktop interface.

The physical robot is the thing that’s creating the engagement — the relationship — but we can interact with people through other forms of technology as well.

Does the conversation with Mabu end at home? How is information transferred to the healthcare provider?

We do send information summaries back to health care providers — a pharmacist or physician or some other caregiver — but the overall problem we are trying to help with is that the healthcare system simply doesn’t have enough people to manage chronic disease at scale. So while our technology might also enable tele-operation or tele-presence, the focus of our business is to be able carry out an autonomous one-on-one interaction with patients in real time.

Is the patient, or end user, your customer?

Patients get a lot of benefit from our platform, but they are not the ones who are paying for it.

Our direct customers are pharmaceutical manufacturers and healthcare providers. They provide programs to help patients be more effective at taking their medications and managing their conditions, so in their eyes we are another tool in their arsenal.

Can you tell us about your first deployments?

The places where we are rolling out first are where there are existing care management programs already in place, and these tend to be in areas such as oncology and immunology where higher-end drugs are being used. Talking robots are very new and different, so we wanted our contract structure to look as similar as possible to existing offerings. These were the areas where there were already contract types that we could follow into market. We have been rolling out the first several hundred units in the first half of 2016 and are bringing patients onto the platform by the end of this year.

What is your business model? Is it “Robots as a Service”?

In terms of the patient relationship, our robot is key. But in terms of our business model and contracts, we don’t think of our robot as the key piece of what we’re delivering. We use a service model for care management; our customers pay us on a per patient per month basis.

What does interaction with your service look like from the patient’s perspective?

If you want to see what the patient interaction with Mabu actually looks like, we have a short video at cataliahealth.com.

Once the patient plugs Mabu in, the robot comes alive and starts talking. The conversation starts off with greetings and small talk (such as “Good morning, great to see you!”) and then moves on to whatever issue is relevant to the patient at that point in time. Maybe this is simply to check in on whether the patient has taken their medication, or maybe the patient is at a point in their treatment where it’s common to experience certain side effects, and the conversation is about how best to mitigate those for that patient. It really depends on the particular condition or treatment the patient is dealing with. We do a lot of research on each condition before rolling the platform out to patients, in order to build an understanding of common treatment challenges into the application.

In the background, the conversation is being crafted in real time for that patient.

When Mabu first comes out of the box, we know a little about the patient’s medical condition — perhaps what drugs they are on — but we don’t know much else. So from that very first conversation we start learning about and adapting to the patient’s individual personality and the treatment issues they are facing. Mabu largely directs the conversations, but the patient has a lot of say in terms of where that conversation goes. As we build more conversations and more AI into the platform, we are able to craft appropriate conversations for the patient.

This will very quickly become applicable to a lot more drugs and a lot more disease states. Let’s look at side effects, for example. Our first conversations about side effects will be new, but there are many common side effects among drugs. So while we are starting out in just a handful of areas, our goal is to help any patient who’s dealing with a condition on an ongoing basis to better manage their care, and to provide information back to their caregivers so that they can be more effective in supporting them.

Is it valid to be concerned about robots being used to replace human companionship?

We certainly don’t think of this as robots replacing people; we think of it as robots augmenting people.

One of the big challenges in healthcare today is that there are not enough caregivers to deliver healthcare the way we need it. Almost half our population is managing a chronic disease in this country, and there are very similar rates in advanced nations around the world; if we look at the rate of people dealing with health issues on an ongoing basis, it approaches 2/3 to 3/4 of the population.

People might get to see their doctor for fifteen minutes every two months, but that’s not much time, and it’s not an effective way to provide the ongoing care that is needed. We simply don’t have enough people to manage healthcare the way we did 50 or 100 years ago.

Patients need reminders, and they need answers to all the little questions that come up — and that’s where technology like this comes in. We see our service as a way for the people who are providing health care — doctors, nurses, and other trained caregivers — to more effectively reach a larger group of patients. We are not trying to be people’s doctors, we are trying to help their doctor do a much more effective job.

What kind of feedback have you received so far?

Broadly speaking, the feedback has been very positive. People tend to like the interaction right from the very first conversation, and they like how Mabu adapts to them.

We have a great solution that we’ve shown can effectively help many patients, but we still have a lot to learn. We are really excited about the amount of data that we’re going to be getting back from hundreds of person-months of interaction with our platform this year, and how we’re going to use that to improve conversations and personalize them to every patient.

Thanks to social platforms like Siri, Jibo and Amazon’s Echo, we are starting to get used to having conversations with our devices. But you’ve taken a very specialized path into the market. Why did you pick this pathway and business model?

Scalability — being able to provide care to a growing number of patients — is a big challenge in health care. I spent about a year before launching Catalia Health really digging into the US healthcare market to explore the business opportunities. We were thinking broadly around medication adherence and chronic disease management, talking to potential customers and trying to understand where there was a need for this kind of technology. The quick answer was that it is needed pretty much everywhere within the healthcare system. The question of how to provide healthcare in a cost-effective and scalable way is definitely a challenge here in the US, and also in most other nations in the world. We see an enormous opportunity for using technology to provide scalable personalized care.

Of all the robotics and AI movies that have come out in the past five or ten years, Robot and Frank offers a vision comes closest to what we’re doing. The goal of the robot in that movie was to help Frank live healthier by building a relationship with him. We have the same underlying premise in what we’re doing: our technology is focused on building a relationship with the patient, because once we can do that, then we can talk to them about their health care. By comparison, usage rates on healthcare apps are incredibly low; most patients don’t pick them up after the first or second try. But as it turns out, there are particular psychological aspects of how people interact with robots that make them really effective at helping to solve this challenge.

Do you see ways that other robotics companies can leverage what you’ve learned so far?

The broad lesson is to understand where there is a real human or business need. Asking “Where is there a problem that I can solve?” rather than asking “Where can I build a robot?” or “What market can I serve?”

It’s also important to understand what the existing marketplace looks like for those kinds of solutions right now, because the solution today may look very different. Our robot is an alternative to talking to a pharmacist on the phone, and it’s a very different solution, but understanding what the business model is for that kind of service, how those contracts work, who the players are in the space — I think that’s something that any company would be smart to take a look at and understand deeply before trying to compete in those markets.

You’re tackling one of the largest growing areas of our economy, and you’re doing it with a combination of data, AI and robotics. What do you think has changed in the past couple of years to make robotics a viable solution to a broader range of applications?

One of the biggest changes has been in the cost of building both hardware and software. Our robot is pretty simple; we’re not doing anything cutting edge in terms of the physical device that we’re building. But ten years ago producing our device might have cost 100 times what it does today, and that would have limited us to a small set of business models and it would have been very hard to make money.

With the cost of building the technology drastically lowered, it has enabled us to do something very different today than what we could have done five years ago. Today we can build cutting edge technology at a reasonable price point and therefore deliver a cost effective solution.

CATALIA HEALTH

Catalia Health is a patient health management system using social robotics. Founded in 2013 by Dr. Cory Kidd, Catalia Health builds on years of research into Human-Robot Interaction starting at MIT’s Media Lab and continuing with social robot startups like Intuitive Automata. In June 2015, Khosla Ventures led a $1.25 million seed round in Catalia Health for the first trial customer engagements. Catalia Health is on a mission to address both sides of the healthcare equation: improving patients’ health and extending the capabilities and efficiency of healthcare companies.

SILICON VALLEY ROBOTICS

Silicon Valley Robotics is the industry group for robotics and AI companies in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, and is a not- for-profit (501c6) that supports innovation and commercialization of robotics technologies. We host the Silicon Valley Robot Block Party, networking events, investor forums, a directory, and a jobs board, and we provide additional services and information for members, such as these reports.

We’ll be releasing additional essays from the reports every week or so. You can read full reports by visiting the website.

If you enjoyed this article you may also want to read:

• HAX takes robotics to market in 2017
• Five women robotics experts from Silicon Valley share their stories
• $18.867 billion paid to acquire 50 robotics companies in 2016

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

If you attended CES 2017 last week you may have seen more than 70 HAX powered startups in Eureka Park, the ‘playground of innovation’. As service robotics steals the spotlight, we wanted to showcase some of the ways that accelerators and programs like HAX help grow hardware and robotics startups, including taking them to market.

Here’s an interview with Cyril Ebersweiler, Founder and Managing Director of HAX, excerpted from the new “Service Robotics Case Studies 2” report by Silicon Valley Robotics, the industry association.

Interview with Cyril Ebersweiler, Founder & Managing Director of HAX (edited for clarity)

You say HAX is the world’s first hardware accelerator. Can you tell us how it evolved?

We started the venture back in 2011 in a garage in Shenzhen. We had Eric Migicovsky from Pebble, who had just launched their first campaign, Ian Bernstein from Sphero, and there was also Zach Smith from Makerbot, who would later join us at HAX … a lot of people and technology were converging back then in Shenzhen.

One thing we discovered while leveraging the supply chain for these startups was that Shenzhen was a good place to prototype — and not just consumer electronics hardware (which was the modus operandi back then), but also extremely complex hardware for the health, robotics, and fabrication spaces. The robotics and fabrication spaces were particularly interesting. There are five thousand — maybe fifteen thousand — individual parts inside a robot, and it takes a lot of time, money and resources to build a prototype. By being in Shenzhen, where we had access to prototyping machines, we could accomplish this in record speed.

As more and more startups joined the ranks, we started to develop a better understanding of what it would take to bring those companies to market. Early on we created themes around our first incubation programs, and this has since become part of our philosophy at HAX. Four years and 145 companies later (as of mid 2016), we have HAX Lifestyle, HAX Health, HAX Robotics, HAX Infra, and HAX Fab, with dedicated resources, expertise, processes, curricula, and distribution channels that can help push those products to market as fast as possible.

