Between big events like the Robotics Summit & Expo and Automate, acquisition news, and big funding announcements, there was no shortage of exciting robotics news to cover in May.  Here are the top 10 most popular stories on The Robot Report in May 2023. Subscribe to The Robot Report Newsletter or listen to The Robot Report Podcast to stay updated on the robotics stories you need to know about. 10. Vorwerk Group closing robot vacuum maker Neato Robotics The Vorwek Group announced in a press release late last week that it will be shutting dow ..read more

Titan Medical recently announced it entered into a licensing agreement with Intuitive Surgical and that the company’s CEO is resigning. Under the agreement, robotic-assisted surgery company Titan Medical has granted Intuitive a non-exclusive license to all of Titan’s IP, with the exception of the IP that is exclusively licensed to another party under a June 2020 license agreement. The agreement includes an upfront payment of $7.5 million for certain intellectual property of Titan Medical. Titan will retain ownership of the licensed IP, along with the associated rights, including the right to ..read more

GITAI, a space robotics company based in Japan, has brought in 4 billion yen, around $28.5 million, in a Series B extension round of funding. GITAI plans to use the funding to expand its business and technology development in the US.  The company hopes the round will help it to enhance the technology readiness level of GITAI’s Robotic Rover and Lunar Inchworm Type Robotic Arm, expand its engineering model/flight model manufacturing facilities in the US, and expand employment in the US.  GITAI’s Lunar Inchworm Type robot is a robotic arm with grapple end-effectors on both ends of the ..read more

Robotics investments totaled $1.63 billion in April 2023 as a result of 47 investments (see Table 1 below or download Table 1 HERE). The April investments bring the 2023 robotics funding total to approximately $3.3 billion. Investments totaled $526 million in March 2023, $620 million in February 2023 and $521 million in January 2023.  Table 1: April 2023 Robotics Funding and Investment Company Amount Round Country Tech-Prod-Service Description 42dot $782,791,615 Other South Korea Autonomous Transportation Systems 42dot offers self-driving software and hardware solutions that enable ..read more

Serve Robotics, a robotic sidewalk delivery company, has given more insight into the scope of its partnership with Uber Technologies, which was announced in November 2021. Serve and Uber’s commercial agreement allows for Serve to deploy its robots on Uber Eats in multiple markets across the US, with up to 2,000 Serve robots to be deployed.  “We are thrilled to be growing our partnership with Uber,” Dr. Ali Kashani, co-founder and CEO of Serve Robotics, said. “This partnership is a major step towards mass commercialization of robotics for autonomous delivery, and it is a testament to the ..read more

NVIDIA’s founder and CEO Jensen Huang unveiled a number of new projects from the company in his first in-person keynote in almost four years. NVIDIA’s latest innovations aim to ride the wave of generative AI advancements made in recent months.  “We’re now at the tipping point of a new computing era with accelerated computing and AI that’s been embraced by almost every computing and cloud company in the world,” Huang said at the conference. Huang also noted that 40,000 large companies and 15,000 startups now use NVIDIA technologies with 25 million downloads of CUDA software last year alone ..read more

Lite 3: new technology for increased strength, agility, mobility, speed, navigation, and endurance DEEP Robotics Co., a global pioneer in the development and industrial application of quadrupedal robots, has announced the launch in Europe of the newest version of its dexterous intelligent robot dog, Lite3, which combines advanced mobility and open modular structure to serve education, research and innovative entertainment. The new Lite3 series offers four product models: a basic model designed for technology enthusiasts; and three more advanced versions designed for scientific study purposes ..read more

Figure, a Calif.-based company building general-purpose humanoids, has closed $70 million in Series A funding. The company, founded by Brett Adcock, will use the funding to develop its Figure 01 humanoid, build out its AI data pipeline for autonomous operations and drive towards commercialization. The round was led by Parkway Venture Capital and joined by participating investments from Adcock, Aliya Capital, Bold Ventures, Tamarack Global, FJ labs, and KUKA Robotics CEO Till Reuter. We’ve yet to get our eyes on Figure 01, but according to the company’s early specs, the humanoid will stand 5-f ..read more

Open Robotics today, on World Turtle Day, announced the ninth release of ROS 2 called Iron Irwini. Open Robotics said this was a notable release of the Robot Operating System (ROS) for both its size and the amount of support it received from the ROS community: 239-plus contributors providing code changes, documentation, and testing. Iron Irwini is the largest ROS 2 release yet in terms of features, according to Open Robotics. It noted the following highlights of the release: Python API documentation is now hosted on docs.ros.org, making it easier to find, read, and update. REP-2012 Service Int ..read more

Waymo robotaxis are coming to Uber’s ride-hailing platform. The companies announced a multi-year partnership that will make the Waymo Driver available on Uber starting in Phoenix. The companies plan to launch the integration publicly later in 2023, with a set number of Waymo vehicles across its 180-square-mile operating territory in Phoenix. The services offered will include local deliveries and ride-hailing trips. Phoenix riders can still hail a robotaxi directly from the Waymo One app as well. “We’re excited to offer another way for people to experience the enjoyable and life-saving benef ..read more