Robot startups need to 'Start Telling People' plus highlights from BARS 2023

Robotics funding for October, NeRFs, news, Farm Robotics Challenge and Tangram Vision's Hi Fi Depth Sensor

This is my new Halloween thing. Robot Pumpkins!

BARS 2023, the Bay Area Robotics Symposium on Friday, was a firehose of the latest robotics research from the epicenter of innovation in robotics and AI. Even the most pure control systems people were finding ways to use transformers in their research and the pace of robotics research is pretty fast atm! A lot of this research will be presented at CORL 2023 in Atlanta GA in 2 weeks time.

The BARS keynote from Jon Barron, Google Research, about NeRFs and now NeRF 2.0 was fascinating. If you want to stay up to date in robotics research and only have time for one thing, then read up on NeRFs and why they provide great depth models for robotics, and some of the other NeRF potentials that are just emerging.

If/when the BARS videos are online, I’ll share them here too.

Did you just switch to a paid subscription? Thank you! It makes you an angel investor in the work I do at Silicon Valley Robotics as a startup advisor, and accelerator.

Focus:

I’m recommending this book (now on Audible) for any robotics or hardware startup. The author Chris Matthews has many years of experience in marketing for robotics and hardware startups and shares it all, including how to pull off a perfect demo in a wifi denied high stakes setting.

Start Telling People is an indispensable guide for technical startup founders, investors, and marketers, packed with practical advice tuned explicitly for the unique needs of emerging startups. Matthews provides frameworks, examples, and interviews that reinforce the book's central thesis: marketing is a discipline, not just an activity. From customer-centric go-to-market models, to the tips and tricks of mastering a new product demo, to content strategy and AI tools, to surviving budgeting and downturns, the book delivers practical, jargon-free ideas that blend the best in marketing fundamentals with the functional realities of fast-paced, growth-focused startups.

Table of Contents

1. The Art and Science of Startup Marketing From Stealth to Success

2. F=ma (Force Equals Marketing Times Alliance)

3. Innovative Positioning Strategies for Category Creation, Redefinition, and Improvement

4. Shaping a Startup's Success Building and Evolving a Strong Brand Identity

5. Crafting Exceptional Customer Experiences From Delighted Discovery to Memorable Ownership

6. Form is the Function Structuring and Building the Team Needed Now

7. Mastering Demos Crafting Compelling Stories and Ensuring Flawless Execution

8. Building Foundations Systems, Tools, and the Inevitability of Artificial Intelligence

9. Unlocking Information Marketing Data for Startups: Collection, Analysis, and Application

10. Budgeting to Win Spreadsheets, Chaos, and Grace

11. Navigating Brand Debt The Power of Marketing as a Discipline During Hard Moments

12. Marketing's Horizon Adaptation, Growth, and Evolution

Quick Reads:

PickNik picks up more funding for their space robotics vision - PickNik Robotics

This company envisions a future where humanoid robots are as ubiquitous as smartphones - CNN

Amazon’s Tye Brady discusses generative AI, humanoid robots and mobile manipulation - TechCrunch

The Challenges Posed by 21st Century Warfare and Autonomous Systems - CEPA

Mineral reimagines our food system using breakthrough AI and robotics - AgDaily

Versatile developing autonomous tractors - Grainews

Robotics can help food and beverage companies reach full potential, former Bai COO says - FoodDive

From Hong Kong to Japan, startup Rice Robotics brings ‘friendly’ AI bots to the service sector - South China Morning Post

California sidelines GM Cruise’s driverless cars, cites safety risk - Reuters

Uber begins offering rides in self-driving Waymo cars - CNBC

Autonomous vehicles in LA bring out protesters concerned with safety and job loss - CBSLA

Wayve’s Alex Kendall on autonomous driving, giving robots feedback and being vindicated by Elon Musk - Sifted

Honda unveils autonomous vehicle, next-gen concepts - Times of India

Geely and Baidu, in challenge to Tesla, launch autonomous EV - Automotive News

California Gov. Newsom is right. Truck drivers and autonomous trucks an thrive together - not just coexist - Fortune

SK Telecom, Mars Auto to develop autonomous truck technology - RCRWirelessNews

Leoni autonomous truck sets course for the motorway - Automotive World

Cyngn Reveals DrivMod Tugger: Fully Autonomous, Electric Tugger for Industrial Operations - Yahoo

