The Robotics Hub, in collaboration with Silicon Valley Robotics, is looking to invest up to $500,000 in robotics, AI and sensor startups! Finalists also receive exposure on Robohub and space in the new Silicon Valley Robotics Cowork Space. Plus you get to pitch your startup to an audience of top VCs, investors and experts. Entries close Sept 3.

Leka’s co-founder and CEO, Ladislas de Toldi, writes about Leka’s progress since the Robot Launch competition and where the company is headed in the next year.

The largest markets for robots is for when there aren’t any people around. We often call those jobs the dirty, dull and dangerous ones. But then there are devices like CleverPet which play with your dog when you aren’t home. What’s not to love about playing with dogs? And yet there is a huge industry growing up around looking after your pet when you simply aren’t available to do it. CleverPet won the 2015 Robot Launch startup competition and took home 1st place at CES 2016.

Robotics isn’t gender neutral, it’s gender blind. And that means that there are a lot of hidden opportunities for savvy investors and entrepreneurs. One of the first robotics companies I followed was Restoration Robotics, a Silicon Valley based company that’s raised more than $111 M USD in 6 rounds. Restoration Robotics saw a niche for robotics in treating male baldness.

We’re delighted to announce that UniExo is the winner of the “Robohub Reader’s Pick” in the Robot Launch 2016 global startup competition. Are Robohub readers on the same wavelength as our panel of VC, investors and expert judges? We’ll find out next week when we announce the overall winners of the Robot Launch 2016 competition!

For the next three weeks, Robohub readers can vote for their “Readers’ Pick” startup from the Robot Launch competition. Each week, we’ll be publishing 10 videos. Our ultimate Robohub Readers’ Favorites, along with lots of other prizes, will be announced at the end of November. Every week we’ll showcase different aspects of robotics startups and their business models: from agricultural to humanoid, from consumer to industrial and from hardware to robotics software. Make sure you vote for your favorite – below – by 18:00pm UTC, Wednesday 23 November, spread the word through social media using #robotlaunch2016.

For the next three weeks, Robohub readers can vote for their “Readers’ Pick” startup from the Robot Launch competition. Each week, we’ll be publishing 10 videos. Our ultimate Robohub Readers’ Favorites, along with lots of other prizes, will be announced at the end of November. Every week we’ll showcase different aspects of robotics startups and their business models: from agricultural to humanoid, from consumer to industrial and from hardware to robotics software. Make sure you vote for your favorite – below – by 18:00pm UTC, Wednesday 16 November, spread the word through social media using #robotlaunch2016 and come back next week for the next 10!

For the next three weeks, Robohub readers can vote for their “Readers’ Pick” startup from the Robot Launch competition. Each week, we’ll be publishing 10 videos. Our ultimate Robohub Readers’ Favorites, along with lots of other prizes, will be announced at the end of November. Every week we’ll showcase different aspects of robotics startups and their business models: from agricultural to humanoid, from consumer to industrial and from hardware to robotics software. Make sure you vote for your favorite – below – by 18:00pm UTC, Wednesday 9 November, spread the word through social media using #robotlaunch2016 and come back next week for the next 10!

The robotics industry is maturing. The quality of startups in particular has really changed over the last 2-3 years, and this is backed up by the increasing investment levels, with over $1 billion invested in robotics in 2015. The scope of market areas that we are now seeing robotics startups in is also changing. There are now social robots for health and education, robots doing service tasks in hospitality, retail, logistics, consumer robots tackling garden and maintenance tasks. There are also new industrial, manufacturing and inspection robots, plus new sensor, software and robotics infrastructure opportunities.

Catch up with past winners: CleverPet (2015), Preemadonna/Nailbot (2015 runner-up), and Leka (2014).

Will you be our next Robot Launch winner? There’s 25 days left to register! You can register by going to 2016 Robot Launch global online startup competition.

We need you! Silicon Valley Robotics and Robohub have just launched the 2016 Robot Launch global online startup competition. Pitch your robotics startup online to an audience of top VCs, investors and experts, with live finals in Silicon Valley. Entries close August 15.

In previous Robot Launch competitions we’ve had hundreds of entries from more than 20 countries around the world. Our finalists have also reached the finals of major startup competitions like Tech Crunch Disrupt, and gone on to raise millions of dollars of funding making strong industry partnerships, such as working with Siemens Frontier Program.

From smart forklifts and web-based simulation interfaces, to assistive walking devices, robotic companions — even one for your pet! — the range of mature robotics that made it to the 2015 Robot Launch international startup competition was astounding. Now in it’s second year, the competition attracted more than 75 startups from 19 countries covering the gamut of medical, educational, consumer, industrial and service robotics. The finalists pitched to a live panel of judges and robotics entrepreneurs in Palo Alto, CA. Find out who judges picked for the winning RobotLaunch 2015 startups! 

The Robot Launch 2015 Finals are on! Follow the event live on twitter #RobotLaunch2015. 

Robot Launch is the first international startup competition designed specifically to help robotics entrepreneurs get off the ground. Now in it’s second year, Robot Launch has attracted a diverse range of applicants that show just how quickly the business of robotics is maturing. Narrowed down from almost 100 robotics startups from around the world, the following 15 finalists represent 16 countries and cover an amazing cross-section of consumer, service and industrial robotics  We are extremely impressed with the quality of the finalists! Check them out!

Established in Berlin in 1847, and with a presence in Silicon Valley since the 1950s, Siemens invests more than $1B in the US each year for research and development. Now their Technology to Business team (TTB) has launched the Frontier Partner program, which aims to give startups in robotics and 3D printing a head start by providing them with software and resources to accelerate the development and manufacturing of their products. We spoke with Director of Strategy for Siemens PLM Software, Andy Swiecki, about why Siemens is focusing on robotics right now, and what startups can expect to get out of the Frontiers program.