HAX is still running, and has been scaling up — we have about fifteen people on staff — and we have changed offices almost every year. This year we are moving into a 30,000 sq foot office in the middle of the Huaqiangbei electronics market because we have a lot of lines that are continuously manufacturing and creating new products over there. Some of them are really big, like Makeblock, for example, which has 170 employees already.

After operating for a few years — we’ve done 69 Kickstarter campaigns with HAX Lifestyle alone — I started to receive a lot of requests from our network that our startups needed help to improve their marketing and sales. So eighteen months ago I moved to San Francisco in order to set up a follow-up to our accelerator program, called Hax Boost, which is run by a former Target executive, and which focused on sales funnels and marketing for each of our different themes. If you are a HAX Lifestyle company, for example, we’ll focus on getting you into retail and teach you how to build everything you need to talk to a buyer and test your products in store… test your pricing, point of sale, and packaging, etc. We also help with networking, and will travel to meet buyers and scale up the sales process. At HAX Health, on the other hand, the distribution channels are hospitals, doctors, and gyms — so we take a very different angle there.

Since we started HAX Boost, we’ve had three cohorts with thirty-two companies going through, not all of which have been through our accelerator program. We also have external companies joining us for a sales and marketing bootcamp, which is a lot shorter — just 42 days. The goal is to get these companies from zero to $5 million in revenue (which is extremely ambitious in the world of entrepreneurship and venture capital), so that they know they have a market for their product before they manufacture it. Then they can go back to Shenzhen, and if they’ve done their job well, their DFM (design for manufacture) will be less painful and they will get to market faster because they have already grown out the distribution on the other side. Essentially, we make them ‘kiss’ the other side a little earlier than usual, and we foster those relationships at scale so that instead of taking twelve months to grow to their store, it will take only three months.

How big are your cohorts at HAX Boost?

We do ten startups at a time. While the accelerator programs are fifteen weeks long (because you actually have to build a product in that time), HAX Boost is just forty-two days long because companies already have their product ready. Forty-two days is an ideal length of time to focus on marketing.

TechCrunch called you “the most active investor in crowdfunded hardware” — but that’s only one aspect of what you do, isn’t it?

Yes. We’ve had 145 companies go through our programs now, as of mid 2016 … 115 through our accelerator and 30 through Boost. These have included 65 Kickstarter campaigns, mostly lifestyle products, where we have raised an average of about $450,000 per campaign. If you consider that to raise $100,000 puts you in the top 1% of Kickstarter campaigns, that puts us in the top 0.01% every single time we launch a campaign. We represent 8% of all the $1M-plus campaigns on Kickstarter as well. So it sounds like crowdfunding investment is our focus, but it’s only half (or less) of what we do. Lifestyle companies represent only roughly 40% of what we do. The rest is divided between health, infrastructure, robotics and fabrication. These kinds of companies are B2B for the most part and require a different level of attention when it comes down to technology, obviously, but also business models — which are the most interesting aspect of this work, particularly in the robotics and fab space.

Many of the companies we feature in this report are B2B2C, where the customer is not the final interaction point. I think we’ll be seeing more and more robotics companies in this space … what are the challenges they face, and how have you been able to smooth the way for them?

There are three very obvious challenges on the robotics side.

One is the definition of a robot. We may define this as a machine that makes autonomous decisions and autonomous movements, but there is public confusion around this definition. What is a robot, and why does that matter? It’s important because the public’s vision of what a robot is is going to influence the success of these companies, whether they are making robots in the formal sense or not.

Another challenge is that roboticists deal with extremely complex environments, and the obvious trap for any startup is to become too enamored with the technology, or to become too busy with making it work and not getting to the specific application.

A third challenge is trying to do everything, or wanting to become a platform, because that seems to be the Holy Grail. But we’ve already seen many approaches to building robot platforms and they don’t always work immediately. Take the PR2, the Personal Robot platform, from Willow Garage. It was supposed to be something that could be shared and open sourced to create different kinds of robotics applications… only a few places ever had a PR2, it only worked as a platform if you consider Savioke and all the other startups that came out of Willow Garage.

Another important challenge is the business model. We’ve been pushing to find ways for robots to be more than a box and software being sold to a client. I’m referring to “Robotics as a Service” of course, ie. getting a monthly payment at scale. Why does this matter? It’s easier to be profitable and to attract investors if it’s not about paying for the device.

Historically, extremely high-tech robots designed for a single task were sold for $100,000 – $200,000 apiece. The industry knew this model well, and recurring revenue came mainly from maintenance contracts. But the obvious trend is that robots are getting less and less expensive as time goes on … they are following the path of consumer electronics, which are getting both more powerful and less expensive at the same time. Some of the robots we are seeing today cost just a few thousand dollars, which on the one hand could mean that you can sell a lot of them, but on the other hand, you are trying to sell the value at the moment as well. Lots to figure out.

One of the challenges of Robots as a Service is that robots are still physical and they still require a lot of maintenance, which pushes the price point up even though the cost of the hardware is coming down. This seems inherently less scalable. Do you think these obstacles have been overcome?

Not entirely. Most startups are in the phase of trying. I don’t know the perfect definition of RaaS, because simply making the robot isn’t enough. It has to be tied to an actual value being created by the robot itself. Take the RaaS model that Simbe is using: their clients are billed per item scanned, so the more items the robot scans, the more revenue they generate. Or in the case of Avidbots, the more square feet that the robot cleans, the more Avidbot earns. But it’s not the end user paying for it. It’s really the corporation behind all this infrastructure that is paying for it, and it’s still too early to know whether they will be willing to scale up.

That said, I think that hardware reliability is in some ways the bigger question, as these robots are just getting to market at scale and we don’t yet know how long they will last out there. Few robots have run more than a thousand miles today, so all this is up in the air.

Are there other areas in the retail and consumer goods chain that you would encourage startups to look at?

Robot arms are getting better, cheaper, more accurate and less dangerous, so I think they
will start to pop up in all sorts of places and will come in many forms. At first they will probably be used in commercial environments, for example in restaurant kitchens. In the retail space, robot arms could fill shelves and stock inventory, or they could also be used to deliver goods from the store. Today we are a little constrained in our thinking of how a robot arm can be used, but as they become more application-specific they will just become better at what they are supposed to do.

It’s a little more complex if you’re thinking about the consumer market. People tend think of consumer robots as companions — robot pets, for example. But consumer robots will no doubt differentiate as well. There is a HAX company called Trainerbot that launched this year on Kickstarter. They are building a ping pong robot that teaches you how to play and trains you — and you can imagine that could be done with many sports. When you add computer vision and sophisticated movement, some people might think of these robots as even better companions.

Obviously there is a period of land grab before the field becomes specialized. Right now we are in a phase where most companies want to be a platform, or want to have the killer app. I think it’s slowly becoming more competition-specific, but it will continue to specialize.

Being based for such a long time in China where there has been such growth in recent years, what do you see ahead?

One thing that isn’t well acknowledged is that China is starting to come up with their own robots. They now have a pretty good technical base and they are catching up on know-how. It’s an obvious market for China to serve its need for robots domestically – so that is something to watch for.

Also, we have seen a commoditization of manufacturing machines, from laser cutters and 3D printers, to production machines, CNC machines, and furnaces — anything that makes a product come alive, as it were. Being in the manufacturing center of the world, it is phenomenal the level of automation that has been achieved already. Smartphones are produced with barely any human touching them; even the touch screen is tested by robot fingers. Though it’s easier to create a fully automated robot factory if you have only one product to build, there are increasingly fewer people in factories here: there’s nobody in the injection molding department, for example, but you have robot arms and conveyor belts (which at some point will be replaced by mobile robots), so that trend will continue. Robot arms are going to replace a lot of jobs.

But I think the tipping point for robotics is going to happen when robots start creating jobs. One can imagine that some robotics companies might reappropriate themselves, with the value of the robot essentially coming from the production that comes out of it. Dispatch is a great example of a company that has to figure out whether or not it is better to create its own network and rent it — the same is true with most robot companies. Avidbots could become a cleaning company if it wanted to, and it would be a better one, for example. Or Rational Robotics could rent their industrial painting machines to someone who wants to build their own garage. We haven’t seen that yet, but I’m expecting to see it pretty soon.

What is most exciting to me about robotics is that the business model is all down to what you want to do with the future of robots: Do you want them to replace human workers? Or do you want robots to be creators of value in the very first place?

HAX

HAX is an accelerator for hardware companies founded in 2011 in Shenzhen by Cyril Ebersweiler and Sean O’Sullivan. The HAX accelerator program selects 30 startups a year for seed investment in a cohort program and, as of 2016, the HAX Boost program provides an additional marketing bootcamp. Although HAX is well known for backing successfully crowdfunded consumer hardware, a significant number of startups now moving through HAX are enterprise robotics startups. HAX is investing in five technology themes; lifestyle, health, robotics, infrastructure and fabrication/prototyping. HAX is funded by SOSV, the accelerator venture fund founded by Sean O’Sullivan.

SILICON VALLEY ROBOTICS

Silicon Valley Robotics is the industry group for robotics and AI companies in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, and is a not- for-profit (501c6) that supports innovation and commercialization of robotics technologies. We host the Silicon Valley Robot Block Party, networking events, investor forums, a directory, and a jobs board, and we provide additional services and information for members, such as these reports.

WE’LL BE RELEASING ADDITIONAL ESSAYS FROM THE REPORTS EVERY WEEK OR SO. OR YOU CAN READ FULL REPORTS AT: https://svrobo.org/reports

Photo: 2016-2017 Girls of Steel Robotics students in grades 8 to 12.

