Discover more from Abe Murray | AlleyCorp / Deep Tech
Hey friends - heard you were looking for some fun robotics GIFs! We may have snuck some valuable news in as well. 🤖
Check out the events list at the end for more ways to get connected… following us on social media and commenting on our posts works well too. 😅
Without further ado, welcome to the robot jungle! 🐍
From left to right: (a) Robot snakes mesmerize with dance moves (b) Robot bird flies and lands on perch (c) Robot dog sleeps in doghouse after night on the town
EVEN MOAR 🤖 STUFF FOLLOWS!
We scrape the internet of robots to give you amazing chunks of robot news each month, broken out by sector. Cmd-F for “agriculture” / “construction” / etc. if you want to focus. Or read it all and be among the best informed robotics experts in the world! 🤖🧑🔬🌎. Keep reading to find:
Robot News | part I - synthesis
Robot News | part II - rollup
Robot News | part III - events & jobs
Mic drop | don’t miss the best bits!
Enjoy 🤖💲📈!
~Abe
PS - Subscribe to our newsletter, follow us on Twitter - @abemurray and LinkedIn - Abe Murray for more robot news!
Robotics News | Part I - synthesis
What’s going on in robotics? Overall, and by sector? Dig in below!
State of Robotics
Investment trends in robotics - F-Prime released this State of Robotics report, a comprehensive analysis of more than 1,250 robotics companies globally, including an exploration of the use case each is pursuing. Around $90B has been invested in robotics companies since 2018, with average annual growth of 13 percent.
Are we experiencing market changes? - The venture market may be correcting more than we think to pre-COVID times, but we’re still optimistic and investing in early-stage robotics startups!
Industrial robotics potential - Results from the 2022 McKinsey Global Industrial Robotics Survey reveal that industrial companies are set to spend heavily on robotics and automation. However, many will need help to complete the journey.
Is the singularity almost here? - Some people are speculating what life will look like when/if the time arrives. Leave your thoughts in the comments below and on social media. 😊
Interested in learning robotics? - Check out this list of resources!
Robotics companies win awards - RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards Winners
Want more robot videos? - Check these out!
Hot off the AlleyCorp Robotics press
Exciting announcement from our portfolio company Earth Force:
A different kind of D&D… Drones & Delivery
Bird drones have entered the chat - Researchers are resurrecting dead birds and returning them to the skies as hi-tech drones. The goal is to study the formation of flight of flocks of migratory birds.
Autonomous electric trucks in the UK - Einride is looking to target the 1.6 billion tonnes of goods that are transported by road freight in the U.K each year. Its first U.K. deployment will be in partnership with PepsiCo to deliver goods between the cities of Leicester and Coventry, which it says will help it cut fossil fuel-powered transport by 250,000 miles each year.
Retail and inventory robots - AI powered robots are changing retail. Outfitted with cameras and sensors, autonomous inventory robots that can verify price signs and look for out-of-stock items are being deployed at big box stores. Inventory is one of the biggest challenges retailers face. Missed sales from empty shelves and out-of-stock items cost U.S. retailers $82 billion in 2021, according to NielsenIQ.
Robots are automating ports - West Coast dockworkers reached a tentative agreement with employers regarding automated machinery at cargo terminals, according to sources familiar with the negotiations, clearing one major hurdle in talks on a new contract covering workers at some of the country’s biggest seaports. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents more than 22,000 dockworkers at ports from Southern California to Washington state, said Thursday it has reached agreement with employers “on certain key issues.”
Deals in this space:
Flyby Robotics receives $4M for autonomous drone delivery. The two-year-old, L.A.-based drone automation and delivery company, has raised $4 million in seed funding. The round was led by Mac Venture Capital, with participation from Weekend Fund, Anthemis, and Evening Fund. A 2022 report by McKinsey found more than 660,000 commercial drone deliveries to customers worldwide from 2019 to 2022. The company estimates that more than 2,000 drone deliveries occur each day worldwide.
Robust.AI raises $20M as it scales robot deliveries for pilot customers. Robust announced a $20 million Series A-1, led by Prime Movers Lab and featuring Future Ventures, Energy Impact Partners, JAZZ Ventures and Playground Global. The latter two led the startup’s $15 million Series A, back in late-2020.
Robot software and data
Robots are becoming easier to program - Viam’s robot prototyping software is now available, providing support from prototyping to fleet management. Existing customers include Dexai Robotics, HAX, Newlab and Sol Robotics. Founder (and ARV LP) Eliot Horowitz says, “Robots are coming - for real this time.”
