Boston’s Bustling Robot Boom
/MIT, Harvard, and robots—those might not be comprehensive of what you think about when you think “Boston,” but the bots are booming around Beantown.
Brian Heater from TechCrunch took a trip to Boston to check in on the robotics situation. He found unique startups and an ecosystem of commercial, consumer, and industrial robots all around.
In addition to the well-known hometown bot companies, iRobot and Boston Dynamics, there are a host of startups popping up and making waves:
Formlabs, a 3D printing provider
RightHand Robotics, a product-picking robot developer
MassRobotics, a nonprofit robotics innovation center
Tatum Robotics, which is building communication robots for the deafblind community
Ras Labs, whose extremely sensitive sensor gives tactile capabilities to robot arms
Picke Robots, a robotic truck unloading solution
Marble Technologies, robotic and AI food processing tech
Toggle Robotics, rebar and construction automation robotics
This is by no means an all-inclusive list. Alumni of MIT, Harvard, iRobot, and Boston Dynamics continue to set out on their own paths after identifying a problem that robots could solve. Events of the last few years—a global pandemic, skilled labor shortages, inflation, and more—have accelerated the development of robotic solutions.
After his trip, Heater said the robot community in Boston felt small—that everyone knew everyone. “We’re still very much in the early days of robotics,” he said.
You could say robotics is wicked big business in Beantown.