In Episode 185 of The Robot Report Podcast, co-hosts Mike Oitzman and Eugene Demaitre interview Dr. Kevin Dowling, managing director of The Robotics Factory, an incubator and accelerator.
Dr. Kevin Dowling, The Robotics Factory
Dowling discusses the role of The Robotics Factory in fostering robotics startups. He outlines the organization‘s three main programs: Create, Accelerate, and Scale, which aim to support early-stage companies in various aspects of business development.
In addition, Dowling talks about the strengths of Pittsburgh‘s robotics ecosystem, the importance of collaboration with institutions such as Carnegie Mellon University, and the challenges startups face in securing investment.
He describes the significance of passion and drive in entrepreneurs, as well as the need for a solid intellectual property strategy.
Show timeline
- 2:56 – News of the week
- 21:55 – Dr. Kevin Dowling, managing director of The Robotics Factory
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News of the week
Latest videos demonstrate incremental advances in humanoids
Figure AI humanoid robots demonstrated household chores using a vision-language-action model, below.
1X Technologies released a video of its latest generation of humanoids, NEO Gamma, working in a home.
New functional requirements defines for assisted living robots
IEC 63310:2025 Functional requirements for Active Assisted Living (AAL) robots document was released this week and is available for purchase and review (CHF 115).
The document deals with the functional performance criteria and guidelines for robots intended for use in the AAL connected home environment. This document does not cover safety requirements of robots.
Apptronik works with Jabil to produce Apollo humanoids
Apptronik, which is developing artificial intelligence-powered humanoid robots, and Jabil, a global manufacturing and supply chain systems provider, today announced a strategic collaboration. The companies plan to build Apptronik’s Apollo humanoid robots and integrate them into Jabil’s manufacturing operations. This includes the production lines for the robots, “paving the way for Apollo to build Apollo,” they said.
As part of the pilot program, newly manufactured Apollo units will use Jabil’s factory environment for real-world validation testing. The robots will complete an array of simple, repetitive intralogistics and manufacturing tasks, including inspection, sorting, kitting, lineside delivery, fixture placement, and sub-assembly, before being deployed to Apptronik customer sites.
Humanoids not a panacea, note columnists
But humanoid robots have as many skeptics as proponents. Mytra Chief Technology Officer Ahmad Baitalmal shared why he believes robots should focus on function above a familiar design.
Karthee Madasamy added that that humanoids have captured public imagination and investment, but developers still need to solve manipulation, safety, and scale problems. In an article this week, he pointed out that humanoids have a ways to go and that specialized robots are available for specific tasks today.
Yamaha Motor acquires Robotics Plus, forms Yamaha Agriculture
Yamaha Motor has acquired Robotics Plus to seed a new agricultural technology company called Yamaha Agriculture Inc. It will focus on delivering autonomous equipment and AI-powered digital systems to help growers in the specialty crop market.
Cobot market to reach $7.2B by 2030, predicts ABI
ABI Research noted that synergy with AI, plus renewed interest in reshoring, will help the collaborative robot market grow rapidly. The report predicted that revenue from cobots will increase from $970 million in 2023 to $7.2 billion by 2030 at a compound annual growth rate, or CAGR, of 28%.
The Association for Advancing Automation (A3) tracks industrial and collaborative robot sales in North America. In 2024, companies ordered 31,311 robots valued at $1.9 billion, representing slight increases of 0.5% in units and 0.1% in revenue over 2023. In 2023, A3 said North American robot orders declined by 30% after two years of record sales.
The value to Robots are as a first step to convincing Humanity to automate. Robots are never the fastest, least expensive, or most robust long term solution.
The problem today is that machine and circuit design are being lost to the Lego generations of plug & play.
Our youth is not typically being taught beyond an “introduction to Mechanisms and Machine design”.
This is ok at the moment, but young Engineers are poorly equipped to produce new core Fundamental Analog, Mechanisms, and Materials designs needed to perpetuate the building blocks needed to progress.
For automation, If The Path-Is-Repetitive, a combination of mechanical components with sensors and actuators can be >10x the speed, and force <10 the cost and complexity of a Robot.
Robots are also wasteful because they are incremental not continuous motion.
Invite me to bid against Robots in an automation project; you will easily see how worthless Robots are.