The Girls of Steel – a competitive FIRST team in Pittsburg, PA – is on a mission to engage more young women into engineering. Over the last few years, we’ve heard what it’s like to be part of an all-girls robotics team and spoke with team’s mentors. Now, we’re following up with the team to talk about their successes and developments since being listed in our 25 Women in Robotics list.

What has changed for Girls of Steel in the last two years?

On the technical side, we created a new subteam called the design subteam. After a team brainstorming session, the team decides on the tasks they want the robot to do. Then design subteam uses suggestions of all the tasks and designs and CADs (using Solidworks) a robot to fit all of their designed requirements. The addition of this subteam has made the team more organized and sped up the building process due to increased accuracy.

Photo: Outreach at the 2016 Pittsburgh Maker Faire.

Girls of Steel changed their mission statement and to make it clearer and less vague. The new mission statement is, “To empower women and girls in the pursuit of STEM by exemplifying female success in robotics”. Our team goals also changed within the last two years. The 2016-2017 goals are:

1. Talk to 5,000+ people face to face – to inspire people, especially young girls, about STEM.
2. Have our robot score as many autonomous points as possible during competitions.
3. Make sure every girl knows her contribution to the team and the robot.

What are some of your latest accomplishments and achievements?

The team has won multiple awards yearly at regional competitions, which includes:

• the Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Entrepreneurship award (2014, 2015, 2016), which celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit by recognizing a team that has developed the framework for a comprehensive business plan to scope, manage, and achieve team objectives,
• the Engineering Inspiration award (2014, 2016), which celebrates outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a team’s school and community,
• the 2015 Regional Chairman’s Award at the Buckeye Regional, the most prestigious award at FIRST, it honors the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the purpose and goals of FIRST,
• and the Comcast NBCUniversal Media and Technology Innovation Award that recognizes the team that develops and implements the most outstanding digital experience, marketing strategy, and rationale for digital channels to disseminate content to its audience and further the FIRST mission.

2016 Engineering Inspiration Award at Queen City Regional, Cincinnati, OH

In addition, the team was recognized in 2016 by the North Hills Pittsburgh Branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) with the Gateway to Equity Award.

We participated at the first White House Frontiers Conference in Pittsburgh with our “Inspiring Girls Through Robotics” exhibit where we demoed our Chassis Project activity, met other exhibitors and even experienced the simulation of docking a spacecraft to the International Space Station at the Boeing CST-100 Starliner Simulator demo. Here’s a link to a clip of President Obama’s speech at the conference where he mentions Girls of Steel.

Boeing CST-100 Starliner Simulator demo at the White House Frontiers Conference.

How did being on the “25 Women in Robotics” list impact the group?

While a lot of the girls that experienced the full impact of the article have now graduated, being mentioned so highly still astounds many members of the team. Even girls who were new members are shocked we were considered to be in the top 25, out of every woman in robotics in 2014. It made a big mark on our community that we were recognized. It truly is a reminder and validator that we matter and are making a difference in the world around us. That is one of the best things that can be said about what we put our time and effort towards.

Young participant assembling the chassis at the White House Frontiers Conference in Pittsburgh, PA

How do you cope with changing membership as girls move on to new study/work opportunities?

At the end of each season, we elect a new Leadership Council for the upcoming year. A form is sent out to the girls asking if they are interested in a leadership position and why they think they would make a great leader. Then a panel of Girls of Steel mentors and alumni conduct interviews for all applicants and discuss and select the leadership council for the upcoming season. To incorporate new girls into our team we hold a new girl orientation meeting, we invite them to come to the leadership council meetings, and we create a group of three girls: returning, new, and junior member, a triad, which gets together during meetings. This creates our sense of team culture – friendly, welcoming, and fun.

As one of our new parents said, “My daughter has found her tribe.”

How important has robotics been to new career options for the team?

Girl of Steel Robotics has increased the interests of many girls pursuing a career in the STEM fields. It also helps develop the skills needed for a variety of careers in STEM. It has given the girls confidence to enter fields that are traditionally male dominant and helps teach them the tools to excel.

What do you want to get out of being in the women in robotics network?

The most rewarding part of being a girl involved in robotics is inspiring other girls and women who are intimidated by the STEM fields. By giving a clear example of female success in STEM, we can encourage other girls to get involved and eliminate the mindset that girls do not belong in male-dominated fields. At Carnegie Mellon University, we also have access to a supportive Society of Women Engineers chapter that is always looking to make connections with other girls.

Do you have anything you’d like to say to other young women?

We would like to tell others: they really can do it! No matter how difficult or intimidating STEM fields seem there is always a supportive network of women ready to support and encourage you in your pursuit of different careers. Also, as a woman, you are more than capable of succeeding in any field you set your mind to!

Read more about the Girls of Steel, here:

• Mentors of Steel: The role of mentoring in robotics education
• FIRST 2013 photo essay: Girls of Steel in the trenches at the FRC championship finals
• Lynn Urbina on FIRST, Watson and the Girls of Steel
• FIRST 2014 photo essay: Girls of Steel back in St. Louis
• The story of Atlas, FRC Team #3504 Girls of Steel

Read more about Women in Tech, here:

• 25 women in robotics you need to know about (2013)
• 25 women in robotics you need to know about (2014)
• 25 women in robotics you need to know about (2015)
• 25 women in robotics you need to know about (2016)
• Getting into the driver’s seat: Girls of Steel tell us how they got hooked on robotics
• Five women robotics experts from Silicon Valley share their stories
• How to hire women
• Meet RoboGabby: She’s on a mission to teach more girls about robotics
• Steffi Paepcke on Robots, women and design: Opportunities abound

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Vidi Systems from Switzerland is the overall Grand Winner of the 2016 Robot Launch global startup competition, beating out many US contestants in a field that included sensors, artificial intelligence, social robots, service robots and industrial solutions. Overall, the European robotics startups performed very strongly this year with 8 making The Shortlist for awards. Canada also had good representation with 3 entries, but the rest of The Shortlist were based in the USA, even if they had originated in Israel or Hong Kong.

Switzerland based ViDi Systems provides deep learning vision software dedicated to automated aesthetic inspection & classification for a wide range of applications in pharmaceutical, med-tech, watch Industry, automotive, logistics center, bottling industry, textile, printing, ceramics, photovoltaic etc.  Robot Launch judges said that they picked ViDi Systems for their “great early traction, impressive customers, strong team and large market potential”, noting that while ViDi Systems were clearly one of the most mature startups in The Shortlist, that they had achieved a lot in a comparatively short period.

The Robot Launch Grand Winner receives mentorship from Silicon Valley Robotics, Odense Robotics, QUTbluebox and the Australian Center for Excellence in Robotic Vision, connections which, along with the feature on Robohub.org, will be very useful for a startup interested in global expansion.

In contrast, the next most highly ranked startups, Robolink and Franklin Robotics were very young, with Robolink shipping educational robotics from San Diego, drawing on a background growing the local maker community. And Franklin Robotics developing an affordable gardening robot based on team expertize gained as founders at iRobot and Harvest Automation.

Robohub president Sabine Hauert said, “We’re delighted at Robohub to be working with Andra Keay to provide Robot Launchers with extra visibility to reach investors, partners, and future users. The quality of the startups this year was impressive, seems that Robot Launch raises the bar year after year!”

All of The Shortlist were evaluated by a team of investors and expert judges from venture capital firms and robotics clusters, including Intel Capital, Grishin Robotics, InnoSpring, PropelX, ElevenTwo Capital, Comet Labs, Root.vc, Singularity U’s Explorers Fund and Sony Ventures. Behind the scenes, there are some term sheets being offered to select startups. We can’t say more, but we can announce the rankings and other awards….

Odense Robotics and Invest in Odense are offering an incubation award for the Best European Startup team (2 persons) as follows: Travel to / housing in Odense, 1-month for 2 persons in Odense (travel/housing value 1500 USD), access to all Odense Robotics StartUp Hub facilities, Robot Innovation Hall, the other startups in the Hub, for one month (during May / June 2017), preparing for the JUNE PITCH SESSION –  for the board of Odense Robotic StartUp Hub where they might be selected as one of two StartUps to enter the Odense Robotic StartUp Hub (12 months).

ODENSE ROBOTICS AWARD for EUROPEAN STARTUP:

• Robomotive
• ViDi Systems
• Halodi
• Tactile Robots
• bridgeOS

With special mention of the USA teams (perhaps a good time for a holiday in Denmark?):

• Robotics Materials
• Cubits

Silicon Valley Robotics will offer a startup membership to all of The Shortlist, providing introductions to investors in Silicon Valley, access to network events and hosting in the new Robot Launchpad accelerator space. We are also coordinating demo opportunities at expos around the world. Although there were no shortlisted startups from the other regions, QUTbluebox and the Australian Center for Excellence in Robotic Vision will be offering mentorship and ‘down under’ connections to the Robot Launch winner.

ViDi Systems Nicholas Corsi at the W.A. de Vigier Awards

The overall top scoring startups were:

1. ViDi Systems
2. Robolink
3. Franklin Robotics
4. Robomotive
5. MOTI: A Robot for Habits
6. Robotics Materials
7. TransRobotics
8. Kamigami Robotics
9. SD3D
10. Foldimate
11. Labs Cubed
12. Halodi
13. Ourobotics
14. Modular Science
15. Parihug

Startups that stood out from the shortlist were the bio robotics startups:

Labs Cubed, Ourobotics and Modular Science

The social robots:

MOTI, Parihug and nominee sciRobot

The service robots:

Franklin Robotics, Halodi and Foldimate

The robot sensors:

Robotics Materials and Transrobotics

The ROS robotics startups:

ViDi Systems, Robotics Materials, Halodi, Choitek, Semio, and bridgeOS

Competition organizer Andra Keay said that the range of startups was always a good indicator of the overall robotics industry growth areas. “I can’t wait to see what next year brings. After all, this year we already new industrial applications, bio robotics and several new sensors. We also saw a strong showing from social and service robots, ranging from full humanoids to restaurant delivery robots, from smart devices to software helping robot developers build advanced behaviors.”