Deals in this space:
Roboto.ai raises $4.8 million seed round. The one-year-old Seattle startup is building a data platform that allows robotics developers to easily search across different types of data using natural language queries. The round was led by Unusual Ventures, with the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2) and FUSE Ventures also taking part.
Construction, agriculture, food, and grass
We’re feeling good about our Civ thesis - After nearly seven years of attempting to perfect digging trenches with autonomous excavators, Built Robotics announced plans to shift its focus from general construction projects to installation of solar farms. Humans still have a very important place in robotics, take a look at our portco Earth Force as well as CAT and their teleop thesis.
John Deere wants to be a software company - John Deere introduced its first fully autonomous tractor in 2022, the John Deere 8R, which leverages computer vision and machine learning to enable the tractor to perceive the world around it, identify obstacles and safely operate without an onboard operator. Along the way, they acquired Blue River Technology and Bear Flag Robotics to help infuse the JD engineering team with the IP and technical resources necessary to grow at the pace necessary to remain a leading AgTech supplier. John Deere also maintains a Silicon Valley development center and laboratory where it supports the accelerating push for innovation. Over the last five years, the company has grown its software development group by 350% and now employs 4,300 software engineers.
Have It Your Way - McDonald’s first fully automated restaurant —with no human contact in Fort Worth.
Another robot mower - The new Segway Navimow robot lawn mower will soon become available to customers in the US and Canada via an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign. This model will be offered with VisionFence, sensors which allow the robot to detect lawn edges and avoid obstacles, including wildlife.
Deals in this space:
Carbon Robotics raises $30 million Series C - The nearly five-year-old, Seattle-based agricultural startup that makes laser weeding robots that it says can zap “500 million weeds across 40 different crops," has raised $30 million in Series C funding led by Sozo Ventures, with participation from Anthos Capital, Fuse Venture Capital, Ignition Partners, Liquid 2 and Voyager Capital. The outfit has now raised $67 million altogether.
Babylon raises $8M for its self-contained vertical farming system - The round, which also features Virginia Venture Partners, Hull Street Capital and New Theory Ventures, follows a $3 million seed announced almost exactly two years ago. It arrives as the startup is also announcing a $500,000 National Science Foundation grant.
Robotics in health
Robotically conceived babies - The first babies conceived with a sperm-injecting robot have been born. Last spring, engineers in Barcelona packed up the sperm-injecting robot they’d designed and sent it by DHL to New York City. They followed it to a clinic there, called New Hope Fertility Center, where they put the instrument back together, assembling a microscope, a mechanized needle, a tiny petri dish, and a laptop. The startup company that developed the robot, Overture Life, says its device is an initial step toward automating in vitro fertilization, or IVF, and potentially making the procedure less expensive and far more common than it is today.
Massages may be the best use of cobots - Flexiv is utilizing its existing Rizon 4 robotic arm, which has seven degrees of freedom. For this particular application, it is equipped with a new soft silicone heated massage tool. Using a combination of computer vision and AI-based software (on a linked control box), the bot starts by identifying the approximate location of the patient's spine and key muscle groups. It then utilizes its silicone tool and a force feedback system to establish their exact location via some gentle probing. On this topic, we’re excited for massages from our portco Aescape.
Deals in this space:
Noah Medical announces $150M raise for a robot that goes in your lungs - Noah Medical, the California-based medical robotics startup, announced on Wednesday it raised $150 million in fresh funding. The round was co-led by Softbank Vision Fund and Prosperity7 Ventures. Hillhouse Capital, Sequoia Capital China and UpHonest Capital were among the investors that participated in the round.
Distalmotion collects $150M to bring hybrid surgery robot to the US - The 11-year-old, Lausanne, Switzerland-based company whose minimally invasive "Dexter" robot is currently being used in Europe for daily procedures in gynecology, urology and general surgery (it doesn't have FDA approval yet here in the U.S.), has raised $150 million from earlier backers, including Revival Healthcare Capital.
Robotics News Part II - rollup
Let the robot fun continue…
Educational robot kit - Makeblock Ultimate 2.0 is an educational robot kit that can be used to easily create up to 10 different types of robots. An Arduino-compatible Mega 2560 MCU board serves as the main controller and there are over 550 mechanical parts and electronic modules. The robot can drive up to 4 encoder and stepping motors, control up to 10 servo motors to work simultaneously, and can also be connected to Arduino and Raspberry Pi boards for more complex projects.
