THE STATE OF

ROBOTICS
2015
Intro Foreword
This report shares our experiences in the space
since the creation of the 'Robotics' track at HAX.

The full “Hardware Trends 2016” report will be
published next year. Comments are welcome!
Thanks to HAX robotics founders and industry friends
for their contributions, and to all robotics lovers out
there who help make things happen.

Benjamin Joffe (ben@hax.co) Email: makeit@hax.co

ROBOTICS
Cyril Ebersweiler (cyril@hax.co) Apply: www.hax.co
Duncan Turner (duncan@hax.co) Twitter: @hax_co
Intro A few questions
• What’s a robot today?
• What happened in 2015?
• What are the trends?
• What barriers remain?
ROBOTICS
• What’s coming next?
Intro The robots are coming!
Robots are getting cheaper, smarter, more varied
and reaching new industries.
Social
Drones
Robots

Autonomous
Tools
Vehicles

+ most major car makers (Toyota, Volkswagen, GM, Renault-Nissan, Hyundai-Kia, etc.)

Robot
Arms

Service
Robotics
Cobots

RoboMing

Others

Lifestyle
Robots

ROBOTICS
Source: HAX State of Robotics, November 2015
Robot
Toys
WHAT’S A
ROBOT? ROBOTICS
 What’s
a robot?
HAX definition
A device that adapts to
its environment thanks
to autonomous movement
and autonomous decisions

ROBOTICS
 What’s
a robot?
Not a robot

ROBOTICS
Sorry guys
 What’s
a robot?
Barely a robot?

Drones Roombas 3d printers Factory arms

• Most don’t adapt and make decisions.

• Yet, they are gradually entering the field of

robotics thanks to computer vision and
ROBOTICS
adaptive algorithms.
Anatomy
of a robot Platforms
Several hardware and software
“platforms” help the development of
robotics projects:
ROS: Robot Operating System

OpenCV: open source computer vision library
Developer arms: various of projects

ROBOTICS
Anatomy
of a robot Actuators
• Actuators convert energy mostly
into rotational or linear motion.
• “Motors” are actuators, as are
pneumatics, hydraulics, solenoids
or shape-memory alloys and
polymers (SMA/SMPs).
ROBOTICS
Source: www.robotshop.com
Anatomy
of a robot Actuators

“Classic” DC motor Geared DC motor Industrial servo Stepper motor

ROBOTICS
DC linear actuator Pneumatic & Hydraulic Solenoid Linear SMA
Anatomy
of a robot Sensors
• How many senses can a robot have?

Surely more than five!
• A flurry of sensors have been made smaller,
cheaper and better thanks notably to sales

of smartphones and gaming consoles.
• Sound: infra, audible, ultrasound
• Light: IR, visible, UV, in particular for RGBD/LIDAR used
for SLAM (simultaneous localization & mapping)
• Touch: piezo/pressure
• Smell: chemical
ROBOTICS
• Other: accelerometer, gyroscope, GPS, barometer,
temperature, fingerprint, and many more!
Anatomy
of a robot Sensors
Multi-touch touchscreen
display, triple
microphone configuration,
M8 motion coprocessor,
3-axis gyroscope,
accelerometer, digital
compass, iBeacon,
proximity sensor,
ambient light
Touch ID fingerprint
reader, barometer
ROBOTICS
Robots can thank Apple, Microsoft and Nintendo
Anatomy Microcontrollers &
of a robot
Microprocessors
• Microcontrollers and microprocessor are the
onboard control, the “brain”.

• They very in cost, size, power, community/

support, availability and complexity…

• The options range from a chip to a

development board or a full-blown computer.
ROBOTICS
Source: www.robotshop.com
Anatomy
of a robot
The brains

Various ways to control

ROBOTICS
2015 IN
REVIEW ROBOTICS
2015 in
Review
Overall Trends
• Faster, better, cheaper components

• More startups, more funding

• Robot-as-a-Service growing

ROBOTICS
2015 in
Review
More funding for robots
• More investments (sample)

• Funding for drones

ROBOTICS
2015 in
Review
Large players in the space

ROBOTICS
ROBOTS
ROBOTICS
Drones
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Drones Trends
• Major investments in 2015.
• Most are still glorified RC copters.
• Effort is put on software for navigation,
obstacle avoidance and some vertical
applications like surveying & delivery.
“Drones are still pretty dumb.
The biggest obstacle right now is…
ROBOTICS
the ability to avoid obstacles.”
Chris Anderson, CEO, 3DR
Drones Drones for fun

