It’s hard to know where to focus when speaking to Christoph Kohstall. The contents of his packed Palo Alto garage compete for attention. To his immediate right stands a tower of electrical components, dotted with flashing lights. To his left is a workbench and the tops of machining tools. A red industrial girder runs along […]
North American robotics sales declined in first half of 2024
Even a category as hot as robotics is not immune from macroeconomic trends. According to figures from automation advocacy group, A3, the North American robotics market declined in the first half of 2024, both in terms of sales and revenue. The number of industrial robotics ordered in H1 declined 7.5% year-over-year to 15,705. Revenue dipped […]
Vsim, founded by Nvidia alums, raises $21.5M for robotics simulation tech
One of the most fundamental breakthroughs at Nvidia has been building processors that power and integrate with highly detailed, compute-intensive graphical simulations, which can be used in a wide range of applications, from games and industrial developments through to AI training. Now two of the engineers who helped build those physical simulations for Nvidia and […]
University of Texas opens robotics program up to incoming freshmen
The University of Texas at Austin this week announced that it has opened its undergraduate robotics program to high school applicants. The honors program is one of the first in the U.S. that allows incoming freshmen to apply for the program as part of their initial admission application. It’s a clear indication that robotics is […]
Amazon hires the founders of AI robotics startup Covariant
Amazon announced Friday evening that it has hired Covariant’s founders — Pieter Abbeel, Peter Chen, and Rocky Duan — along with “about a quarter” of the startup’s employees. It’s also signed a non-exclusive license to use Covariant’s robotic foundation models. Earlier this year, Chen told TechCrunch that Covariant is building “a large language model, but […]