The Robots of CES 2023
Several of our Favorite Robots from CES 2023
Last week, our Robotics Fellow Marissa Ramirez de Chanlatte and I attended CES in Las Vegas where we got to speak with robotics companies in agriculture, medicine, fulfillment, manufacturing, and infrastructure. CES was a great opportunity to see some robots in action. Here are some of the most impressive ones we saw.
Humanoid
Halodi showed its robot in collaboration with ADT. Its initial use case is as a security robot but Haloldi’s vision is to build a general-purpose robot.
Why we liked it: CEO Bernt Børnich gave us the most compelling argument for the humanoid form that we’ve heard. He is laser-focused on deploying his robot wherever it can immediately provide value without any work that doesn’t contribute to building a general-purpose humanoid robot. The company is already working with customers and working on a feature roadmap that expands what Eve (the robot) can do.
Infrastructure
ACWA has built a robot to survey and inspect water mains. Utilities know that their infrastructure needs significant maintenance and replacement but don’t have a good way to know which specific segments should be replaced and which can wait a year or two.
Why we liked it: ACWA has a clear value proposition to its customers that solves a major problem. The company understands the challenges that water utilities face and how it can provide a step-change solution for them.
Delivery
Ottonomy’s robot delivers retail goods in airports and cities. Travelers can stay at their gate and order items (snacks, magazines, etc.) from airport stores and have them delivered. The service unlocks revenue from people who wouldn’t otherwise leave their gate.
Why we liked it: Ottonomy has been capital efficient and has made impressive progress. The company’s business model unlocks revenue that customers would not have otherwise been able to capture. The company already has multiple deployments and just debuted the newest version of Ottobot. They have used the robot in different environments and climates and are introducing features based on feedback from the field.
Elder care
The Labrador Retriever can help elderly users by bringing items directly to them, decreasing fall risk. The company can bring medicines or water to people improving health outcomes and making it easier for people to maintain their independence.
Why we liked it: Elder care is a large and growing global problem. It’s a complicated issue that will have multiple solutions. The team at Labrador has done a great job of identifying customers that are incentivized to use a tool like this.
Honorable Mention — Not Exhibiting
Impossible Metals is building an underwater autonomous robot to harvest minerals from the seabed. There is an astonishing quantity of critical battery minerals on the ocean floor. Impossible Metals is working on retrieving nodules without trawling, a destructive technique that creates significant externalities.
Why we liked it: CEO Oliver Gunasekara is solving a huge problem facing the green economy in an environmentally friendly way. Impossible Metals retrieves deposits that would be otherwise inaccessible or only accessible with large externalities. The robots operate in an environment particularly unsuitable for humans — underwater.
Honorable Mention — University
Case Western Reserve University: Human Fusions and NeuralReality™ Lab
The team from Case Western has built a haptic feedback glove that lets you “feel” what a robot hand touches. The team’s vision is to map the electric signals in your nervous system so that people can remotely feel via a robot. We got a chance to try the system and it’s clearly going to be an important consideration for future robots.
Why we liked it: The team is working on a part of robotics that we rarely see — how users get feedback from the robot. Our bodies are evolved to use touch to help guide us around the world. Working with a robot removes that sense and Case Western is working to add it back. This was a demonstration of just how much there is left to do in robotics, despite the money already spent in the industry.
Prime Movers Lab invests in breakthrough scientific startups founded by Prime Movers, the inventors who transform billions of lives. We invest in companies reinventing energy, transportation, infrastructure, manufacturing, human augmentation, and agriculture.
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