Robotics Revolution In Full Swing: A Sampling of Over 200 Robotics Startups

By: | June 27th, 2013

Camera Drone by Chris Hunkeler (http://www.flickr.com/photos/14913305@N00/9338567239) on 2013-06-18 12:36:35

R2D2 and C3PO of Star Wars fame were imaginary robots created in Hollywood. Today, engineers and scientists are leading a revolution in the design, engineering and production of robots applied to all aspects of human life from macro inventions like “asteroid” capturing robots to microscopic robots that can travel in the bloodstream. In the industry most closely aligned with science fiction the revolution has arrived.

One might expect the center of the robotics revolution to be Silicon Valley but robotics companies are being created all across the US and perhaps most frequently in Greater Boston; over 100 robotics companies and a number of leading robotics research labs, most notably at MIT and Harvard, are churning out new robotics research and products daily.

Robots Across the Board

Medical, military, domestic, mobile, assembly, industrial, micro, rescue, school, and reading bots with names and functions including: robobees, sand fleas, snakes, pack mules, ropes, squishies, whiskers, bad breath detectors, crawlers, ravens, insect-eyes, dancers, cheetah-cubs, turtles, pickers, robo riders and placers to name a few.

Researchers believe the day is not far off when robots will become as ubiquitous in middle-class homes as TVs, vacuum cleaners and microwave ovens. One leading company called Rethink Robotics, has invented an affordable industrial learning robot, Baxter, and iWalk which is a machine learning system for prosthetic and bionic limbs.

Following is a list of over 200 recent robotics start-ups in the US and around the world and a brief note on their focus:

Double by Double Robotics – Pre-order Now from Double Robotics on Vimeo.

Hypersphere 5k Overview from Bojan Pecnik on Vimeo.

Photo by Chris Hunkeler

David Russell Schilling

David enjoys writing about high technology and its potential to make life better for all who inhabit planet earth.

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