Finally after last week’s popular vote, did the Robohub Readers agree with the judges? Not this time! So, perhaps there are more hidden gems in The Shortlist:

• Announcing the Robot Launch 2016 Shortlist
• Robot Launch 2016 – Robohub Readers’ Pick Round One
• Robot Launch 2016 – Robohub Readers’ Pick Round Two
• Robot Launch 2016 – Robohub Readers’ Pick Round Three

We’re delighted to announce that UniExo is the winner of the “Robohub Reader’s Pick” in the Robot Launch 2016 global startup competition. Are Robohub readers on the same wavelength as our panel of VC, investors and expert judges? We’ll find out next week when we announce the overall winners of the Robot Launch 2016 competition!

The Robot Launch competition attracts early stage robotics and AI startups from all over the world to pitch their ideas in the hopes of winning investment or acceleration through mentorship and industry clusters. Robohub is an ideal venue for the competition as it reaches into robotics research labs around the world.

Robohub president Sabine Hauert said, “Congrats to Andra and Silicon Valley Robotics for organising such a wonderful competition! There are so many wonderful startups striving to make robots a reality in our everyday lives. Robot Launch this year featured a wealth of startups, ranging from robots for education and healthcare, to robots that fold our laundry, or help us on the shopfloor. I have immense admiration for these startups that need to create new markets, while mastering software, hardware, product design, and business. The least we can do at Robohub is provide them with the visibility they deserve, so they can reach the investors and users that will make their startups a success. I hope everyone will have a close look at all the contestants from this year’s competition and spread the word, there is so much potential here!”

UniExo from Ukraine wins The Robohub Reader’s Pick, after a strong campaign in their local media! Followed by: Internet of Robots, Halodi, Labs Cubed, Hibotics, Foldimate, sciRobot, Robotics Materials Inc, bridgeOS, The Virtual Robotics Toolkit and Franklin Robotics.

UniExo | UKR

UniExo is modular exoskeleton, which will change stationary medical equipment to mobility devices, and improves rehabilitation movements of people, without any additional help from doctors. Our product helps to save medical institutions for the purchase of medical devices. This positive effect on the quality and the period of rehabilitation clinics. Therefore people are using this device will not engage in a self-treatment. The device also allows you to keep statistics of rehabilitation that are is important for hospitals and the Ministry of Health.

Internet of Robots | Poland

The Internet of Robots is a system designed for easy assembly of robots. It’s internet, electronics, hardware and software combined. You can send data, manage environment data and see what your robot sees. Just pick the modules and start creating your Internet of Robots.

Halodi| NOR

Halodi´s vision is to provide a vast number of robots to the mass market. We believe the time is right for Eve, a robot that is affordable for ordinary people, with strength and reach of a human. Our concept is that of simplified, but capable, and high-quality mechanics paired with a cloud “brain” that enables very advanced data processing, cross learning and continuous upgrading of the functionality. The concept of the mechanics, with our own very strong Revo1 servo motors and differential joints, means that Eve can be produced for a fraction of the cost of ordinary robots without sacrificing quality or versatility.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X6oIK8aSsI

LabsCubed Inc. | CAN

Throughout history, we have seen how new and revolutionary materials drive innovation. Amazingly, some of our best engineers have designed solutions to major problems with energy, medicine, computers, and aerospace, but they’re missing the materials to make them a reality. At LabsCubed, we are creating a fully automated testing system to help material creators bring us all the materials of the future sooner. From 3D printing to space exploration, the materials of the future will change our lives. By revolutionizing materials testing, LabsCubed will make the future possible.

Hibotics | USA

The ERAD (Elevated Robotic Assistive Device) technology is centered about “mobile robotic devices that don’t take up floor space.” While floor-based mobile robots may have great potential for automating processes and assisting people (i.e. the disabled and infirm or home/industrial security), their need to navigate around objects (people, furniture, stairs, pets..) makes them expensive while still not alleviating the potential for a sense of obtrusiveness on the part of the users.

FoldiMate | USA

FoldiMate’s goal is to save marriages around the world! We have developed a patented robotic method to fold clothes. FoldiMate is easy to use and anyone in your family can use it. Laundry will be neatly folded with consistent, high-quality folds. Foldimate will also speed up your laundry time which means more time to do the things you really enjoy. Each item can be treated with perfume and fabric softener while it is being folded, plus it also has an optional de-wrinkling system. FoldiMate will soon become a must-have in every household around the world.

sciRobot | USA

sciRobot is dedicated to promoting independent living and active aging. Alzheimer’s is one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older people worldwide. Family caregivers are exposed to emotional, financial and physical difficulties for about 5 years till their loved ones are moved to a care center. Research shows that regular physical activity has significant improvements in affective state, functional skills and sleep quality of the people with Alzheimer’s. Improvement in all of these areas can help ease the stress caregivers often feel from intensive caregiving duties.sciRobot is creating the activity companion robot ACRO to help Alzheimer’s family caregivers motivate their loved ones to stay more active.

Robotic Materials Inc | USA

We provide a novel tactile sensor that can measure proximity, contact and force. Our sensor sits where the rubber hits the road in robotic grasping and manipulation and is extremely low-cost and orders of magnitude more useful than any competing technology. Proximity helps the robot to align its hand with an object and avoid obstacles. Contact sensing allows the gripper/hand to create a constraint with the object without disturbing it and force allows it to gently handle an object and better understand how the object is located in the hand. We are selling the sensor for a growing number of platforms including Rethink Robotics Baxter/Sayer, Kinova Jaco and many more to come. We are also providing full-stack software that make manipulation easy.

bridgeOS | Portugal

bridgeOS, by Bridge Robotics, is a cloud-based platform to run service robot applications. It allows users of service robots to easily manage and use robot applications with different robots and different skills. bridgeOS also provides developers not expert in robotics with a framework to help build robot agnostic applications.

https://youtu.be/Fu3a8xhPAqE

The Virtual Robotics Toolkit | CAN

The Virtual Robotics Toolkit, is a STEM (Science Technology Education and Math) education tool that teaches children and adults alike the fundamentals of engineering, coding and 3D design using a simulated environment. Robots now make up $95 million USD of the $8 billion education technology market. It is our belief that the best way to engage the next generation of STEM learners is through the use of simulation technology that makes possible the opportunity to learn 21st-century skills at a fraction of the price of physical hardware.

Franklin Robotics | USA

We are developing a weeding robot for home gardens. Solar powered, autonomous, and self-sufficient, Tertill maintains a weed-free vegetable or flower garden.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8vpKbWNcv4

For the next three weeks, Robohub readers can vote for their “Readers’ Pick” startup from the Robot Launch competition. Each week, we’ll be publishing 10 videos. Our ultimate Robohub Readers’ Favorites, along with lots of other prizes, will be announced at the end of November. Every week we’ll showcase different aspects of robotics startups and their business models: from agricultural to humanoid, from consumer to industrial and from hardware to robotics software. Make sure you vote for your favorite – below – by 18:00pm UTC, Wednesday 23 November, spread the word through social media using #robotlaunch2016.

Choitek Mark II Robotics Platform | USA

Our idea is to accelerate robotics research by providing a large mobile manipulator platform that is robust, easy-to-use, and accessible. The low cost will allow a large number of hobbyists, educators, and students to enter the robotics research ecosystem. For schools, researchers and hobbyists, the product’s main appeal will come from its large size, low-cost, ease-of-access and excellent documentation across a variety of channels.

FoldiMate | ISR

FoldiMate’s goal is to save marriages around the world! We have developed a patented robotic method to fold clothes. FoldiMate is easy to use and anyone in your family can use it. Laundry will be neatly folded with consistent, high-quality folds. Foldimate will also speed up your laundry time which means more time to do the things you really enjoy. Each item can be treated with perfume and fabric softener while it is being folded, plus it also has an optional de-wrinkling system. FoldiMate will soon become a must-have in every household around the world.

Halodi| NOR

Halodi´s vision is to provide a vast number of robots to the mass market. We believe the time is right for Eve, a robot that is affordable for ordinary people, with strength and reach of a human. Our concept is that of simplified, but capable, and high-quality mechanics paired with a cloud “brain” that enables very advanced data processing, cross learning and continuous upgrading of the functionality. The concept of the mechanics, with our own very strong Revo1 servo motors and differential joints, means that Eve can be produced for a fraction of the cost of ordinary robots without sacrificing quality or versatility.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X6oIK8aSsI

Kamigami Robots | USA

Kamigami robots are the world’s first commercially available biomimetic robot that doubles as an app-controlled STEM toy. Build, program, play, evolve is our motto and our mission is to get an affordable, accessible entry-level robotics kit to every kid in America. Kamigami are the robot sidekick you get to build yourself. About the size of a small shoe, they fold up from a flat sheet with no tools required. Once built, you can drive, play pre-loaded games or design and program your OWN games — all through the app. Educators already love us as an entry-level coding lesson. With a super low barrier to entry but high potential for creativity, we believe Kamigami can make anyone a maker, or programmer, or tinkerer!