Commoditization of hardware,
ROBOTICS
some as cheap as $10
Drones Drones for fun

France’s Parrot released

a series of mini-drones
ROBOTICS
including an hydrofoil
Drones Drones for imagery

China’s DJI raised $105M

ROBOTICS
and launched a $10M drone fund
Drones Drones for imagery

ROBOTICS
3DR raised $99M
Drones Drones for imagery

ROBOTICS
China’s Yuneec raised $60M
Drones Drones for imagery

ROBOTICS
China’s eHang raised $52M
Drones Drones for imagery

France’s Parrot raised $35M

ROBOTICS
Market cap is $290M (Dec 1, 2015)
Drones Drones for imagery

ROBOTICS
China’s XAircraft raised $20M
Drones Drones for delivery

Amazon unveiled its new

ROBOTICS
Air Prime delivery drone
Drones Drones for delivery

SF Express said to deliver

500 packages per day
ROBOTICS
in Southern China
Drones Drones for delivery

Alibaba tests
drone delivery
ROBOTICS
for its Taobao service
Drones Long flight drone

The Tailwing drone by Skyfront

promises 4 hours of flight time
ROBOTICS
with its hybrid-electric technology
Drones Drones for inspection

Collision-happy
ROBOTICS
drone by Flyability
Drones Other drones
• GoPro announced its own camera
drone for 2016.
• A flurry of other drone companies
received angel, seed financing,

and/or crowdfunded.
• Many startups are yet to ship their
ROBOTICS
first product.
Drones Drone Industry
• Key players in the drone space have
formed the Small UAV Coalition to inform
policy makers and promote safety.

• Members include Amazon, DJI, 3DR,

Google, GoPro, Parrot and more

ROBOTICS
Drones Drones for sports

First-person view
drone racing
ROBOTICS might become a thing
Autonomous
Vehicles
ROBOTICS
Vehicles Trends
• Autonomous vehicles are now a
mainstream topic.
• On the road with Tesla autopilot.
Google, Uber and car makers are
also on the job.

ROBOTICS
• Regulations making progress.
Vehicles

USA

Tesla released
ROBOTICS
its autopilot feature
Vehicles

USA

Google’s cars have driven

1.2M miles on the road, and 3M
ROBOTICS
miles / day running scenarios
Vehicles

USA

Komatsu autonomous trucks

in Australia at a mine
ROBOTICS
operated by Rio Tinto
Vehicles

USA

Autonomous bus
ROBOTICS
being tested in China
Vehicles

USA

Driverless tractors
ROBOTICS
are getting started
Vehicles Robot car racing
“In the future, all vehicles will be assisted
by AI and powered by electricity, improving
the environment and road safety.”
USA
Denis Sverdlov
Founder of Kinetik & ROBORACE
Races with autonomous cars will
take place before Formula E
ROBOTICS on the same circuits
Service Robots
ROBOTICS
Service Trends
robots
• Entering more industries
• Robot-as-a-Service model
• More companies & funding
“Autonomous ground service robots today have
the same kind of momentum that drones
enjoyed 2-3 years back.”
M.A. Shah, Co-founder,
ROBOTICS
Simbe Robotics
Service Warehouse
robots

Amazon bought Kiva for $775M.

ROBOTICS
Over 15,000 robots are deployed
Service Warehouse
robots

India’s
GreyOrange
ROBOTICS
raised $30M
Service Warehouse
robots

“Fetch” and “Freight” robots

by Fetch Robotics pick and
ROBOTICS
move things in warehouses
Service Warehouse
robots
inVia robots
reach new heights

ROBOTICS
Service Warehouse
robots

Locus Robotics
deployed 10 robots
ROBOTICS
at Quiet Logistics
Service Hospitality
robots

Savioke already has

30 “Relay” offering
ROBOTICS room service
Service Hospitality
robots

Robot waiters do their best

ROBOTICS
to follow lines at this restaurant
Service Hospitality
robots

This dinosaur robot works as a

ROBOTICS
receptionist at Japan’s Hen Na Hotel
Service Surveillance
robots

Knightscope robots
ROBOTICS
patrol premises
Service Surveillance
robots

Autonomous watchtowers
by Insight Robotics
detect fires using
ROBOTICS
the heat signatures of forests
Service Retail
robots