Ati Motors: Giving autonomy on industry floors - Forbes

Why Reliable Robotics is getting into the business of building radars - The Air Current

Boeing Air Taxi Company Wisk Flies in Los Angeles - IOT World Today

1st Autonomous, Electric Aircraft in World To Get Approval For Commercial Flights - CleanTechnicaAviation

The steps to autonomous flight: How machine learning is shaping the sky’s future - T_HQ

Robotics: who are the leaders in autonomous carts for the travel & tourism industry? Airport Technology

Samsung heavy Industries and DNV in Autonomous Shipping Collaboration - MarineLink

Saildronre’s autonomous vessels reach 1 million nautical miles, advancing ocean research and climate monitoring - UpNorthLive

Callboats: Autonomous passenger ferries in Helsinki - Electrive

TideWise secures $1.9M investment to drive autonomous naval technology in Brazil - LatamList

Saronic secures US$55M funding to propel advancements in Maritime Autonomy - Jumpstart

Tribe Technology: Revolutionising mining with autonomous drill rigs - Proactive

CCAC, in Allegheny County Pennsylvania, to open $43M Center for Advanced Tech, Robotics - Government Technology

As baby boomers retire, German businesses turn to robots - Reuters

Augmented Reality, AI and Robotics: discover Poland’s Silicon Forest - EuroNews Next

How 3D printing and surgical robotics enable Stryker’s cementless knee implants - Medical Design

UBC engineers develop breakthrough ‘robot skin’ in collaboration with Honda researchers - UBC News

Paolo Dario to receive 2024 IEEE Robotics and Automation Award and Davide Scaramuzza to receive 2024 IEEE Kiyo Tomiyasu Award at the 2024 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) - IEEE RAS News

Robotics Events:

30 October - 3 Nov - ICAM, the International Conference on Advanced Manufacturing - Washington DC from ASME

1 Nov - Bots & Beer at San Jose CTE - Silicon Valley Robotics

3 Nov - AI x Robotics Hackathon - SF Schematic Ventures

4 Nov - Computer History Museum 2023 Fellow Awards - Rodney Brooks, Barbara Liskov and Thomas E. Kurtz - Online only

6-9 Nov - Future in Review - Terranea CA from The Strategic Review (I’m hosting a panel with Agility Robotics, Apptronik and 1x)

20 Nov - SVR’s Robotics Technical Network at Autodesk (are you a CTO, technical founder or senior robotics engineer? Ask for an invitation)

4 Dec - SVR’s Startup Mentor Office Hours

4 Dec - SVR’s Founders & Funders Night Out

5 Dec - SVR / AMBay Area Bots & Beer Mixer

Want to attend more science based robotics conferences?

• CORL 2023 Atlanta GA 6 Nov - 9 Nov

• Humanoids 2023 Austin TX 11 Dec - 14 Dec

• HRI 2024 Boulder CO 11 Mar - 14 Mar

• Haptics 2024 Long Beach CA 7 Apr - 10 Apr

• Robosoft 2024 San Diego CA 14 Apr - 17 Apr

• ICRA 2024 Yokohama Japan 13 May - 17 May 2024

• ARSO 2024 Hong Kong, China 20 May - 22 May 2024

• AIM 2024 Boston MA 14 July - 18 July

• CASE 2024 Puglia Italy 28 Aug - 1 Sep 2024

• IROS 2024 AbuDhabi 14 Oct - 18 Oct 2024

• DARS 2024 New York 28 Oct - 30 Oct 2024

• Humanoids 2024 Nancy FR 26 Nov - 28 Nov

• ICRA 2025 Atlanta Georgia 17 May - 23 May 2025

Interesting Robotics:

Get early notification of Tangram Vision’s new HiFi Depth Sensor

Perception Pipeline For Robotics Built-In.

But it's more than that. HiFi's high-fidelity sensing stack delivers exceptional depth quality unmatched by any other 3D sensor under $3000. Just look at HiFi's depth quality versus other sensors often used by roboticists: That's because HiFi has double the resolution, plus self-calibration to maximize depth quality with sub-1% depth error across its entire range of 0.3m to 5m!

