It appears we’ve reached the purpose on this exceedingly unusual science fiction story the place the humanoid robots arrive. The headless humanoid robots.
Welcome to the longer term, Pittsburgh.
Digit. Photograph courtesy of Agility Robotics.
Agility Robotics opens in Lawrenceville
Sit, self-driving vehicles. Oregon-based Agility Robotics — which makes robots that work with people in warehouses — has opened an workplace in Robotics Row in Lawrenceville, the place CEO Damion Shelton is predicated.
It’s not clear, nevertheless, once we’ll get a have a look at their signature robotic, Digit.
Digit is slightly over 5 toes tall, and has bizarre backward-jointed legs that enable the robotic to maneuver ahead, backward and sideways, and in addition crouch and go up and down inclines. Digit pauses when it sees an individual or barrier in its path, can use its arms, palms and toes for stability, and might choose up and put down objects.
No want for a head. Doesn’t make it look much less creepy, although.
Digit. Photograph courtesy of Agility Robotics.
The corporate simply raised $150 million and employs about 100 folks, largely in Oregon. It’s presently opening places of work in Palo Alto (Silicon Valley) and Pittsburgh.
Plus One Robotics opens in Oakland
The pandemic has created an ideal storm within the warehouse enterprise — provide shortages are colliding with important labor shortages. That, after all, leaves room for robotics in warehousing and distribution facilities.
That’s why San Antonio-based Plus One Robotics is opening an workplace in Oakland. The corporate devises software program that hyperlinks AI-powered notion instruments to the elevated coordination capabilities of robots, which helps them with placement and sorting duties.
The comparatively new Pittsburgh Robotics Community — which mixes efforts of greater than 100 robotics corporations and organizations to advertise and increase the area’s robotics cluster — hails this as an early victory.
Photograph courtesy of DipJar.
DipJar startup strikes HQ from Boston to Mt.Lebanon
Outdoors of Silicon Valley, the Boston space looms largest in nearly each technological subject — having Harvard, MIT and dozens of different prime faculties helps in that regard. For a very long time, the expertise visitors was largely one-way, as grads and concepts flowed from Pittsburgh to Boston to seek out capital. Now, nevertheless, it’s attending to be a bit extra of a two-way avenue.
Startup DipJar (work on that title) is transferring its headquarters to 607 Washington Highway in Mt. Lebanon to assist its “giving expertise” platform that permits charities and nonprofits to gather bank card donations as simply as dropping money in a group tin. Now based mostly in 3,500 sq. toes of area, the corporate employs 5 folks in Pittsburgh (15 whole) and plans to double its workforce by the top of the 12 months.
“This is a crucial time in DipJar’s historical past, and we’re excited to open our new company headquarters right here in Pittsburgh,” says CEO Chris Selland. “Pittsburgh has every thing we’re in search of: a well-educated workforce, a rising tech neighborhood and a fame as a quickly rising hub for fintech and nonprofit innovation.”
Photograph courtesy of GeekWire.
GeekWire returns to take a look at Pittsburgh tech
It’s each Pittsburgher’s proper to complain, which we do prefer it’s our job. Sometimes, although, somebody — normally from some other place — factors out when we’ve got one thing particular occurring.
Seattle-based tech chronicle GeekWire despatched a bunch of their writers to Pittsburgh again when Amazon was taking part in its passive-aggressive HQ2 recreation with American cities, and the Metal Metropolis was a finalist. They did a fantastic job, discovering attention-grabbing tales all over the place they appeared.
In fact, we didn’t get HQ2, however the GeekWire employees apparently had a good time — a few of them mused about transferring right here completely. They mirrored a bit on how a lot tech cash had modified Seattle (typically for the higher, however typically not), and noticed quite a lot of alternatives amidst Pittsburgh’s huge reserves of technical expertise (and empty homes).
Now, they’re returning to research how a lot has modified in Pittsburgh and whether or not the town resides as much as the huge potential that they famous again in 2018.
We get it, geez (blush). Thanks. However what about visitors/parking/costly condos, and so on.?
Nova Place welcomes Fortress Biosciences and Gecko Robotics
If the metal trade’s collapse has taught us something (and hopefully it has), it’s that you just shouldn’t put all of your eggs in a single basket, economically talking. Whereas the robotics enterprise looks like a superb guess for the longer term, few sectors are stronger proper now than life sciences.
Pittsburgh has some strengths right here, too — although life sciences corporations are likely to take a very long time to gestate and scale up. One promising latest improvement is the arrival of Fortress Biosciences in Nova Place on the North Facet. The corporate is taking about 44,000 sq. toes of area and plans to increase.
The publicly traded, Houston-based firm joins Pittsburgh startup Gecko Robotics, which is taking 70,000 sq. toes of area and opening on Monday, Might 9.
