Skydio, an American drone manufacturer, secured an additional $170 million in funding, bringing its total Series E funding to $300 million. This round includes strategic investors like KDDI and Axon, as well as previous investors like Linse Capital.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/category/robotics/feed/

Wing, an Alphabet X spinoff, is now delivering blood samples between Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals in London using drones. The service runs Monday through Friday, completing up to 10 deliveries daily, each taking about three minutes.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/category/robotics/feed/

Kiwibot offers a 'rent a robot' service, allowing companies to use its autonomous delivery systems for a limited time, with options including advertising, warehouse logistics, and last mile delivery.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/category/robotics/feed/

Vecna Robotics has hired Karl Iagnemma as CEO and raised $14.5 million in funding to accelerate its automation technology and improve products for various industries.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/category/robotics/feed/

Waymo has opened its robotaxi service to everyone in Los Angeles, allowing anyone to hail a ride in an 80-square-mile area. The service was previously limited due to a 300,000-person waitlist.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/category/robotics/feed/

Despite job cuts at iRobot and Bowery Farming, the robotics industry remains optimistic, with numerous companies still hiring.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/category/robotics/feed/

Ulysses Ecosystem Engineering uses autonomous robots to accelerate seagrass restoration by 100 times, helping to preserve marine ecosystems, filter ocean water, and capture carbon. Seagrass meadows are diminishing globally by 7% per year due to climate change and other factors. This method is more cost-effective than other robotic solutions and more efficient than manual planting.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/category/robotics/feed/

iRobot lays off 105 employees, about 16% of its workforce, as part of an operational restructuring plan, following a failed acquisition by Amazon.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/category/robotics/feed/

Caitlin Kalinowski, Meta's former head of augmented reality glasses, is joining OpenAI to lead robotics and consumer hardware.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/category/robotics/feed/

Researchers at UC Berkeley and ETH Zurich used generative AI to train a $120 robot arm to clean a spill in four days, utilizing a visual language model for human-robot interaction.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/category/robotics/feed/