⛏️ Picks & Shovels
Mythic raised $13.0M in new funding from existing investors Atreides Management, DCVC, and Lux Capital, along with new investors Catapult Ventures and Hermann Hauser Investment. Mythic designs edge AI chips based on an analog compute-in-memory (CIM) architecture that uses high-density flash memory to store neural networks completely on-chip. The company says its solution is 10X more cost and power-efficient than digital solutions and can process full-resolution video at the edge for real-time detection. Funds will be used to bring its next-generation product to market. Founded in 2012, it is based in Austin, Texas and Redwood City, California, USA, and has raised $178M to date.
SynSense Technology raised $10.0M in pre-Series B+ funding led by Ausvic Capital. A separate strategic financing round drew $1.5M led by Maxvision and RunWoo. SynSense develops neuromorphic SoCs and IP blocks for edge AI applications. Its ultra-low power, ultra-low latency chips combine event-driven computing based on sparse communication, synchronous parallel processing, and spatial temporal computing using spiking neural networks. SynSense’s first chip, which focuses on dynamic vision sensing, has begun volume shipping. Its second product, expected to begin shipping later this year, is a chip for low-dimensional signal processing of sensor information such as sound, pressure, inertial measurement, and smell. Founded in 2017 based on research from University of Zürich and ETH Zürich, it is based in Chengdu, China.
Solitorch drew angel funding from ECC Capital. Solitorch is developing sensors with integrated AI compute. Its first product is an intelligent vision sensor with built-in AI acceleration engine, ADC array, analog front-end amplifier, and Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. It uses a spiking neural network with an event-based dynamic reasoning architecture. Founded in 2022, it is based in Zhuhai, China.
Silicon Microgravity raised $2.2M in the first close of a new funding round with investment from the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund, the Oxford Innovation EIS Growth Fund, Oxford Innovation Finance’s Angel Network, and the Defence and Security Accelerator. It expects to add another $1.2M to the round. Silicon Microgravity develops MEMS accelerometers and gyroscopes for tactical and navigation grade motion sensing in a range of markets including automotive, robotics, and aerospace. The startup’s resonant MEMS technology, which it says enables high sensitivity, low frequency measurement of inertial forces, is also being deployed in gravity sensors that can image the subsurface by detecting density anomalies with applications in construction and infrastructure, defense, mineral exploration, and carbon capture. A spin out from the University of Cambridge founded in 2016, it is based in Waterbeach, UK.
UISEE raised $14.5M in Series C financing from Dongfeng Motor’s Dongfeng Asset Management and Chongqing High-tech Holdings. UISEE is developing L3 and L4 autonomous driving systems designed to be used by unmanned vehicles in geofenced situations like airports, industrial parks, and agriculture. The solution includes autonomous driving algorithms, a cloud-based operations management platform, and intelligent driving controller module. It currently has autonomous electric baggage tractors deployed at several airports. The funding will be used to set up a headquarters for its passenger car business, which will provide self-driving technology to OEMs of robobuses, robotaxis, unmanned delivery vehicles, and unmanned patrol cars. Founded in 2016, it is based in Beijing, China.
Bifrost received seed funding from Sequoia India’s Surge accelerator, along with co-investor Wavemaker Group. Bifrost offers software that generates synthetic data using realistic 3D environments for training machine learning models. It supports generation of pre-labeled data based on customized sensor specifications (including RGB, MWIR, SWIR, LIDAR, SAR, and depth camera) to account for rare scenarios that are underrepresented in real data. Founded in 2019, it is based in Singapore.
PreAct Technologies added $6.0M to its Series B round led by I Squared Capital, joined by State Farm Ventures, Luminate, Traylor Capital, and other new and existing investors, bringing the round originally announced in January to $20.0M. PreAct develops near-field software-definable flash lidar technology. The lidar sensor is based on continuous wave time of flight (CWToF) technology with sample rates up to 150 fps and integrated with a high-resolution RGB camera. Founded in 2018, it is based in Portland, Oregon, USA.
Allotrope Energy raised up to $6.7M in strategic financing from Suzano Ventures, the venture arm of hardwood pulp producer Suzano. Allotrope Energy develops high-rate carbon-based materials for ultra-fast charging lithium-carbon and lithium-ion capacitor batteries. The company claims its batteries can reach full charge in similar time to fueling an internal combustion engine vehicle, without the safety hazards associated with other lithium-ion technologies. Founded in 2016, it is based in Surrey, UK.
