We were really excited to see so many entries in the first days of Robot Launch 2014. What most people don’t realize is that you can enter the startup competition immediately but still keep updating your answers until the March 30 deadline. The only part of your entry that is public is your abstract and team bio. And that’s where the early birds will catch the ‘worm’ – getting extra attention for their startups and maybe also getting a head start for the ‘most popular’ startup award. We’ll be announcing more information about awards and judging over the next few weeks.

There is already a strong range in our entries, both in terms of robotics verticals and the geographic location of teams, which range from Australia, India, Mexico, the USA and France. Service robotics is well represented and also hobby and industrial robotics. Stay posted for interviews with our amazing judges and mentors about what they are looking for in a robotics startup, like today’s full interview with Valery Kommissarova from Grishin Robotics. Grishin Robotics guarantees priority consideration to the finalists and one hour of personal mentoring with a selected startup.

“As one of the few focused investors in the robotics field, we are always looking for opportunities to partner with organizations and projects, aimed on fostering the hardware entrepreneurship. This robotics startup competition is a great idea, which should help many promising startups to get much needed additional exposure as well as, hopefully, establish plenty of useful connections. We look forward to learn more about the contestants and help winners to build strong business out of their ideas,” says Kommissarova.

Plus, we are still adding mentors and awards to what’s on offer for robot startups. Top quality mentoring from investors and leaders in the field is an incredible advantage for an early stage startup – so get your entry in… early!