MOTI: A Robot for Habits | USA

Imagine being able to exercise regularly, practice an instrument, or go to bed earlier without having to force yourself—this is the vision of MOTI: to empower people to live the lives they aspire to, one habit at a time. By combining specific insights from behavioral science, social robotics, and human-centered design, we have created a simple yet powerful closed-loop system based in emotional engagement rather than just quantification.  The hardware design is based upon habit loop theory to give the right triggers and rewards to help people make positive, strategic changes in their lives.

Robomotive: NLD

We can turnkey integrate our in-house developed combination of Industrial Robots (all known brands like ABB, Fanuc, Yaskawa Motoman and Kuka) with 3D vision. This way we make robots flexible and adaptive for example for usage in 3D bin picking, order picking, kitting and robot assembly. We’ve based our innovation on our broad experience with conventional industrial robots and our first successfully integrated 3D vision applications in Dutch factories.

sciRobot | USA

sciRobot is dedicated to promoting independent living and active aging. Alzheimer’s is one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older people worldwide. Family caregivers are exposed to emotional, financial and physical difficulties for about 5 years till their loved ones are moved to a care center. Research shows that regular physical activity has significant improvements in affective state, functional skills and sleep quality of the people with Alzheimer’s. Improvement in all of these areas can help ease the stress caregivers often feel from intensive caregiving duties.sciRobot is creating the activity companion robot ACRO to help Alzheimer’s family caregivers motivate their loved ones to stay more active.

Semio | USA

Semio is developing a standardized software platform to allow humans to interact with and use technology (ranging from smart devices to personal robots) through natural communication, such as speech and body language. Our software platform allows technology developers to create/integrate (through developer tools) and deploy (to an app store) speech/gesture-based applications to be executed by smart devices, and allows non-expert technology users to access (from the app store) and use (through natural communication) those applications. Our software enables a smart device to automatically recognize speech and body language from a human user, make decisions about how to respond (specified by the developer for the application), and act based on those decisions while also providing its own speech and body language to the user. This natural communication interface increases the usability of smart devices by non-expert users.

The Virtual Robotics Toolkit | CAN

The Virtual Robotics Toolkit, is a STEM (Science Technology Education and Math) education tool that teaches children and adults alike the fundamentals of engineering, coding and 3D design using a simulated environment. Robots now make up $95 million USD of the $8 billion education technology market. It is our belief that the best way to engage the next generation of STEM learners is through the use of simulation technology that makes possible the opportunity to learn 21st-century skills at a fraction of the price of physical hardware.

UniExo | UKR

UniExo is modular exoskeleton, which will change stationary medical equipment to mobility devices, and improves rehabilitation movements of people, without any additional help from doctors. Our product helps to save medical institutions for the purchase of medical devices. This positive effect on the quality and the period of rehabilitation clinics. Therefore people are using this device will not engage in a self-treatment. The device also allows you to keep statistics of rehabilitation that are is important for hospitals and the Ministry of Health.

For the next three weeks, Robohub readers can vote for their “Readers’ Pick” startup from the Robot Launch competition. Each week, we’ll be publishing 10 videos. Our ultimate Robohub Readers’ Favorites, along with lots of other prizes, will be announced at the end of November. Every week we’ll showcase different aspects of robotics startups and their business models: from agricultural to humanoid, from consumer to industrial and from hardware to robotics software. Make sure you vote for your favorite – below – by 18:00pm UTC, Wednesday 16 November, spread the word through social media using #robotlaunch2016 and come back next week for the next 10!

AirZaar | USA

AirZaar is a commercial drone operation management & data management platform that streamlines the relationship between Drone Operators and their Clients with a SaaS business model.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfrBJhzSy8U&feature=em-upload_owner

Cubit | USA

Cubit is a unique hardware/software platform designed by educators and engineers to address the specific challenges faced by K­12 schools. We focus on opening access to 21st Century Learning technology by removing the barriers to entry while still delivering a fun, scalable and extensible platform.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x-qyGQFXbE

Franklin Robotics | USA

We are developing a weeding robot for home gardens. Solar powered, autonomous, and self-sufficient, Tertill maintains a weed-free vegetable or flower garden.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8vpKbWNcv4

Hibotics | USA

The ERAD (Elevated Robotic Assistive Device) technology is centered about “mobile robotic devices that don’t take up floor space.” While floor-based mobile robots may have great potential for automating processes and assisting people (i.e. the disabled and infirm or home/industrial security), their need to navigate around objects (people, furniture, stairs, pets..) makes them expensive while still not alleviating the potential for a sense of obtrusiveness on the part of the users.

LabsCubed Inc. | CAN

Throughout history, we have seen how new and revolutionary materials drive innovation. Amazingly, some of our best engineers have designed solutions to major problems with energy, medicine, computers, and aerospace, but they’re missing the materials to make them a reality. At LabsCubed, we are creating a fully automated testing system to help material creators bring us all the materials of the future sooner. From 3D printing to space exploration, the materials of the future will change our lives. By revolutionizing materials testing, LabsCubed will make the future possible.

Modular Science Inc. | USA

Modular Science is building systems that help biologists collect, manage, and process large amounts of data. Robotic lab machines are expensive and cumbersome, so most day-to-day lab work is done manually, especially in academia and startups. A huge amount of biology remains to be explored and the best way to explore it is through experiments. Doing these experiments using robotics will make them more reproducible and allow them to cover a wider range of experimental conditions, ultimately leading to a better understanding of biology, which will have impacts in many aspects of our lives.

https://youtu.be/EfO6r5TGKSg

Ourobotics | IRL

We are producing 3D bioprinters that operate like a human, and can grab tools like a human operator would and easily create complex structures with multiple materials. Allowing Researchers to work towards creating synthetic organs to end organ shortages and tissue models to replace animal testing. Our systems are affordable and easy to use.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G9REcgXHuE

Parihug | USA

Parihug seeks to sell electronically connected teddy bears that let loved ones hug each other from a distance. Two people can be on different sides of the world, each with their own bear. When one is hugged, a suite of soft, fabric-based sensors detects the hug and transmits a message to the other bear. The receiving bear then hugs its owner with a gentle vibration – haptic telepresence. The bears allow loved ones to connect with each other when they physically cannot be together and brings the human touch back into technological connection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkrej1m-NGE

STEMCA Inc. | USA

STEMCA offers a robotics platform for EDU and DIY. The main products of STEMCA School of Robotics and Innovation Centre are: STEMCA Inventor platform – STEM Education and DIY Amplified. The most advanced, affordable and approachable (easy to use) STEM education and DIY platform with focus on robotics and automation/IoT and SPARK – STEMCA Personal Assistant Robot Kit, an advanced and affordable personal assistant robot for everyone!

ViDi Systems SA  | CHE

ViDi develops and commercializes the most advanced Artificial Intelligence software enabling computers, machines, robots and cars to understand real world images.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y34LFSZVH2A&yt:cc=on

For the next three weeks, Robohub readers can vote for their “Readers’ Pick” startup from the Robot Launch competition. Each week, we’ll be publishing 10 videos. Our ultimate Robohub Readers’ Favorites, along with lots of other prizes, will be announced at the end of November. Every week we’ll showcase different aspects of robotics startups and their business models: from agricultural to humanoid, from consumer to industrial and from hardware to robotics software. Make sure you vote for your favorite – below – by 18:00pm UTC, Wednesday 9 November, spread the word through social media using #robotlaunch2016 and come back next week for the next 10!

Aatonomy | USA

We are building a platform where companies can access any kind of solution and know that it will work on their robot, drastically simplifying development, testing, and deployment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPX95djlnXk

bridgeOS | Portugal

bridgeOS, by Bridge Robotics, is a cloud-based platform to run service robot applications. It allows users of service robots to easily manage and use robot applications with different robots and different skills. bridgeOS also provides developers not expert in robotics with a framework to help build robot agnostic applications.

https://youtu.be/Fu3a8xhPAqE

Emobie | USA

Emobie is a social robot companion for kids with emotional and learning challenges. Emobie helps kids to understand and express their emotions and keeps them company throughout their day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K8jx9x-nko

Internet of Robots | Poland

The Internet of Robots is a system designed for easy assembly of robots. It’s internet, electronics, hardware and software combined. You can send data, manage environment data and see what your robot sees. Just pick the modules and start creating your Internet of Robots.

Mothership Aeronautics | USA

Autonomous solar-powered helium dirigible for long duration aerial data collection, inspection, surveillance and videography. Can do anything a multirotor drone can do, but for 20 times longer, such as, stay in position in wind, patrol, circle or fly at up 20 miles per hour along a set of waypoints.

Robolink | USA

There are 50 million students in K-12, 90% of them do not learn coding. This is juxtaposed against the 1.4 million computing jobs needed by 2020. Robolink strives to address that issue by making STEM education fun. We teach children and hobbyists programming by building and programming robots.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKC37WS42pM

We provide a novel tactile sensor that can measure proximity, contact and force. Our sensor sits where the rubber hits the road in robotic grasping and manipulation and is extremely low-cost and orders of magnitude more useful than any competing technology. Proximity helps the robot to align its hand with an object and avoid obstacles. Contact sensing allows the gripper/hand to create a constraint with the object without disturbing it and force allows it to gently handle an object and better understand how the object is located in the hand. We are selling the sensor for a growing number of platforms including Rethink Robotics Baxter/Sayer, Kinova Jaco and many more to come. We are also providing full-stack software that make manipulation easy.

SD3D | USA

We are developing an end-to-end 3D printing automation platform that will power the next industrial revolution. We have turned the conventional 3D printer into a continuously-operating production line by fully automating the entire manufacturing process from design to doorstep.  The disruptive nature of SD3D lies in its network qualities; it resembles a SaaS platform on the front end and is powered by an advanced IoT automation network on the backend.

