A decade ago the DARPA Robotics Challenge pumped tens of millions of dollars of investment into American robotics innovation, stimulating development of everything from humanoid robots to self-driving cars. Today overall government investment seems to be slowing, putting U.S. robotics leadership at risk in a world that is rapidly building better humanoid and other form factor robots. That’s in spite of past success that has made the U.S. a hotbed of humanoid robotic development. “I think the race is on,” Apptronik CEO Jeff Cardenas told me recently in a TechFirst podcast. “I think one of the reasons that you see the U.S. leading right now is because the U.S. government has invested so much money.” There has been a ton of innovation recently:
- Amazon just unveiled Digit, a humanoid robot for its warehouses, thanks to its partnership with Agility Robotics
- Tesla is building Optimus, a humanoid robot for everyone
- Sanctuary AI is building “the world’s-first human-like intelligence in general-purpose robots” in Vancouver, Canada
- Figure.ai is building the world’s future workforce in robotic form
- Fourier Intelligence is building the GR-1 in China
- Boston Dynamics built Atlas, a humanoid robot for NASA, and continues to build high-end robots
Many of these company have teams with roots in the DARPA challenges, Cardenas says. And DARPA’s tens of millions of dollars injected innovation into dozens of companies. While there’s still significant innovation and investment, including President Biden’s 31 regional tech hubs and the National Science Foundation’s foundational research in robotics programs, Cardenas says it’s petering out. And that’s a major risk for the US in terms of international competitiveness.
Full story : Government Robotics Funding Critical Amid Global Competition: ‘The Race Is On.’