Here's what else is inside HiFi:

• 120° diagonal field of view

• 8 Tops of AI processing power for running machine learning and AI at the edge

• USB-C 3.1 and Gigabit Ethernet for your choice of data and power connection

• PTP hardware time synchronization

• Out-of-the-box ROS streaming

• Onboard SLAM

• Dual active stereo pattern projectors

HiFi's compact design and multiple mounting options make it easy to add to any robot, and a front-facing status LED make it simple to understand device status at a glance

Sign up now to get notified of HiFi's launch on Kickstarter. We'll have a limited number of Early Bird specials at up to 50% off MSRP, and you'll be the first to get access to them!

Join the Farm Robotics Challenge - deadline to sign up Oct 31

Funded Robotics Startups October ytd:

Congratulations to Silicon Valley Robotics Member US Positronix for closing their first pre-seed round, $225K. See more familiar companies in the funding news for October 2023:

• Wootzano - Pre Seed - ??

• PixlData - Pre Seed - $10K

• Bonsai Robotics - Seed Round - $10.5M

• Automata - Venture Round - $40M

• Bota Systems - Seed Round - $2.5M

• Vayu Robotics - Seed Round - $12.7M

• Nauticus Robotics - Post IPO Equity - $11.6M

• Relocalize - Seed Round - $2.5M

• Advanced Farm Technologies - Corporate Round - ?

• Niryo - Debt Financing - €3.6M

• Niryo - Series A - €2.8M

• Blueflite - Grant - $1M

• Donecle - Venture Round - €5.6M

• Machina Labs - Series B - $32M

• HullBot - Grant - ?

• Syrenna - Grant - ?

• RoboCT - Venture Round - ?

• Huazhang Intelligent - Angel Round - CN¥100M

• SliQue Robotics - Seed Round - ?

• HoverWing Technology - Angel Round - ?

• Accelerating Evolution - Angel Round - >CN¥10M

• Saronic - Series A - $55M

• Main Function Intelligence - Series A - ?

• Nanoflex Robotics - Grant - CHF400K

• Tethys Robotics - Grant - CHF40K

• RoboWire - Grant - CHF40K

• Thread - Series A - $15M

• Neura - Venture Round - $16M

• Formant - Series B - $21M

• Shanmu - Corporate Round - CN¥10M

• Milla - Seed Round - €15M

• Pitch Aeronautics - Seed Round - $400K

• Cyberknight - Pre Seed Round - ?

• Aigen - Venture Round - $11.2M

• Stial - Seed Round - ?

• PickNik Robotics - Pre Seed Round - $2M

• RiACT - Venture Round - ?

• Qingwei Rufeng Technology - Angel Round - ?

• Cook-e - Venture Round - €5M

• Nanoflex - Grant - £400,000

• Guangdong Shi Robot - Angel Round - ?

• Robohood - Pre Seed Round - ?

• LENX Platform - Series A - $6M

• Zhuji Dynamics - Seed Round - ?

• SliQue Robotics - Seed Round - ?

• Clockwork - Equity Crowdfunding - $5.7M

• Zhuji Dynamics - Angel Round - CN¥200M

• Zordi - Venture Round - $20M

• Osiris Agriculture - Seed Round - €2.15M

• EGROBOTS - Grant - €15K

• TETRA ELC - Series C - CN¥100M

• Imbue - Series B - $12M

• AI Build - Series A - $7M

• SkyDrive - Early Stage Venture - ¥18,100M

• Glacier - Convertible Note - $4.5M

• Ruizhu Technology - Series A - CN¥100M

• Rosiwit - Seed - ??

• Pablo Air - Debt Financing - $15.5M

• Strict Technology - Series A - ??

• Koop Technologies - Corporate Round - $7M

• Ascento - Grant - CHF150K

• Goodbytz - Series A - €12M

• Quantum Systems - Series B - €63.6M

• Pony.ai - Series D - $100M

• Garuda Aerospace - Series A - ₹250M

• FlyGuys - Series A - $10M

• Wire Control Technology - Angel Round - ??

• Urban Matrix - Seed Round - ₹60M

• Faction - Venture Round - $6M

• Wastefull Insights - Pre Seed Round - $150K