Search and rescues missions often happen in areas that are difficult for humans to navigate due to extreme weather, rough terrain, or dangerous conditions like smoke or dust. A researcher at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) wants to send robots inspired by bats on these missions instead of humans. Nitin J. Sanket, a professor at WPI, […]
Why a researcher is building robots that look and act like bats Read More »
Robots can be programmed to do a variety of tasks, like packing boxes and even performing surgery. But each individual movement or task requires its own specific training process, which makes it hard for robots to adapt in real-world scenarios. Mbodi wants to make training robots easier and quicker with the help of AI agents.
Mbodi will show how it can train a robot using AI agents at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 Read More »
Famed roboticist and iRobot founder Rodney Brooks has sounded the alarm on a humanoid robot investment bubble. He’s not the only one. In a recent essay, Brooks calls out the billions of venture dollars being poured into humanoid robot companies like Figure. His take: despite the amount of money being injected into the industry, humanoids
The world is just not quite ready for humanoids yet Read More »
TechCrunch Disrupt isn’t just another tech conference packed with 10,000+ tech leaders — it’s the launchpad for startups and innovators. Disrupt is where companies meet their first investors, form game-changing partnerships, and spark the ideas that take them to the next level. Your exhibit table could be the launchpad for your next big breakthrough, but time is running out. With less than a month until
Less than a month until Disrupt 2025 — Book your exhibit table | TechCrunch Read More »
There’s no event quite like TechCrunch Disrupt, and if you’ve never been, this is the year to change that. You have just 3 days left to save up to $668 on your pass. Join 10,000+ founders, investors, and innovators at Disrupt 2025 — but act before September 26 at 11:59 p.m. PT. Register here to
3 days left to lock in up to $668 savings for Disrupt 2025 Read More »
Icarus Robotics co-founders Ethan Barajas and Jamie Palmer spent hours interviewing astronauts about what it was like working in space as they homed in on their startup idea. Their big takeaway: The work was often more cargo logistics than cutting-edge science. “We’re Amazon warehouse workers with PhDs,” one astronaut said. If an experiment takes two
Icarus raises $6.1M to take on space’s ‘warehouse work’ with embodied-AI robots Read More »
As robots increasingly enter human spaces, robotics companies will need to think about safety differently than they did when robots were largely siloed from their human counterparts. Sonair thinks its sensors can help robotics companies reach their safety goals — with a solution that is both better and cheaper than popular LIDAR technology. The Oslo,
Sonair built its 3D ultrasonic sensor with robotic safety in mind Read More »
TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 hits Moscone West in San Francisco from October 27 to 29, bringing together 10,000+ startup and VC leaders for three days of bold ideas, groundbreaking tech, and future-shaping conversations. One of the most highly anticipated sessions happening on one of the two AI Stages will spotlight where AI hardware is heading next,
Humanoids, AVs, and what’s next in AI hardware at Disrupt 2025 Read More »
FieldAI, an Irvine, California-based, has raised $405 million across multiple previously undisclosed rounds to develop what it calls “foundational embodied AI models” — essentially robot brains designed to help everything from humanoids to quadrupeds to self-driving cars adapt to new environments. The company announced the funding Wednesday; the most recent round raised $314 million in
FieldAI raises $405M to build universal robot brains Read More »
When Bill Dally joined Nvidia’s research lab in 2009, it employed only about a dozen people and was focused on ray tracing, a rendering technique used in computer graphics. That once-small research lab now employs more than 400 people, who have helped transform Nvidia from a video game GPU startup in the nineties to a
How a once-tiny research lab helped Nvidia become a $4 trillion-dollar company Read More »
