U.S. Leader In Robot Technologies, New Report Finds

Two of every three new global robotic industry start-ups are in the United States, a survey published in The Robot Report finds.

About one-sixth of them (17) are in California, largely in Silicon Valley; 11 are in Pennsylvania, largely in the Pittsburgh area; and nine are in Massachusetts, places long associated with entrepreneurial business formation. Of the 108 new global startups tracked by the Santa Barbara, Ca.-based industry publication, 66 are located in the U.S.A.

Other international leaders and the number of their robotic startup firms are Canada, 6; and Sweden, Spain, and Japan, with four each.

"These start-ups appear to be clustering in the Bay Area (Silicon Valley) of California, around Boston, Pittsburgh, Tokyo and Stockholm---all of which correspond with the locations of notable government- or university-sponsored robotics research facilities, and in and around New York City," says publication Editor Frank Tobe.

Interestingly, Tobe remarked, very few of the new start-ups are of an industrial nature. "Mostly, the new companies are service robotic companies: surgical, healthcare, defense, space, security, personal service, shop assistance, unmanned aerial, underwater and ground vehicles, toys, and vision enabled" (products.)

"Each of these geographical clusters have ongoing entrepreneurial assistance programs for technology projects and provide nurturing and social get togethers with prospective investors and fellow inventors and robotocists," Tobe added.

For the purpose of evaluation, Tobe says, a robotic start-up is defined as a company established to develop a concept or product-related service for sale but which "doesn't yet have it all together." They have established a business and are in motion toward their goals but haven't made any sales or aren't fully funded, haven't finished developing the product or all of the preceding.

In addition to the new listing, Tobe says, there are more than 800 robotic established industrial and service vendor companies, plus 250 research labs and 650 ancillary businesses in the directories of the "Robot Report."

  NUMBER OF START-UPS---LEADING STATES AND NATIONS FOLLOW:

CALIFORNIA: 5D Robotics, Carlsbad; Barobo, Inc., W. Sacramento; Beatbots, San Francisco; Blue River Technologies, Sunnyvale; CyberHeart Inc., Sunnyvale; Grabit, Los Gatos; Liquid Robotics, Sunnyvale; Meka Robotics, San Francisco; PolyRemedy, San Jose; Redwood Robotics, San Francisco; Restoration Robotics, Mountain View; RoboDynamics, Santa Monica; Robotex, Inc., Palo Alto; Sifteo Inc., San Francisco; Suitable Technologies, Palo Alto; OpenROV, Mountain View.

PENNSYLVANIA: Astrobotic Technology, Pittsburgh; Bird Brain Technologies, Pittsburgh; Butterfly Haptics, Pittsburgh Carnegie Robotics, Pittsburgh; HeartLander Surgical, Pittsburgh; Interbots, Pittsburgh; Humanistic Robots, Bristol; KMelRobotics, Pittsburgh; MedRobotics, Pittsburgh; Neya Systems, Wexford, Pa.; Oragami Robotics, Pittsburgh.

MASSACHUSETTS:  Corindus Vascular Robotics, Natick; CyPhyWorks, Framingham; FTR Systems, Wakefield; Harvest Automation, Billerica; HStar Technologies, Cambridge; Jaybridge Robotics, Cambridge; Rethink Robotics, Boston; Symbotic, Wilmington; Vishwa Robotics & Automation, Brighton.

CANADA: B-TEMIA, Quebec; Entact Robotics, Toronto; Independent Robotics, Montreal; Que Innovations, Quebec; Next Generation Flight, Ottawa; RobotiQ, St-Nicholas.

SWEDEN:  BioServo Technologies; Isafjordsgatan; Giraff Technologies AB; Vasteras; IBC Robotics AB, Eskilstuna; Rotundus AB, Stockholm.

JAPAN: Flower Robotics, Minato-ku; Laksmido Corp., Kyoto; MechaTracksCo., Ltd., Fukuoka; Touchence Inc., Tokyo.

SPAIN: Adele Robots, Llanero; Aquiles Robotics Systems SL, Barcelona; Ebotl, Barcelona; Intelligenia Dynamics, Granada.

NEW JERSEY: Bright Cloud International, Newark; Catheter Robotics, Mt. Olive; Nordstrom Robotics, Mountainside, N.J.; Vehicle Technologies Inc., Trenton.