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Nag Murty, CEO and cofounder of Electric Sheep, and Michael Laskey, CTO of Electric Sheep join the show this week to discuss how Electric Sheep is disrupting the commercial landscaping industry with autonomous mobile robots and a unique business model. The company is leveraging AI to enable autonomous mowers to cut the grass while simplifying the deployment process in the field.
Electric Sheep is also vertically integrating the market segment through the acquisition of commercial landscaping businesses, then training the field workforce and integrating the autonomous mowers in the daily workflow for the field teams while learning and adapting the product.

Episode Timeline

18:10   Interview with Electric Sheep CEO and cofounder Nag Murty, along with CTO Michael Laskey.

In the news this week

• The January investment report is out and robotics companies raised $578M in January 2024.
  • Robotics investments totaled $578 million in January 2024 as the result of 46 funding rounds. This figure was substantially lower than the trailing twelve-month average, but in line with January 2023’s figure of $523 million.
  • The largest robotics investment in January 2024 was a $100 million round secured by Norway-based 1X, a developer of humanoids (See Table 1 below). Chinese humanoid developer Robot Era raised $14 million in February.
  • Makers of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for agricultural operations were well represented among February’s robotics investments. Examples include Bluewhite ($39 million), Burro ($24 million), Saga Robotics ($11.5 million), farm-ng ($10M), and Ant Robotics ($2 million).
  • Companies based in the United States raised $154 million in January 2024, while Norway, buoyed by the $100 million 1X investment, placed third among countries with $113 million in funding.
• Anyware Robotics announces new add-on conveyor for Pixmo unloading robots
  • The patent-pending articulating conveyor simplifies
• Waymo robotaxis approved for fared rides in LA, also significantly expanded operating area around the SF peninsula, including a reported route to the airport.
  • Also launches fully driverless rides for employees in Austin; will begin shuttling employees around 43 square miles of the Texas capital.
• Veteran tech exec Peggy Johnson named Agility Robotics CEO
  • Agility Robotics co-founder Damion Shelton has served as CEO since the company’s founding in 2015. Shelton will now be the company’s president and part of Johnson’s leadership team.