OSHrobot by Fellow Robots

is a sales assistant at a
ROBOTICS
Lowe’s Hardware store
Service Retail
robots

“Tally” by Simbe Robotics

ROBOTICS
counts Doritos and more
Service Construction
robots

Remote-controlled
demolition robot
ROBOTICS
by Husqvarna
Service Industrial Cleaning
robots

Commercial
cleaning robot
ROBOTICS
by Avidbots
Service Delivery
robots

Dispatch and Starship

are two startups aiming
ROBOTICS
for last-mile deliveries
Service Autoshop
robots

Bumber painting robot

ROBOTICS
by Rational Robotics
Service Telepresence
robots

The sub-$1,000 robot by Roboming

competes with market leader
ROBOTICS
Double Robotics
Lifestyle
Robots
ROBOTICS
Life- Trends
style
• Robots in the house!

• Most are still very simple in terms

of decision and movement
autonomy, but they are improving
and coming down in price.
ROBOTICS
Life-
style

iRobot sold over

14M Roomba worldwide
Many others entered the market
ROBOTICS
iRobot has a $1B market cap
Life-
style

Dyson’t 360 Eye

ROBOTICS
has more sensors to clean your floor
Life-
style

John Deere, Husqvarna, Bosch,

Robomow and many others
ROBOTICS
sell autonomous lawnmowers
Life-
style

WINBOT robots by Ecovacs

ROBOTICS clean your windows
Life-
style

The AquaTrek robot by Moai

cleans your aquarium
ROBOTICS
and streams its content
Life- The first robotic kitchen developed by
Moley Robotics in collaboration with
style Shadow Robot Company & others mimics
BBC Master Chef Tim Anderson’s moves

ROBOTICS
Life-
style

Following
suitcase
ROBOTICS
by Nua Robotics
Life- Robot wannabes
style abusively called “robots”.
Some recent devices are
•

• They perform interesting

tasks, and might evolve
toward true robotics. Teforia: Tea Auroma: Coffee

ROBOTICS
Bartesian: Cocktails Momentum Machines: Burgers Brewie: Beer
Robot toys
ROBOTICS
Toys Trends
• Lines between toys, tools and education
are not always clear.
• Edubots = gateway to personalized
learning & getting children into coding?
“Right now, robotics technologies cannot
make robots serve people well, but they can
make people play well.”
ROBOTICS Jasen Wang, Founder, Makeblock
Toys

Sphero raised $92M

ROBOTICS
for its ball-shaped robots
Toys

Anki raised $105M

ROBOTICS
for its AI-powered toys
Toys

Makeblock raised $6M

ROBOTICS
for its robotics kit
Toys

Robi sold over $100m kits

ROBOTICS
via a $20 weekly magazine
Toys Education

Robo Wunderkind is an
ROBOTICS
educational robot for kids
Toys Modular

The CellRobot
by Keyi Technologies
is the first “affordable”
ROBOTICS
modular robot
Toys

Mecamons by Reach Robotics

ROBOTICS
are AR-powered battle robots
Toys

iPal by AvatarMind
wants to play with
ROBOTICS
and teach your kid
Toys for Pets

Petronics makes
ROBOTICS
autonomous robots for cats
Social
Robots
ROBOTICS
Social Trends
robots
• Several investors and corporates
fund social robot projects heavily.

• Will 2016 be the year they break

into the market?

ROBOTICS
Social
robots

Softbank acquired France’s

Aldebaran Robotics and
established a $589 robotics JV
with Alibaba and Foxconn in 2015
ROBOTICS
Social
robots

ROBOTICS
Jibo raised $38.6M
Social
robots

ROBOTICS
France’s Keecker raised $1.15M
Social
robots

France’s Buddy
ROBOTICS
by Blue Frog Robotics
Social Mabu by Catalia Health
robots helps with your meds
and reports to your doctor

ROBOTICS
Social
robots

Robots by Hanson Robotics

ROBOTICS
mimic human expressions
Robot
Tools
ROBOTICS
Tools Trends
• Semi/fully-automated tools.
Not exactly “autonomous”
but soon-to-be robots.