Tactile Robots | Italy

We have introduced the sense of touch in mobile robots and makes them suitable for narrow and crowded environments. We have patented a tactile technology that consists of a soft pressure-sensitive skin together with a control algorithm. Our technology makes the robot completely safe because the robot stops as soon as it feels the presence of an unexpected object or person.

TransRobotics | USA

We have an advanced radar system, measuring just 1″ x 2″ and  weighing about 7 grams. It brings reliable, robust, accurate and high-speed distance sensing to drone platforms.

The Shortlist startups range from agricultural to humanoid, from consumer to industrial and from hardware to robotics software. Some are so new they don’t have names yet. But in alphabetical order “The Shortlist” is: Aatonomy, Acro, AirZaar, bridgeOS, Choitek, Cubit, Emobie Labs, FoldiMate, Franklin Robotics, Halodi, Industrial robots with 3D vision, Internet of Robots, Kamigami Robots, LabsCubed, Modular Science, Mothership Aeronautics, MOTI, Parihug, Robolink, Robotics Materials, Robotics platform for EDU and DIY, SD3D, Semio, Bioprint startup, Tactile Robots, The Virtual Robotics Toolkit, Track mounted mobile robots, UniExo, UnNamed and ViDi Systems.

While you are voting for your choice, our panel of top VCs and investors will be giving feedback to the startups and selecting startups for regional and industry awards. Judges include Intel Capital, Grishin Robotics, Root.vc, Comet Labs, InnoSpring, PropelX, QUT bluebox, ElevenTwo Capital, Sony Ventures, Singularity U’s Explorers Fund and Robotics Hub.

Odense Robotics and Invest in Odense can offer an incubation award for the Best European Startup team (2 persons) as follows: Travel to / housing in Odense, 1-month for 2 persons in Odense (travel/housing value 1500 USD), access to all Odense Robotics StartUp Hub facilities, Robot Innovation Hall, the other startups in the Hub, for one month (during May / June 2017), preparing for the JUNE PITCH SESSION –  for the board of Odense Robotic StartUp Hub where they might be selected as one of two StartUps to enter the Odense Robotic StartUp Hub (12 months).

Silicon Valley Robotics will offer a startup membership to all of The Shortlist, providing introductions to investors in Silicon Valley, access to network events and hosting in the new Robot Launchpad accelerator space. We are also coordinating demo opportunities at expos around the world. There’ll also be “most promising startup awards” for MENA and Australia/NZ from other robotics cluster and entrepreneurial organizations; MENA and QUT Bluebox.

We’re still looking out for more award sponsors if you have something to offer a robotics startup. andra [at] robotlaunch.com

I was delighted to discover that Patrick Tresset, an artist I admire, was nominated for the award this year. His latest installations focus on the relations between humans and machines. Will robot culture emerge in the interactions? What are machine aesthetics? And where will people fit into an increasingly complex technological mix?

Tresset’s recent exhibition “5RNP Étude humaine #1” at the Montreal Biennale was a theatrical robotic installation in which humans become the actors. In a scenario similar to a live model drawing class, the visitor takes a seat, ready to be drawn by five robots. Placed in an ambivalent situation, the visitor is both at the mercy of the robots’ gaze and the object of artistic attention. Like a live model, the human loses its identity, becoming a passive object of study, while the robots take on the role of artistic creator Despite being immobile, the visitor is an integral part of the installation.

Here are the 10 artists selected for this year’s OPLINE Prize. Voting closes on October 30 so find your favorite and vote now. Or perhaps just enjoy these interesting viewpoints on the intersection of technology and culture.

JUDITH BAUDINET

Chosen by Christian GATTINONI

CLEA COUDSI & ERIC HERBIN

Chosen by Catherine IKAM

CAROLINE DELIEUTRAZ

Chosen by Dominique MOULON

HERVE LOUISE AND CHLOE MAILLET

Chosen by Geneviève Fraisse

ADRIEN M / CLAIRE B

Chosen by Alexia Guggemos

AMY ANTONIN-MENICHETTI

Chosen by Sandra HEGEDUS

NONOTAK

Chosen by Gilles ALVAREZ

PLUM NOURRY

Chosen by ORLAN

SMITH

Chosen by Alain FLEISCHER

PATRICK TRESSET

Chosen by Alain Thibault

Charging Bull statue. Credit: Sam Valadi/Flickr

You may be surprised, but I’m not. These are the people I see regularly both in Silicon Valley and overseas interacting with the robotics community. That makes them the smart money (most of the time). According to CB Insights, the 7 most active robotics investors over the last 5 years are: Eclipse Ventures, High-Tech Gründerfonds, Lux, Intel Capital, Sequoia China, CRV, and Visionaire Ventures.

As CB Insights demonstrates, old school ‘smart money’ is still making investments in robotics — just at a slower pace. Overall, the last 5 years has seen an increase in global robotics equity funding to $2.6 billion in 405 deals.

Source: CB Insights

Eclipse Ventures is a $125m hardware fund. which ‘backs iconic entrepreneurs building vertically integrated companies incorporating hardware, software and data.’ Some of their portfolio companies include; Kinema Systems, Marble, Modbot, Rise Robotics, and Clearpath Robotics.

High-Tech Gründerfonds is Germany’s most active and leading seed-stage investor across fields of cleantech, biotech and robotics, with e576m in two funds. Portfolio companies include; REVOBOTIK, Bionic Robotics, Magazino, Reactive Robotics, Medineering.

Lux Capital has $700m under management and ‘invests in emerging science and technology ventures at the outermost edges of what is possible’. Some of their portfolio companies include; Saildrone, Tempo Automation, CyPhy Works and Auris Surgical Robots.

Intel Capital has had more portfolio exits than any other venture capital firm since 2005. Intel Capital is stage agnostic, across a wide range of technologies. Portfolio companies include; Ninebot, Yuneec, Savioke, and Persimmon Technologies.

Sequoia has invested in an unprecedented number of enormously successful companies, including Apple, Google, Electronic Arts, LinkedIn, Dropbox, and WhatsApp. Today, Sequoia has robust connections to the four most innovative and fastest-changing economies in the world: China, India, Israel, and the United States. Sequoia China portfolio companies include; Ninebot, Makeblock, Quotient Kinematics Machine, and DJI Innovations.

CRV, aka Charles River Ventures, has over $2.1b under management with more than 40 years of experience in 16 funds. Some portfolio companies include; Jibo, Wonder Workshop, Airobotics, and Rethink Robotics

Visionaire Ventures has just closed a second $200m fund and is investing in companies from artificial intelligence to machine/deep learning, robotic automation, visual perception, agricultural and digital health technologies. Portfolio companies include; CANVAS Technology, Modbot, Savioke, and Zipline International.

Editor’s note:

In celebration of International Women’s Day, we’re reposting our latest ‘25 Women in Robotics You Need to Know About‘ list. Over the last four years, Robohub has featured 100 inspiring women leading future developments within robotics, with plenty more for the years to come!

Our next edition will be released on Ada Lovelace Day.

In celebration of Ada Lovelace Day, we’ve compiled our fourth annual ‘25 Women in Robotics You Need to Know About‘ list. That’s 100 women who have been featured to date. We’re showcasing women working in research, development, and commercialization of robotics. The role models are diverse, ranging from emeritus to early career stage. Even though the total number of women in robotics is still relatively small, we’re celebrating that women are leading the way within this field.

Role models are important. Countess Ada Lovelace, the world’s first computer programmer and an extraordinary mathematician, faced an uphill battle in the days when women were not encouraged to pursue a career in science. Fast forward 200 years, there are still not enough women in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM). One key reason is clear: a severe lack of visible female role models. Women in STEM need to be equally represented at conferences, keynotes, magazine covers, or stories about technology. Although this is starting to change, it’s not happening quick enough.

To address that challenge, Suw Charman-Anderson started Ada Lovelace Day in 2009 in response to the lack of visibility of women in STEM (not the lack of women). It’s an international day celebrating the achievements of women in STEM. Everyone is encouraged to add an event or a story to the Finding Ada site.

A recent study from the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford found that visibility was the missing factor preventing women from moving into leadership positions within their organization. This has a cumulative effect on career progression and earnings. These findings support an earlier study with the Anita Borg Institute, who interviewed 1800 women in technology companies. According to the authors, women reported being less likely than male counterparts to be assigned to high visibility projects, which in turn, has a negative impact on their chances for future promotions.

We’d like to think that this annual list is opening eyes from within the robotics community, and beyond. One of our 2015 listees Spring Berman wrote to Robohub and said, “I’m so grateful for the mention in Robohub’s 25 women in robotics!  The president of ASU saw the article about it in our university news, and now he wants to visit our lab in mid-April to see our work. Hopefully we can get together a cool demo to show him!”

Without further ado, here are 25 women in robotics you should know about (in alphabetical order) for 2016. Enjoy!

Nora Ayanian Assistant Professor and Director of the ACT lab at USC Nora Ayanian’s research focuses on creating end-to-end solutions for multirobot coordination, to enable people to use teams of robots. Ayanian is the recipient of the 2016 Okawa Foundation Research Grant and is an MIT Technology Review TR25 Top Innovator.

Catherine Ball Founder & CEO, Remote Research Ranges / Managing Director, Elemental Strategy Catherine Ball won Telstra Queensland Business Woman of Year (2015) for her drone work. She is an environmental scientist, author and now the CEO of an Australian startup working with the application of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) across remote communities, schools, industry, and citizen scientists. Dr. Ball is leading the call for discussions around the ethics of spatial data, aka geo-ethics.

