Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 19.06
August 29, 2023
…more U.S. government and aging agency partnerships this year.” Toyota, others continue to invest in Intuition Robotics Intuition Robotics' latest financing includes $20 million in venture capital and $5 million in venture debt. Woven Capital, the growth fund of Toyota, led the funding, with participation from Toyota Ventures, OurCrowd, Western Technology Investment, and additional investors. Past investors also include Samsung NEXT, iRobot, and Terra Ventures. “Intuition Robotics is advancing the future of mobility for aging populations by offering human connection and access to goods and services that they couldn’t obtain otherwise,” said Nicole LeBlanc, a partner at Woven Capital who…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 43.12
May 16, 2023
The Toyota Research Institute yesterday announced the latest results of its collaborative research program with U.S. academic institutions. This initiative has funded $100 million of research and generated more than 1,250 paper submissions since its inception in 2016, making it one of the world's largest collaborative research programs by an automotive company, said Toyota. “We are deeply satisfied with the results of our partnerships with this outstanding group of institutions and researchers,” stated Eric Krotkov, who leads the university research program at the Toyota Research Institute (TRI). “We believe that collaboration is the key to tackling society's biggest challenges and…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 43.61
February 15, 2023
Toyota Research Institute today opened its doors for the first time to members of the media to showcase the research taking place at its headquarters in Silicon Valley. During the TRI Expo, Gil Pratt, the company’s CEO and chief scientist at Toyota Motor Corp., explained the institute's approaches to challenges including aging populations, climate change, and human understanding. “In the 1930s, Toyota made a huge leap by expanding from manufacturing textile looms to building cars,” said Pratt. “TRI’s mission is to discover the next technological leap that will transform Toyota’s business.” “We are explorers researching ways to make cars better,…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 15.24
October 03, 2022
…swift birds, respectively. Johannes Linzbach, head of the company’s research hub in Boston, said the birds were developed as part of the company’s Bionic Learning Network. Within that network, Festo studies animal movements and tries to emulate them with its technology. Linzbach said the birds are helping the company design products for industrial applications. MassRobotics resident Cleo Robotics showed how its Dronut indoor drone is safe and requires minimal training to pilot. In addition, The MITRE Corp. displayed uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs) from General Dynamics. Piaggio Fast Forward showed how its gita robot can carry a load and follow a…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 16.70
September 30, 2022
…worked with the humanoid robot Asimo while at Honda Research Institute. Drumwright was a university professor and then a senior research scientist at the Toyota Research Institute. Drumwright has been granted three patents and has co-authored over 40 research articles on robotics with experts from institutions including MIT, Cornell University, and the University of Michigan. Backed by multiple venture capital firms, Dextrous Robotics received a competitive grant from the National Science Foundation in 2021. Dextrous Robotics designs for precision The job of loading and unloading trucks is one of the most challenging to fill in the logistics industry, according to…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 26.81
July 17, 2022
…won the award for its ISS demonstration, development with Toyota Motor Corp. of a robotic arm for the “Lunar Cruiser” manned pressurized rover, and its U.S. expansion. Overview of tasks to be conducted by the dual-arm robot in space. Source: GITAI Collaborators help get robots, people into space GITAI said it is jointly developing its space technologies with Toyota Automobile and received orders from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry. The company is also actively recruiting staffers for its U.S. office and is working with private companies and U.S. government institutes. “This mission is a key stepping-stone towards commercialization…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 8.41
May 13, 2022
…human-like appearance and exciting capabilities. Companies such as Tesla, Toyota Research Institute, and Hanson Robotics have seen investments in developing the robots that have generated the buzz. The investment environment is also changing While the robotics space has been relatively healthy, we've seen reports on there being fewer early-stage investments, as well as some consolidation. Is that normal? Sharma: Any disruptive technology can undergo stages of development which are likely to impact the investment in the area. Robotics is a field where the initial investments required are very high which increases the risk. While VCs have invested heavily in the…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 37.60
March 18, 2022
Toyota Ventures yesterday launched its third global “call for innovation” to search for early-stage companies that can help make the “factory of the future” a reality sooner. Qualified entrepreneurs can apply for an opportunity to receive between $500,000 and $2 million in funding from Toyota Ventures. “We take a founder-first approach to investing, partnering with entrepreneurs to help them bring disruptive technologies and business models to market more quickly,” said Jim Adler, founding managing director of Toyota Ventures. “With the 2022 call for innovation, we are looking to support talented startup teams that are developing smarter and more sustainable factories…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 11.82
December 10, 2021
…worldwide have grown, thanks to a combination of academic research, government funding, innovative startups, risk-taking entrepreneurs, and industrial mentors and customers. At an event at its headquarters here last night, MassRobotics expressed gratitude and celebrated numerous accomplishments at its fifth annual partner event. “We started this with our 11 founding partners,” recalled Fady Saad, vice president of strategic partnerships at MassRobotics. “In 2021, we added 15 new resident members, for a total of 62.” MassRobotics provides support for startups and the Massachusetts robotics community through shared workspace in Boston's Seaport District, events, business services, and investor introductions. The organization said…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 19.25
November 05, 2021
…exploratory or sophisticated dexterous manipulation, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. OpenAI gave it a try with “Dactyl” (meaning “finger” from the Greek word daktylos), using its humanoid robot hand to solve a Rubik’s cube with software that’s a step towards more general AI, and a step away from the common single-task mentality. DeepMind created “RGB-Stacking,” a vision-based system that challenges a robot to learn how to grab items and stack them. In the ongoing quest to get machines to replicate human abilities, scientists at the MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) created a framework that’s…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 41.32
October 11, 2021
…they need to learn to see more clearly. The Toyota Research Institute today announced that the International Conference on Computer Vision has accepted six research papers on machine learning. The research advances understanding across various tasks crucial for robotic perception, including semantic segmentation, 3D object detection, and multi-object tracking, said Toyota. Over the past six years, the Toyota Research Intitute (TRI) said its researchers have made significant strides in robotics, automated driving, and materials science in large part due to machine learning—the application of computer algorithms that constantly improve with experience and data. “Machine learning is the foundation of our…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 11.57
October 04, 2021
About six years ago, the CEO of Toyota Research Institute published a seminal paper about whether a Cambrian explosion was coming for robotics. The term “Cambrian explosion” refers to an important event approximately half a billion years ago in which there was a rapid expansion of different forms of life on earth. There are parallels with the field of robotics as modern technological advancements are fueling an analogous explosion in the diversification and applicability of robots. Today, we’re seeing this Cambrian explosion of robotics unfolding, and consequently, many distinct patterns are emerging. I’ll outline the top three trends that are…
