RoboGeorgia has helped organize events such as June’s Atlanta Robotics Meetup. Source: RoboGeorgia
What are the ingredients for a successful robotics cluster? A combination of research, talent, and industry. RoboGeorgia is a nonprofit positioning Georgia as a center for technology innovation, workforce development, and robotics startups and business growth.
The organization has support from the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP), and corporate partners such as Intel Corp.
It starts with educational and research institutions, noted Ward Broom. He is automation and robotics catalyst at ATDC and a member of RoboGeorgia’s founding committee, which was announced in April.
“Atlanta has the Tech Square neighborhood, a center of innovation built around Georgia Tech and other schools with a lot of research,” he told The Robot Report. “Georgia Tech also has the Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility.”
As a state-funded institution, Georgia Tech has strict limits on commercializing intellectual property, Broom said. By contrast, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University, and Stanford University are all private. However, those limits are starting to ease, he said.
Atlanta already a business hub
“We have a huge density of Fortune 500 companies, such as UPS, Home Depot, Delta, and Georgia Pacific,” Broom added. “Atlanta is an attractive place for people to come, with a big airport. We have the big 3PLs [third-party logistics providers], automotive manufacturing, and healthcare systems.”
“Established robotics companies are relocating or building a significant presence here,” he said. “For example, Intuitive Surgical does all of its manufacturing in metro Atlanta.”
Other companies with Georgia headquarters include Dematic, Exotec, Fortna, and Mujin.
“All the elements are here, but what’s missing has been a startup ecosystem for robotics,” said Broom. “Atlanta has been an area of business-to-business and software-as-a-service innovation, but investors traditionally shied away from hardware. That’s starting to change.”
RoboGeorgia builds community
ATDC is one of the oldest incubators and accelerators in the U.S., said Broom. While it does not yet have the established co-working facilities of MassRobotics, the federal funding of Pittsburgh, or the global reputation of Silicon Valley, it does have proximity to academia and industry.
“My particular function is to support robotics and automation startups,” he explained. “Amazon Robotics is sponsor of that position. Within ATDC, we’re working to expand our design studio and make it available to the public.”
The Georgia AI in Manufacturing (AIM) grant has $65 million to promote AI and automation in the state, presenting an opportunity to build up the community, Broom said.
“Venture capitalists and angel investors have turned their attention to the Southeast, and the appetite for automation hardware is expanding,” he asserted. “Robotics investing was democratized by COVID. At ATDC, we don’t invest directly in companies, but I help connect companies with investors around the U.S.”
In contrast with the largest U.S. robotics clusters, RoboGeorgia would prefer to fund its activities with industry sponsorships rather than government funding.
“We’re working with the Metro Atlanta Chamber, which has an Industry 4.0/advanced manufacturing representative on our committee to build a robotics cluster,” said Broom. “We’re also working with national associations to get more events in the Atlanta area.”
Among those events is the second annual Automating the ATL tomorrow at the Georgia Tech Research Institute Conference Center. Editor Steve Crowe will speak with Joel Stenson, senior vice president of operations technology at UPS, about robot integration.
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