Margarita Chli SNF Assistant Professor at ETHZ, Honorary Fellow of the University of Edinburgh Margarita Chli is an SNF Assistant Professor leading the Vision for Robotics Lab at ETH Zurich, Switzerland and an Honorary Fellow of the University of Edinburgh in the UK. Previously, she was a Chancellor’s Fellow and Lecturer at the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh, and before that, she was at the Autonomous Systems Lab (ASL) of ETH Zurich, where she held the post of Deputy Director, Senior Researcher and Lecturer. Her research interest is in Computer Vision for Robotics, focusing on real-time perception for micro-aerial vehicles. Over the years, she’s been involved in a number of European projects (AEROWORKS, SHERPA, myCopter,sFly).

Vivian Chu Graduate Research Assistant at Georgia Institute of Technology Vivian Chu is a Graduate Student Research Assistant at Georgia Institute of Technology, studying perception, AI and cognition, and interaction. Chu’s paper on “Using Robotic Exploratory Procedures to Learn the Meaning of Haptic Adjectives” was awarded the Best Cognitive Robotics Paper at ICRA 2013.

Mady Delvaux European Parliament MEP Mady Delvaux (S&D, LU) is a Member of the European Parliament. Alongside an extensive draft report on “Civil Law Rules on Robotics,” Delvaux proposes the creation of a legal framework for automation and ways to promote European industry.

Bernardine Dias Associate Research Professor at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University M. Bernardine Dias, Ph.D., served as a member of the faculty at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, primarily affiliated with the Field Robotics Center where Dias developed Trader Bots, a robotic task allocation system. Dias is currently founder and CEO of Diyunu Consulting, dedicated to bringing robotics to marginalized populations.

Sanja Dogramadzi Associate Professor / Reader in Robotics at UWE Bristol Sanja Dogramadzi develops medical and assistive robots at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory. Her research focuses on the multidisciplinary use of robotics technologies in healthcare settings. Dogramadzi has been awarded funding in the range of £2.4M since 2009, currently supervising/managing a team of 15 post-doctoral and doctoral researchers and junior lecturers. Her team won the Best Medical Robotics Paper Award at ICRA 2016.

Anca Dragan Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley Anca Dragan runs the InterACT Lab at Berkeley, which focusses on algorithms for human-robot interaction. The lab works across different applications, from assistive robots, to manufacturing, to autonomous cars, and draws from optimal control, planning, estimation, learning, and cognitive science. Dragan also helped fund and servee on the steering committee for the Berkeley AI Research (BAIR) Lab, and is a co-PI of the Center for Human-Compatible AI.

Kimberley Hambuchen Human Robotic Systems Deputy Project Manager at NASA Johnson Space Center Kimberly Hambuchen is an expert in developing novel methods for remote supervision of space robots over intermediate time delays. She has proven the validity of these methods through multiple NASA analog field tests with robots, including the JSC Space Exploration Vehicles, Centaur platforms and Robonaut 2, the ATHLETE rovers from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Ames Research Center K-10s. She was the User Interface Lead for JSC’s entry into the DARPA Robotics Challenge, using her expertise in remote supervision of robots to guide operator interface development for the DRC robot, Valkyrie. She currently oversees NASA JSC’s participation in the collaboration of the Robot Operations Portal (ROP), which seeks to provide non-expert, web-based interfaces for operating remote robots unavailable to the greater public.

Kaijen Hsiao CTO at Mayfield Robotics Kaijen Hsiao has been leading innovations in robotics, artificial intelligence, and hardware/software design and development for over 15 years. Hsiao has a history of working on robotics projects that turn into well-funded startup enterprises in the US & Europe. Some of her credits include designing components for agricultural robots, home security and companion robots, service robots, and assistive robots for people with disabilities. Kaijen has worked on high-profile projects at Willow Garage, MIT (CSAIL and Media Lab), Bosch, iRobot, and now Mayfield Robotics.

M.Ani Hsieh Associate Professor at Drexel University Ani Hsieh focuses on bridging the gap between geophysical fluid dynamics, nonlinear dynamics and control, and distributed multi-agent robotic systems. Hsieh currently works in the Scalable Autonomous System Laboratory at Drexel University. She is a 2011 ONR Summer Faculty Fellow, the recipient of a 2012 Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator Award, and the recipient of of 2013 National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award.

Wendy Ju Executive Director and Associate Professor of Interaction Design at Center for Design Research at Stanford University and California College of the Arts Wendy Ju works in the areas of human-robot interaction and automated vehicle interfaces, highlighting the ways that interactive devices can communicate and engage people without interrupting or intruding. Ju has innovated numerous methods for early-stage prototyping of automated systems to understand how people will respond to systems before the systems are built. Her monograph on The Design of Implicit Interactions was published in 2015.

Angelica Lim Making Pepper Sociable / Software Engineering Manager at SoftBank Robotics Angelica Lim builds artificial intelligence for robots to interact with humans in a smart, fun, way by combining neuroscience, machine learning, and developmental psychology to model emotion. She currently works as a Software Engineering Manager at SoftBank Robotics in Paris, France. Her previous creations include robots that play music in a human ensemble, speak and gesture with expression, and recognize emotion in movement.

Gudrun Litzenberger General Secretary and Director of Statistics at International Federation of Robotics Gudrun Litzenberger is on the Executive Board of the International Federation of Robotics, the global not-for-profit industry association for robotics formed in 1987. The purpose of IFR is to promote and strengthen the robotics industry worldwide, to protect its business interests, to cause public awareness about robotics technologies and to deal with other matters of relevance to its members. Litzenberger also oversees the collection and interpretation of market relevant data for world-wide surveys, studies, statistics and other data on the world-wide use of robotics.

Rosanna Myers Cofounder of Carbon Robotics Rosanna Myers is cofounder of Carbon Robotics, building Katia – a Kick-Ass Trainable Intelligent Arm. Myers is a self-taught software developer with a background in building innovative high tech startups. Carbon Robotics was recently named as one of the Top 50 “most influential public & private companies in the global robotics industry” by the Robotics Business Review.

Erin Rapacki Business Development at Pneubotics Erin Rapacki is a product storyteller with robotics experience across academia and industry, in both the Boston and Silicon Valley hotspots, with projects ranging from flexible logistics, supply chain, FDA approval, consumer products, military casualty extraction, assistive devices, robotic tele-presence, and warehousing. Rapacki finds ways to catalyze the robotics market by identifying unique value propositions for new robotic products, and by creating community and cooperation between companies and thought leaders.

Carol Reiley Co-founder / President at drive.ai Carol Reiley is the cofounder and President of drive.ai, an artificial intelligence self-driving car startup. Reiley is also a Computer Science Ph.D. candidate at Johns Hopkins University in robotics and computer vision, and an NSF Graduate Research Fellow researching strategies for improving human and robotic interaction. Her previous works include underwater and industrial robotics at Santa Clara University, space satellites at Lockheed Martin, people detection at GE Research, and clinical development engineering as a consultant at Intuitive Surgical.

Simone Schürle Research Fellow at Koch Institute of Integrative Cancer Research, MIT Simone Schürle studies Micro- and Nanosystems Technologies with a focus on cancer research. In 2005 she completed a research stay at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, in the field of Bio Mechanical Engineering. She gained further practical experience during internships in R&D and marketing in Nano Imprint Lithography at SUSS MicroTec in Munich, Germany. Schürle was awarded the ETH Zurich Medal for distinguished doctoral thesis in 2014 for her PhD work on the magnetic control of microrobots. She was then awared a fellowship to go to MIT working at the interface between robotics and nanomedicine. Schürle was recently awarded a Branco Weiss Fellowship to work on merging wireless control of magnetic nanosystems with the engineering potential of synthetic biology. She is also co-founder of the microrobotics company MagnebotiX.

Katia Sycara Research Professor, Director of Advanced Agent-Robotics Technology Lab at Carnegie Mellon University / University of Aberdeen Katia Sycara is a Research Professor in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University and holds the Sixth Century Chair (part time) in Computing Science at the University of Aberdeen in the U.K. She is also the Director of the Laboratory for Agents Technology and Semantic Web Technologies at CMU, researching multi-agent systems. Prof. Sycara is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), Fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) and the recipient of the 2002 ACM/SIGART Agents Research Award. She is also the recipient of the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the University of Wisconsin in 2005. She is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of France Telecom, and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Greek National Center of Scientific Research “Demokritos” Information Technology Division.

Adriana Tapus Vice Provost / Professor at INTERFACES Graduate School, UPSay / ENSTA-ParisTech Adriana Tapus researches the personalization of assistive robots, with a focus on life-long learning and adaptive robot behaviors. Tapus develops different models of personalized interaction applied to health-related applications, cooperation and driving tasks. Tapus currently has a HEROES grant for “Haptic Emotional Robot Experiments with Sensitive Body” as well as a DGA Fellowship, and is active as an academic journal editor, conference program chair and general chair.

Stefanie Tellex Assistant Professor at Brown University Stefanie Tellex works on constructing robots that seamlessly use natural language to communicate with humans, by applying probabilistic methods, corpus-based training, and decision theory to develop interactive robotic systems that can understand and generate natural language. Tellex has published at SIGIR, HRI, RSS, AAAI, IROS, and ICMI, winning Best Student Paper at SIGIR and ICMI and was named one of IEEE Spectrum’s AI’s 10 to Watch. Stefanie won the Richard B. Salomon Faculty Research Award at Brown University and recently won a NASA Early Career Faculty Award for Human-Robot Collaboration on Complex tasks.

