Robotics investments were trending in the right direction prior to 2020, but the pandemic dramatically increased investor interest as more firms pushed to automate work. Manufacturing has been automated for decades, and the pandemic also dramatically increased both labor shortages and the deployment of warehouse/logistics robotics.
As labor shortages continue, investors see enormous growth potential for a new wave of industrial robots in still largely untapped sectors. So, what’s next? Agtech, construction and healthcare are all good bets.Â
We’re excited that Claire Delaunay, advisory board member, Farm-ng, Tessa Lau, founder and CEO, Dusty Robotics and Andrea Thomaz, CEO, Diligent Robotics, will join us on the Hardware Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023, which takes place on September 19-21 in San Francisco.
During a panel discussion, these leading roboticists will discuss the latest advancements in their respective industries: agtech, construction and healthcare. Building robust robotics systems is notoriously difficult, and it’s even harder to do it at scale. They’ll give us their takes on the challenges involved with scaling and rolling out products.Â
We’re also eager to hear how the pandemic, supply chain issues and ongoing labor shortages affected their strategies both in terms of growing their companies and in securing funding.
Claire Delaunay is a seasoned robotics and engineering professional with a diverse background in the field. Prior to this, she served as vice president of engineering at Nvidia, where she developed the groundbreaking Isaac Platform for Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. Delaunay also co-founded the self-driving tech company Otto and served as vice president of engineering before its acquisition by Uber. She also led advanced robotics projects at Google Robotics.
Considered one of the most influential women in robotics, Tessa Lau is an award-winning CEO and roboticist whose most recent venture, Dusty Robotics, is revolutionizing the construction industry. Dusty automates the BIM-to-field layout process through a robotic FieldPrinter, eliminating costly errors and speeding up construction schedules. Prior to Dusty Robotics, Lau was co-founder, CTO and chief robot whisperer at Savioke (Relay) Robotics, where she automated hotel delivery and orchestrated the global distribution and management of consumer-facing robots. Lau was an early member of Willow Garage, the legendary research lab and technology incubator known as one of the most influential forces in modern robotics.Â
Andrea Thomaz, CEO and co-founder of Diligent Robotics, is a renowned social robotics expert. She has been recognized by the National Academy of Science as a Kavli Fellow, the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Tech, on MIT Technology Review’s Next Generation of 35 Innovators Under 35 list and Popular Science’s Brilliant 10 list, byTEDx as a featured keynote speaker on social robotics and in Texas Monthly’s Most Powerful Texans of 2018 list.
You’ll find more conversations with leading experts on the Hardware Stage, which features topics like robotics, consumer electronics, space and more. It’s just one of the six new stages for six breakthrough sectors at Disrupt.
Join the global startup community at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023, September 19–21 in San Francisco. Buy your pass now and save up to $625.