Stephanie Garcia’s Post

My colleague Nikolai and I had the pleasure of being invited to the Geriatronics Summit organised by the Technical University of Munich at the intersection between #Robotics, #AI and #Healthcare where amazing researchers, practitioners and #startups presented their work from all over the world. (Thanks Luis Figueredo!) 🤖 Engaging with experts outside of the venture capital bubble is always eye-opening. Let's summarise my key learnings from today: 1) From a tech perspective, mastering generalistic robotics is still an open research challenge 2) To date, robotic systems have difficulties with performing robustly and fast in dynamic everyday situations. The interplay of perception and action is still a research area. Challenges exist around multiple technical aspects like dynamic locomotion or situational awareness. Also, human-like gripping and manipulation are still significant challenges. 3) Users must be kept close even during early prototype developments to enable a strong use case fit of the system. But if the robot suits the use-case well, it can deliver significant value, e.g. in care. → Overall, general-purpose or humanoid robots in productive use are still far away. But current technological momentum allows well-engineered, use-case-specific vertical robotics solutions to gain momentum. Also, we see a large potential for robot intelligence suppliers that research and integrate the different needed functionalities over the next years - Skild AI is a nice example of that. Let me know if you are building a robotics start-up! At UVC Partners we invest in pre-seed to series A stages start-ups in Europe. 🦄 PS: Stay curious, we will soon publish a more in-depth deepdive in robotics in our UVC blog.

The intersection of robotics and AI presents an opportunity to tackle the climate crisis, providing immediate, scalable solutions beyond traditional methods. However, success hinges on marrying innovation with a deep understanding of market needs. The key, according to some, is to focus on creating products that offer tangible, non-sustainability benefits to customers first, with sustainability as an added upside. Companies like Verdant Robotics, AMP Robotics, and Perceptual Robotics exemplify this customer-first product development strategy. They have successfully combined sophisticated tools with human creativity and expertise to drive lasting adoption. By taking a collaborative approach, we can develop innovative solutions that are informed by the complexities of our world. Let's blend technical innovation with market insights to drive the full potential of AI and robotics in the fight against climate change. Credit: From Concept To Impact: Navigating The Climate Tech Landscape With AI And Robotics: https://lnkd.in/e3Qb_CET Follow the Climate Robotics Network and join us next week for the Climate Robotics Summit (Online, May 2-3) to hear from 60+ speakers, including VCs & donors, on pathways to commercialization and more! 🔗 https://lnkd.in/exgSCjpH

🎯 𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐢𝐝 𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭 2024: 𝐈𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬? 🦾✨  Peter Wirth 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐢𝐝 𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭 2024, 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐧 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲, 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 556 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝ees, speakers, and exhibitors for a thrilling glimpse into the 𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐢𝐝 𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐳𝐳? 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐢dly growing field is brimming with innovation—but not without challenges. Let’s break it down. 🔑 Key Takeaways from the Summit ✅ A Dynamic Crowd: Early-stage startups dominated the scene, showcasing ambitious ideas and cutting-edge prototypes. ✅ Packed Panels & Sessions: The event buzzed with engaged discussions, offering attendees a deep dive into the opportunities and hurdles shaping the industry. ✅ Emerging Industry Pain Points: Despite the excitement, the field faces some significant challenges: 1️⃣ Safety Issues: Ensuring human-robot interaction is secure and reliable. 2️⃣ Maintenance Challenges: Designing robots that are easy to maintain and repair. 3️⃣ Scaling Difficulties: Bridging the gap from prototypes to mass adoption. 🧩 What’s Driving the Future of Humanoid Robotics? 1️⃣ AI Integration: Smarter robots powered by advanced AI are enhancing decision-making and adaptability. 2️⃣ Energy Efficiency: Innovations in power management are extending operational lifespans and reducing costs. 3️⃣ Human-Centric Design: Robots are becoming more intuitive, aligning with real-world human needs. 📣 What’s Your Take? What trends do you see shaping the humanoid robotics market in the next few years? Could this be the era where humanoid robots move from labs to everyday life? Share your thoughts below! 💬 🌟 Looking Ahead As technology advances, humanoid robotics is poised to redefine industries from healthcare to logistics. The next few years will be pivotal in transforming prototypes into practical solutions. 🚀 ✅ Credits: All insights written by P.S. Mahesh, inspired by the innovative discussions at Humanoid Summit 2024. 🦾 Follow for More! Stay updated on how robotics and AI are shaping the future of technology and human interaction. 🌍✨  