• Desktop-sized and
ROBOTICS
affordable
Tools

Consumer 3D printers
ROBOTICS
range from $100~$5,000
Tools

ROBOTICS
Circuit board printer
Tools

Othermill desktop CNC

ROBOTICS
by Other Machine Co
Tools

The OpenTrons lab robot

ROBOTICS
automates liquid handling
Tools

Computer-assisted
power tool
ROBOTICS
by Shaper Tools
Robotic arms
ROBOTICS
Robot Trends
arms • Yaskawa, ABB, Fanuc & Kuka are
world leaders. Chinese are growing.
• Hobby arms are commoditizing.
• Next step is a low-cost pro arm.

“The holy grail of robotics is

ROBOTICS an industrial-grade sub-$5,000 arm”
Robot
arms

Kuka makes popular

industrial arms
ROBOTICS
Robot
arms

ROBOTICS
Robot
arms

ROBOTICS
Robot
arms

Several hobby arms

are below $2000
ROBOTICS
Robot
arms
Makearm - $1,399 Dobot - $499

uArm - $279 7Bot - $350

ROBOTICS Low-cost arms

Robot
arms

Carbon Robotics
is working on a low-cost
ROBOTICS
industry-grade arm
Robot
arms

A robot arm by ABB Robotics

ROBOTICS
put to work as a bartender
Cobots
ROBOTICS
Cobots Trends
• Collaborative Robots (Cobots) physically
interact with humans in a shared
workspace.

• Cobots can be autonomous, help humans,

or require help.

• The next step is to make them operable

ROBOTICS and even trainable by non-experts.
Cobots

Baxter by Rethink Robotics

handles low volume,
ROBOTICS
high mix production jobs
Cobots

Denmark’s Universal Robots

ROBOTICS
love working with humans
Cobots

Nextage cobots
by Kawada Industries
ROBOTICS
join for morning calisthenics
Cobots

ABB’s two-armed cobot

ROBOTICS
socializes at high level
Other
Robots
ROBOTICS
 Atlas
Others
Big Dog

Schaft

Google acquired
ROBOTICS
Boston Dynamics and Schaft
Others

ROBOTICS
Tesla tendon-driven charger
Others Amazon Challenge

The winner moved

10 out of 12 objects
ROBOTICS
in a 20-minute period
Others Underwater robot

OpenROV underwater
ROBOTICS
exploration robot
Others da Vinci surgical robot

Over 200,000 surgeries

ROBOTICS
per year from 3,000 locations
Others Pet therapy robot

The “Paro” baby seal robot

by AIST behaves like a pet
ROBOTICS
and helps patients relax
Others Agribots
• Harvesting, irrigation, pruning, weeding and
thinning devices are being field-tested
worldwide.
• Automated spraying and seeding are done in
Japan and Australia.
• Cow milking is growing; nurseries are beginning
to use pick-and-place robots.
• Aerial observation robots along with in-field
sensors might support the growing field of
ROBOTICS
“precision agriculture”. Source: The Robot Report

July 2014
Others Agribots

Picking strawberries
ROBOTICS
requires computer vision
Others Other robots
• Some fields of robotics are still
confined to experiments and labs.

• Among them:
• Modular robotics
• Biomimetic robots

ROBOTICS
• Soft robotics
Others Biomimetics

Festo creates spectacular

ROBOTICS
biomimicking robots
Others Biomimetics
Amphibious
salamander robot

EPFL develops
adaptive robots
ROBOTICS
Cat-like inspired by nature
robot
Others Reconfigurable robots

Roombots are modular robot at EPFL

ROBOTICS
They could power modular furniture
Others Soft robotics

Inflatable arm
ROBOTICS
by Pneubotics
Others Grippers

“A robot is just as good

as its grippers”
ROBOTICS
- Robotics proverb
Others Versaball gripper
by Empire Robotics

This “jamming gripper”

used to be filled
ROBOTICS
with ground coffee
Others Festo FinGripper

ROBOTICS
Bends naturally around objects
Others Biomimetic gripper

The Dexterous Hand by

Shadow Robotics
uses 129 sensors,
24 motors and
ROBOTICS
26 micro-controllers
Others Lightweight grippers

Lightweight grippers with

ROBOTICS
ceramic tendons by SAKE Robotics
Others

And finally… This robot solved

a Rubik’s cube
ROBOTICS
in 2.39 seconds
2016 &
BEYOND ROBOTICS
2016 &
beyond
Will robots get their
“Macintosh moment”?

