Robots and Startups

According to Anduril’s CEO Brian Schimpf via Fortune, defense tech is becoming a bubble with valuations increasingly divorced from reality. Anduril, of course, is now valued at $61 Billion. In the first quarter of 2026, VCs deployed a record $19.8 billion into defense tech across 262 deals, according to PitchBook. (For comparison: That number in Q1 2024 was $5.7 billion, and in Q1 2025 was about $17 billion.) It’s a big shift in investor appetite from just 5 or 6 years ago.

My interest in robots began when I was lucky enough to be taken to New York’s World Fair in 1964. Even though I was only four years old, I can remember the sense of wonder that seeing an animatronic figure gave me. I’m afraid my interest wasn’t really in the content of Abe Lincoln’s address on the preservation of American democracy, liberty, and the rule of law. I was spellbound by seeing that such a lifelike robot had been constructed by humans.

It had to happen. The Trump family is involved in a humanoid robot company which is now selling robot warfighters to the U.S. army. Two humanoid robots nicknamed “Phantom MK-1” were deployed to Ukraine, which has been in a state of war since last February. Standing 180 cm tall and weighing 80 kg, these black-bodied robots with robust builds evoke comparisons to Batman. They were tasked with transporting supplies to high-risk war zones.

pitching robots to a room full of tech investors Business Insider just published “Meet the 22 investors to know in robotics and physical AI” and while I don’t disagree with their choices, if you’ve ever fundraised for a robotics company then you know that the people you need to talk to are rarely on lists like this which includes: Aidan Madigan-Curtis, Eclipse Ventures Ajay Agarwal, Bain Capital Ventures Bilal Zuberi, Red Glass Ventures Brian Zhan, Striker Venture Partners Jeremy Levine and...

We’re less than one year into the Agentic AI reality and already the gloss is wearing off the dream, and the reality is looking grim. The problem is that Agentic AI is actually democratizing access to functional AI, AI that does a lot of different things in the digital world. Forget the horror stories about people losing money when they give agents access to their wallets. That’s not the real problem. The problem is that all of a sudden coding is easy. So easy that anyone can code.

via The Trust Project and The Colorado Sun First, it was the robots. They were trundling along sidewalks in Paonia last summer gathering data on how accommodating those thoroughfares were for people with disabilities. The wandering robots took townspeople by complete surprise. Curious about the robot? It was a Dax ADA robot, an urban service robot used to check sidewalk compliance from Oregon company Daxbot.

Interesting things about robots, robot startups, and the future that's already here. From the epicenter of the robot revolution - Silicon Valley Robotics. · Over 10,000 subscribers By subscribing, you agree Substack's Terms of Use, and acknowledge its Information Collection Notice and Privacy Policy. “Andra Keay does a lot of work describing how the development of robotics will shape our future.

IERA Award Organizer Jim Ostrowski with Markus Hehn from Verity, Steve Macenski from Open Navigation and Alwin Heerklotz from Innok Robotics Verity wins the 2026 IERA Award at the ICRA conference in Vienna, June 4 2026. Launched out of ETH Zurich, Verity emerged from stealth in 2016 by flying drones over a live TED audience.

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Discover more from Robots & Startups Interesting things about robots, robot startups, and the future that's already here. From the epicenter of the robot revolution - Silicon Valley Robotics. Over 10,000 subscribers Already have an account?