Brad Porter's writings are excellent as always, but I'll be a bit less charitable than him when it comes to RFM-centric companies. Note that I'm not including full-stack robotics companies who are telling investors that they'll do the impossible with foundation models, or robotics companies who co-oping the term 'foundation model' when they really mean 'we've collected a lot of data', those are other discussions. I'm speaking mostly about the companies who are telling investors that they're going to sell RFMs to other companies and then reap all the rewards for doing so. RFM-centric companies are definitely overvalued, even more so than humanoid robot companies. Here's a few reasons why: 1) OpenAI is not worth its valuation. Yes, I pay for it personally, yes, -o1 is impressive, and yes, there will be further breakthroughs in the future, but they're still an order of magnitude or so too high. 2) OpenAI and peers got where they are by using data. I don't see a path to a RFM-centric company getting anywhere near that amount of data in true operational settings (of course, companies like Cobot - Collaborative Robotics, Inc and ourselves at OTTO by Rockwell Automation do have ways to do so). Anyone with robots or site access at scale is not just going to hand that data over. 3) OpenAI themselves realizes the vast majority of their revenue by selling a product directly to end-users. Conversely, the RFM business model is at it's heart a licensing play, which faces many many additional challenges which investors putting 8/9 figures up should be well aware of. 4) People pay for software which requires human intervention all the time, so GPT-powered software isn't a big break from that. However, the minimum bar for people to pay for (or even use!) autonomous systems is far, far higher, so getting to the point that OpenAI and others have gotten where they have enough user adoption to have some serious momentum (user, technical, financial, etc) is much harder. Robotics is hard :) 5) RFMs may solve problems in robotics yes, but they're neither necessary nor sufficient to unlock the next level of robot scale. There's a deeper question I've been asking myself: Is there a way for VCs to fund (and see return on!) fundamental research? That's what all of these companies are really doing, just with extra steps and overhead.

Check out Brad’s thoughts on the activity in the Robotics Foundation Models space.

Interesting article with a clear perspective on where we stand in robotics and transformer models today. Worth a read.

🗞️🗞️ Fox Robotics’ CEO and President, Marin Tchakarov, recently joined Max Cao, CEO of Jacobi Robotics, and Ben Bolte, CEO of K-Scale Labs at the Robotics Founder & Funder Summit to discuss the transformative role of AI in robotics. “As we unlock better, faster, smarter technologies and combine them, we can afford to solve much harder problems, disrupting every way we can,” said Marin Tchakarov. Thank you to Foothill Ventures for hosting a compelling conversation about the future of supply chain automation! 📖 Deep dive into the panel in this article by Yuna Liang: https://lnkd.in/gDVWNDQY

🎉 Congratulations to mimic for securing a stellar $2.5M pre-seed round 🚀 We are incredibly proud to see one of our TK-S23 startups making waves in the world of AI and robotics 🤖 Talent Kick is committed to nurturing and accelerating exceptional talent, providing them with the tools, guidance, and network to achieve their full potential 🚀 Witnessing mimic’s co-founder, Elvis Nava, go on to make significant impact across various industries and society at large is very rewarding and inspiring 👏 We wish the entire mimic team the best of luck as they continue to develop their revolutionary technology and address real-life problems across various industries. We're rooting for you every step of the way as you continue to redefine what's possible in the world of robotics and beyond! 🤖💡 Stefan Weirich, Stephan-Daniel Gravert, Robert Katzschmann, Benedek Forrai, Elvis Nava 👏 You can find out more about mimic in the Sifted and Forbes articles in the comments below 👇 #talentkick #mimic #robotics #swissstartup #swissentrepreneurship

Humanoids, AI and the next wave of robotics unicorns - Heather Wishart-Smith covers it all in her latest Forbes article recapping Robotics Invest. Discover what Cybernetix Ventures general partners Fady Saad and Mark Martin, as well as other industry leaders, have to say about the event and the future of robotics!

In this list, NEURA Robotics is the only one that also has a cobot business. Curious how they will be able to translate business use cases for cobots and AMRs to their humanoid platform.