👩🏽🔬 Researchers gonna research
Researchers at Columbia Engineering have demonstrated a highly dexterous robot hand, one that combines an advanced sense of touch with motor learning algorithms in order to achieve a high level of dexterity. In addition to the new levels of dexterity, the hand worked without any external cameras, so it's immune to lighting, occlusion, or similar issues. And the fact that the hand does not rely on vision to manipulate objects means that it can do so in very difficult lighting conditions that would confuse vision-based algorithms--it can even operate in the dark.
This humanoid robot can walk faster than any other - and play football too. ARTEMIS (for Advanced Robotic Technology for Enhanced Mobility and Improved Stability) is capable of walking on rough and unstable surfaces, and was designed with a particular focus on bipedal locomotion. ARTEMIS has been clocked walking at 2.1 m/s, which would make it the world's fastest-walking humanoid robot, according to researchers at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).
This video is part of the paper "Human-Like Artificial Skin Sensor for Physical Human-Robot Interaction" by Marc Teyssier, Brice Parilusyan, Anne Roudaut and Jurgen Steimle from Saarland University, Saarland Informatics Campus, Germany; Pole Universitaire Leonard de Vinci, Research Center, France; Bristol Interaction Group, University of Bristol, UK. Presented at the 2021 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA).
Researchers at Stanford are building a precise assistive-feeding robot that can handle any meal. For people with spinal cord injuries or other types of motor impairments, performing this series of movements without assistance can be nigh on impossible, meaning they must rely on caregivers to feed them. This reduces individuals' autonomy while also contributing to caregiver burnout, says Jennifer Grannen, graduate student in computer science at Stanford University.
💰 Investors gonna invest
Future Ventures closed a $200 million fund – its third in a row bringing the firm’s assets under management to $925 million after factoring in SPVs and pop-up funds. Co-founder Steve Jurvetson is a veteran VC who has spent more than 14 years on the board of Tesla before stepping off in the fall of 2020, holding a seat on the board of SpaceX for the past 14-plus years, and investing in Musk's tunneling concern, Boring Company. With Future Ventures co-founder Maryanna Saenko, the pair also wrote the very first check to Musk’s neurotechnology startup, Neuralink, while Saenko, a robotics expert with degrees from Carnegie Mellon, has driven investments in a wide number of similarly ambitious companies, including Commonwealth Fusion Systems, which is aiming to build a compact fusion power plant; 64x Bio, a gene therapy manufacturing company that raised $55 million last year; and Gameto, a reproductive health company that wants to egg freezing as routine as a tooth cleaning -- and nearly as affordable.
Robotics News Part III - events and jobs
📅 Upcoming robotics events
AUTOMATE: 22-26 MAY 2023, DETROIT
ICRA 2023: 29 MAY–2 JUNE 2023, LONDON
ROBOTICS INVEST 2023: 7 JUNE 2023, BOSTON
👆 supported by AlleyCorp Robotics - come join us!ROBOCUP 2023: 4–10 JULY 2023, BORDEAUX, FRANCE
RSS 2023: 10–14 JULY 2023, DAEGU, SOUTH KOREA
IEEE RO-MAN 2023: 28–31 AUGUST 2023, BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA
CLAWAR 2023: 2–4 OCTOBER 2023, FLORIANOPOLIS, BRAZIL
HUMANOIDS 2023: 12–14 DECEMBER 2023, AUSTIN, TEXAS
Robotics companies are hiring
Come build the future! Join a robotics company and make a difference.
Alley Robotics companies are hiring - aescape, ARIX, Civ Robotics, Earth Force, Mapless, and Renovate are all looking for great folks!
TechCrunch Automate’s Brian Heater continues to roll up top roles too here.
Mic drop!
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And that’s a wrap!
Thanks for reading 1 and keep building!
[∵┌]└[ ∵ ]┘[┐∵]┘ 2
~Abe & The Alley Robotics Ventures Team 3
1 You’re receiving this email because you were signed up for it using our prior newsletter system - we’ve imported our friends of the fund into Substack now, so you can manage your subscription using this system moving forward.
2 Since Substack doesn’t easily let us use sweet sweet emojis we had to go ASCII old-school… this here is apparently known as a “robot party”. Alternate ASCII robomoji include this happy fellow - d[o_0]b - and this friendly robot - └|▽▽|┐
3 Huge props to our Venture Fellow Megan Smith for helping make our newsletter happen this month!
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AlleyCorp is investing in deep tech with a focus on advanced manufacturing, aerospace, and robotics 🤖 🦾 teams solving the world’s problems. We are based in Boston and NYC.