Is Locus Robotics going public?; Robots land on Mars

Welcome to Episode 35 of The Robot Report Podcast, which brings conversations with robotics innovators straight to you. Join us each week for discussions with leading roboticists, innovative robotics companies, and other key members of the robotics community.

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I chatted with Rick Faulk, CEO of Locus Robotics, an RBR50 company that just raised a $150 million Series E round of funding. He discusses the company’s unicorn status, pending improvements to its autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), COVID-19’s impact on e-commerce, and why Locus Robotics should be a publicly-traded company.

I also talked to Will Wilder, CEO of Wilder Systems, about a cobot system his team built that automates rapid COVID-19 testing results. He said the system is being adapted to help test for other viruses, such as Ebola and Zika.

The podcast also celebrates the incredible team at NASA JPL for putting robots back on Mars. You can follow our coverage of Mars 2020 here.

I also comment on the week’s top robotics stories, including Waymo expanding robotaxi tests to San Francisco, and Verizon acquiring incubed IT, a developer of navigation and fleet management software for AMRs.

If you would like to be a guest on an upcoming episode of the podcast, or if you have recommendations for future guests or segment ideas, contact me. For sponsorship opportunities of The Robot Report Podcast, contact Courtney Nagle for more information.