Patricia Vargas Associate Professor / Founding Director of the Robotics Laboratory at Heriot-Watt University, UK Patricia Vargas is the Founding Director of the Robotics Laboratory and Associate Professor/Reader in Computer Science and Robotics at the School of Mathematical and Computer Science (MACS) at the Heriot-Watt University, in Edinburgh, Scotland. She is particularly interested in: Human-Robot Interaction, Evolutionary Robotics, Swarm Robotics, Computational Neuroscience and Memory Modelling, Biologically-inspired algorithms in general, such as Artificial Neural Networks, Artificial Endocrine Systems, Artificial Immune Systems, and Learning Classifier Systems, and Data Mining and Machine Learning.

Hanna Wallach Senior Researcher / Assistant Professor / Cofounder at Microsoft Research / UMass Amherst / Women in Machine Learning Hanna Wallach develops machine learning methods for analyzing the structure, content, and dynamics of social processes. Her work is inherently interdisciplinary: she collaborates with political scientists, sociologists, and journalists to understand how organizations work by analyzing publicly available interaction data, such as email networks, document collections, press releases, meeting transcripts, and news articles. She also studies issues of fairness, accountability, and transparency as they relate to machine learning. Wallach’s research has had broad impact in machine learning, natural language processing, and computational social science. In 2014, she was named one of Glamour magazine’s “35 Women Under 35 Who Are Changing the Tech Industry”; in 2015, she was elected to the International Machine Learning Society’s Board of Trustees; and in 2016, she was named co-winner of the 2016 Borg Early Career Award. Hanna is committed to increasing diversity and has worked for over a decade to address the underrepresentation of women in computing. She co-founded the annual Women in Machine Learning Workshop, which is now in its eleventh year.

Lisa Winter Product Design Engineer at Mattel, Inc. A roboticist since childhood, Lisa Winter has 20 years experience designing and building robots. She was crowned the Robot Wars Middleweight World Champion and has been in many publications, including MAKE magazine. In 2012, Winter cofounded smart toy company Robot 11, building smart wearables and Bluetooth connected toys. She has been inventing and rapid prototyping connected devices since the beginning of the IoT movement. Winter is currently the Product Design Engineer at Mattel, developing a smart wearable baby monitor. At night she builds combat robots for ABC’s BattleBots, and dreams of ways to help animals and the environment.

Rosalie Wang Assistant Professor at Intelligent and Assistive Technology and Systems Lab, University of Toronto / Toronto Rehabilitative Institute Rosalie Wang’s focus is on developing and clinically evaluating intelligent systems for rehabilitation, and as clinical Occupational Therapist, she brings a unique approach to evaluating user-centered and context-relevant design for robotic assistive technologies.

Do you have a story to tell about how visibility helped your robotics career? Would you like to nominate someone for next year’s list? Do you want to help organize Women in Robotics events or join the Women in Robotics network? We’d love to hear from you. You can ask for an invitation to the Women in Robotics network here. Know of any great women in robotics who should be on this list next year? Check the lists from our previous years (2013, 2014, and 2015), and feel free to leave your nominations in the comments section below, or email us at info [at] robohub.org.

If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:

• 25 women in robotics you need to know about (2013)
• 25 women in robotics you need to know about (2014)
• 25 women in robotics you need to know about (2015)
• Five women robotics experts from Silicon Valley share their stories
• Steffi Paepcke on Robots, women and design: Opportunities abound

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Silicon Valley Robotics held an innovation tour for some of our global partners ahead of the RoboBusiness conference in San Jose. Representatives from Odense Robotics Cluster, Invest in Denmark and Denmark Innovation Center joined up with Sumitomi Mitsui Bank, Siemens, A3/RIA, Robotics Hub and the Office of Science and Technology Policy for a ’round the Bay’ innovation tour.The day started with a discussion on cluster strategies at Denmark Innovation Center in Palo Alto, then moved to SRI International for a lab tour, where we saw both historical robots like Shakey and the latest innovations like Motobot and Superflex.

After lunch, we visited Otherlab in San Francisco to see companies like Pneubotics and Otherlab Orthotics. Then we finished the afternoon off at The Switch in Livermore, with a visit to Positron Dynamics and the Robot Garden maker space. The brews on tap rounded out a very lively day of discussion.

We also welcome new Global Partners: Blue Ocean Robotics and Harmonic Drive. Blue Ocean Robotics is looking for local robotics companies to partner with in developing robotics solutions for the global market. Odense Robotics can also offer assistance in reaching partners and markets in Europe.

Plus, if you’re looking towards Asian markets and partners, SMBC can help. We also had another innovation tour very recently with SPRING Singapore and there are significant subsidies for US robotics companies launching into Singapore.

If you have any photos you’d like to share, or want to become a member of Silicon Valley Robotics, get in contact with Andra.

Four people involved in the creation of an industry partnership say its intent will be clear: to ensure that A.I. research is focused on things that will benefit people, not hurt them.

The Robot Launch Pad’s insight:
if the big guys are doing it it must be good, right?

As Detroit car makers and Silicon Valley tech giants vie to bring driverless cars to U.S. roads, one of the world’s largest tractor makers is looking to do the same down on the farm.

The Robot Launch Pad’s insight:
Agricultural giants showing off their autonomous vehicle concepts.

Where automated workers are most likely to become reality

The Robot Launch Pad’s insight:
What sort of kitchen jobs will robots really do? Some good insights here.

Robot startup Abundant Robotics, a spin-of of SRI International based in California, is using machine vision and a robot arm to build an autonomous apple picker

The Robot Launch Pad’s insight:
Excellent to see more agricultural robotics startups getting traction.

The robotics industry is maturing. The quality of startups in particular has really changed over the last 2-3 years, and this is backed up by the increasing investment levels, with over $1 billion invested in robotics in 2015. The scope of market areas that we are now seeing robotics startups in is also changing. There are now social robots for health and education, robots doing service tasks in hospitality, retail, logistics, consumer robots tackling garden and maintenance tasks. There are also new industrial, manufacturing and inspection robots, plus new sensor, software and robotics infrastructure opportunities.

We’ve also seen a real change in how polished the robotics startups that we see are, including in the Robot Launch competition – just saying the bar is getting high for all you late entrants – entries close August 15! But the Robot Launch competition is about startups at the start of their journey and it’s fascinating to see how they continue to grow and mature after the competition. We featured some Robot Launch alumni in our last post. Here are some more Robot Launch alumni stories!

Robotics Technologies of Tennessee was a 2014 finalist, winning the Silicon Valley Robotics award which included showcasing their wall climbing welding and inspection robots at SOLID, the first O’Reilly hardware conference. RTT went on to win the SOLID showcase award.

“SOLID was a who’s who of the maker movement, robotics and connected devices,” said Steve Glovsky, EVP of Robotic Technologies of Tennessee, one of the three startups that got to showcase at the event. “We made amazing contacts, discussed possible collaborations and were serendipitously asked to participate in ‘once in a lifetime’ projects. We even made the 11 o’clock news! Robot Launch 2014 allowed us to connect with people imagining and solving similar challenges in ways we might have missed without participating in the contest and SOLID.”

Welding robot, by Robotics Technologies of Tennessee.

Since then RTT have received several grants and contracts, built smaller faster more adaptable robots and found a new market in the nuclear industry. One of RTT’s new robots was prominently featured in an Electric Power Research Institute’s (EPRI) Journal article titled, “EPRI Research Supports Longer Service Lives for Spent Fuel Dry Casks.” The article reports on the industries collective mindset shift from storing spent fuel for relatively short periods of time, to one of much longer periods and the role that new robotics technologies plays in enabling safe change.

Scanse.io will be shipping their first low cost LiDAR in December 2016, after a successful crowdfund campaign. Scanse raised more than their crowdfund goal of $230,000 with over 1000 backers. If you missed out, they are still accepting preorders for the LiDAR at $255 each.

• Dual Returns
• 120 grams
• 40m Range
• High ambient light tolerance
• Immunity to malicious interference
• 500 Points per Second
• 360° Horizontal FOV
• Low Power Consumption

Scanse founders Kent Williams and Tyson Messori actually entered Robot Launch 2014 with a robot ground vehicle – and then withdrew their entry because they weren’t happy with the prototype. They just couldn’t get good enough navigation. They needed a better more affordable sensor.

Kent and Tyson reentered Robot Launch 2015 as Scannable with their first version of their new affordable LiDAR unit. They made it to the finals and less than 1 year later, Scanse,io is launched!

Are you the next Robot Launch super startup? This weekend is the last chance for startups to enter the 2016 Robot Launch startup competition and maybe join the ranks of some very successful new robotics companies. Deadline for entries is August 15 at 18:00 PDT

Pepper, the humanoid robot created by Aldebaran Robotics and SoftBank Mobile, is slowly making its way to the US — and it’s starting in Silicon Valley. The robot was seen in action this week a

The Robot Launch Pad’s insight:
Good points – how much will a connected robot in a store know about customers?

Should machines have a concrete Mr Spock-like regard for logic or are there times when the best decision is a more human one?

The Robot Launch Pad’s insight:
We want our cake and to eat it too.

Papert’s work was dedicated to using technology to help kids learn.

The Robot Launch Pad’s insight:
Papert made so many great contributions to robotics and AI but his holistic focus on making robotics accessible and fun at the same time continues to inspire us all.

Catch up with past winners: CleverPet (2015), Preemadonna/Nailbot (2015 runner-up), and Leka (2014).

Starship Technologies CEO Ahti Heinla takes a self-driving robot on a test delivery to a Silicon Valley resident.

A Pittsburgh startup wants to build a robot that can pick items off of shelves, the holy grail of warehouse fulfillment