For the next few weeks, TechCrunch’s robotics newsletter Actuator will be running Q&As with some of the top minds in robotics. Subscribe here for future updates. Part 1: CMU’s Matthe
If you’re lucky, once a year you get to put together a panel built on pure kismet. Pairing Gill Pratt with Marc Raibert was exactly that for me. The two go back several decades, to the salad days of
Learning may well be the most exciting frontier in the whole of robotics. The field itself dates back decades. The 80s, for instance, brought exciting breakthroughs in learning by demonstration, but a
Marc Raibert founded the Leg Laboratory at CMU back in 1980. After moving homes to MIT in 1986, it became one of the most important research facilities in robotics. It’s been foundational in the dev
It was genuinely a bit surreal seeing deep green hills in the South Bay last week. Growing up in Fremont, I know the change from brown to green is about as close as we get to having seasons, but it’
Earlier this week, the Toyota Research Institute opened the doors of its Bay Area offices to members of the media for the first time. It was a day full of demos, ranging from driving simulators and dr
“Jidoka” is a new one to me. TRI (Toyota Research Institute) CEO Gill Pratt described the concept as “Automation with a Human Touch.” The anglicized version of the notion is “Aut
The other week at TC Sessions: Mobility, I spoke to a trio of executives at top automotive companies about why they’re all so bullish about robotics. There are the obvious implications, of course. A
Following this morning’s announcement that Hyundai has closed its acquisition of Boston Dynamics, another automotive company has posted some robotics news. The Toyota Research Institute announcement
We spoke with Max Bajracharya of Toyota Research Institute, Mario Santillo of Ford and Ernestine Fu of Hyundai Motor Group about their companies’ unique approaches to robotics.
Montreal-based YPC Technologies today announced that it has raised a $1.8 million seed round. Led by Hike Ventures and Real Ventures, the funding includes participation from Toyota AI Ventures and Uph
Toyota Research Institute (TRI) isn’t letting the grass grow long on its autonomous vehicle research platform: The research wing of carmaker Toyota is updating its self-driving test car to versi
When I ask around about who has the most potential to make big waves in the LiDAR industry, one name tops the list: Luminar, the startup that emerged from stealth earlier this year after five years de