The Robot Report Podcast · 2024 Robotics Summit recap / Interviews with RBR50 Winners

 

In this episode of The Robot Report Podcast, Steve Crowe, Mike Oitzman, and Eugene Demaitre discuss highlights from the Robotics Summit & Expo that took place in Boston earlier in the month. The co-hosts discuss some of their favorites and most memorable moments from the show, and what set this year apart from prior years.

Also featured in this episode are interviews with Agility Robotics co-founder and chief robot officer Jonathan Hurst and Brightpick co-founder and CEO Jan Zizka. Agility Robotics was the inaugural RBR50 2024 Robot of the Year winner, and Brightpick was the inaugural RBR50 2024 Application of the Year winner.

Read about all of this year’s RBR50 winners here.

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In the News this week

• New CEO for iRobot after Amazon deal fails

1. 1. 1. iRobot has found its new leader who will try to rejuvenate the consumer robotics pioneer following Amazon’s failed $1.7 billion acquisition deal. Gary Cohen, who has 25-plus years of executive leadership and turnaround experience, yesterday was named CEO.
      2. Cohen takes over for longtime CEO Colin Angle, who held the position since 2007. He founded iRobot with fellow MIT roboticists Rodney Brooks and Helen Greiner in 1990. Notably, Cohen is a businessman and not a trained roboticist.
      3. $150M+ in revenue in Q1 2024

• Intrinsic uses NVIDIA foundation models to improve robotic grasping

1. 1. 1. Intrinsic, a software and AI robotics company that spun out of Alphabet, now integrates with NVIDIA AI and Isaac platform technologies in hopes of advancing the state of autonomous robotic manipulation. Under the collaboration, NVIDIA and Intrinsic plan to bring state-of-the-art dexterity and modular AI capabilities for robotic arms, with a robust collection of foundation models and GPU-accelerated libraries to accelerate a greater number of new robotics tasks.
      2. NVIDIA unveiled Isaac Manipulator in March. It is a collection of foundation models and modular GPU-accelerated libraries that help industrial automation companies build scalable and repeatable workflows for dynamic manipulation tasks by accelerating AI model training and task reprogramming.
      3. NVIDIA recently introduced a foundation model for humanoids called Project GROOT.

• Humanoid watch

1. 1. A new generation and a new video of Optimus from Tesla.
   2. New Unitree G1 Humanoid robot for $16K.