ROBOTICS
2016 &
beyond • “Plug&play” hardware & software
part will help more projects start.

• Lower price & size of components


will open new opportunities. A low-cost
LIDAR, for instance, would be a boon
to robotics. Some sub-$500 units are
apparently on their way for 2016!
ROBOTICS
2016 &
beyond • Service robots will grow

The “robot-as-a-service” business model
will spread as well. It is, in fact, not so
different from renting a Xerox machine

or hiring a cleaning agency.

• Non-robot devices will get smarter


with computer vision and other sensors.
ROBOTICS
2016 & Robots are still too dumb
beyond Most consumer robots are wired or
remote controlled. Barely robots, in fact!
“Better & cheaper chips are
needed for path planning, “You can’t
inverse kinematics, image make an
processing, object and face iPhone
recognition, or collaborative
automation.”
out of an
Dan Corkum
ROBOTICS
Co-founder, Carbon Robotics
Arduino”
2016 & Resolution is too low
beyond • Hobby-level steppers and RC servos
are 100x to 1,000x worse than basic
industrial robots.
“It is like
This hurts accuracy,
comparing
•
precision & repeatability.
• Low-grade drivetrains
a Game Boy
ROBOTICS
add slip, flex & backlash. to an HDTV”
2016 & Safety is largely ignored
beyond
Most consumer robots are not powerful
enough to be a danger, but for how long?

“A robot strong enough The issues and ethics

to do something of autonomous car
collisions might apply
you really want to others robots living
can also do something alongside humans.
Better find how to
ROBOTICS
you really don’t want.” avoid collisions!
2016 & Plug & play hardware
beyond More technical bricks are still needed to
made robotics easier.
ROS makes a lot of
hardware plug & play Open source projects
and is used by most like ROS, OpenCV and
Linux made robotics
startups focused on more accessible to
autonomous ground mainstream software
ROBOTICS
robotics engineers.
2016 & Interfaces still suck
beyond
Better interfaces are required to allow
non-experts to interact with robots
“We need natural user interfaces.

Think less along the lines of

controlling with a joystick,

and more like asking
 Dan Corkum
to complete a task.” Co-founder
ROBOTICS
Carbon Robotics
2016 & Most investors don’t
beyond
“get” robotics
• The hardware/software stack of robotics
startups is much more complex than apps or
low-cost consumer hardware.
“Oh! Raspberry pi and kinects - cheap!”
…NOT
• To attract funding, the startup’s business
ROBOTICS case also needs to be proven quickly.
2016 & Robotics talent is lacking
beyond
Robotics talent is not as readily available
as full-stack web developers. Well-funded
startups often resort to training in-house.

ROBOTICS
2016 & Robotics talent war
beyond
• Uber hired about a third of Carnegie
Mellon University’s famed robotics
center staff, about 50 people in the first
half of 2015 alone.

• Google hired Robert Rose, the

engineering manager who led Tesla’s
ROBOTICS
Autopilot group.
2016 & Fear of robots?
beyond • Robots are often depicted as threats to our
safety or jobs. Yet, their actions depend on
their design and programming.

• Robots are machines like cotton mills,

washing machines and computers are.

They can be workers, helpers, companions,
pets, tools and toys. Measure of actual
benefits and proper regulation can help
ROBOTICS public perception become more realistic.
ABOUT
HAX ROBOTICS
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Business

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90 investments - 60% B2C, 40% B2B

HAX Tracks

LIFESTYLE HEALTH ROBOTICS IoT ADVANCED

ENABLEMENT MANUFACTURING

Global startups - 60% Americas, 20% Europe, 20% Asia

Robotics startups at HAX

ROBOTICS
Several startups on a “Fitbit trajectory”

ROBOTICS LIFESTYLE
“Lego for robotics” “Polaroid” mobile case

ADVANCED IoT
MANUFACTURING Circuit board printer ENABLEMENT $9 computer

LIFESTYLE HEALTH
Smart lights Mobile blood testing
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