Crazy Hard Robots

Craig S. Markovitz is an Entrepreneur in Residence in the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship and a Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship in the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU).  He is also the inaugural Prosser Mellon Fellow at the RK Mellon Foundation as well as a Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Specialist with the law firm of Troutman Pepper. Markovitz is co-founder of Blue Belt Technologies, Inc., a spinoff from the Robotics Institute at CMU and served as the company’s Chief Executive Officer for over 7 years.  In this capacity, he launched the company, raised capital, managed operations, and led a January 2011 merger with HealthpointCapital.  He then transitioned to Chief Operating Officer and helped to lead substantial growth of the company from pre-revenue and 18 employees to multi-million in revenue and 150 employees.  Craig was a key member of the deal team that led to an acquisition by Smith and Nephew, plc in January 2016 for $275,000,000. In addition, Markovitz was Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Spotlight Medical, Inc.  Spotlight was a spinoff company based on technology developed jointly by Carnegie Mellon University and The University of Pittsburgh.  He managed this company to a successful exit as well.

A venture capitalist turned robotics entrepreneur, Saman Farid witnessed the low adoption rates for robotics and saw an opportunity to help make robotic solutions easier to deploy. It wasn’t easy going from a venture capitalist to an entrepreneur. However, Farid realized he didn’t want to be a cheerleader for robotics companies, he wanted to be out on the playing field. After years of funding several successful advanced technology solutions, Farid took the leap and founded Formic, which combines financial innovation with a firm understanding of robotics in order to enable manufacturing customers to deploy and scale automation quickly and with minimal risk. Tune in to Crazy Hard Robots as Saman Farid, founder and CEO of Formic, chats with Tom about how his venture capital experiences led him to entrepreneurship.

Çetin Meriçli, Ph.D. is a co-founder and the CEO of Locomation. Formerly a Special Faculty – Commercialization Specialist at the National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC) of Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute, Dr. Meriçli has over 15 years of experience in developing and deploying complex robotic systems for real-world applications – and he has played key roles in over a dozen high profile applied robotics projects. His expertise can be read in over 40 publications on subjects covering his accomplishments including safe and efficient machine learning for robust robot autonomy and perception, robot learning from human demonstration and feedback, interactive learning, sliding autonomy through learning, long-term autonomy and lifelong learning, data-driven high-fidelity robot simulation, human-robot interaction, probabilistic robotics, multi-robot coordination and planning, and software engineering practices for robot software development.

Parag Batavia is a robotics entrepreneur with a proven track record of starting, leading, growing, and exiting robotics and autonomy companies. His technology focus is on outdoor off-road autonomy, manned-unmanned teaming, and mission planning. Parag’s most recent company was Neya Systems, LLC, which he started as the sole founder in 2009. At Neya, we focus on developing robust off-road autonomy for defense and commercial customers. In 2017, after 8 years of continued growth, Parag sold Neya to Applied Research Associates, so that we could have access to the resources and expertise needed to accelerate our capabilities. He continues to work at Neya part time, as the Chief Technology Strategist, where Parah helps to guide Neya’s technology development efforts and lead key business development activities. Parag is currently an instructor at Carnegie Mellon in the Robotics Institute, where he teaches “How to Build a Robotics Startup” in the Masters in Robotics Systems Development program. He also serves on the Executive Board of the Pittsburgh Robotics Network.

Tom Galluzzo founded IAM Robotics because of his vision that robotic systems can make our businesses and lives more productive. He believes these machines will enable a significantly more efficient economy thereby leading to a higher standard of living for all of us. In this episode, he goes into more detail.

Andra Keay is the Managing Director of Silicon Valley Robotics, the non-profit industry group supporting innovation and commercialization of robotics technologies. She is a global ecosystem builder, a trained futurist, founder of the Good Robot Awards, Robot Launch global startup competition, Robot Garden maker space, Women in Robotics and is a mentor, investor and advisor to startups, accelerators and think tanks, dedicated to growing ethical and equitable Autonomous Intelligent Systems (AIS). She has a background in Human-Robot Interaction, Interaction Design and Communications and is currently a Visiting Scholar with the UC’s CITRIS People and Robots Research Group. Andra Keay is the Managing Director of Silicon Valley Robotics, the non-profit industry group supporting innovation and commercialization of robotics technologies. She is a mentor, investor and advisor, founder of the Robot Launch global startup competition, Robot Garden makerspace, Women in Robotics organization, and Visiting Scholar at CITRIS People and Robots Initiative at UC Berkeley.

A self-professed “accidental venture capitalist” and entrepreneur with a background in engineering and solar cells, Homan Yuen is helping to make dreams come true for founders in Silicon Valley and beyond. After several years in the engineering game, he dipped his toes into the investment game, and hasn’t looked back. Yuen now works with Fusion Fund, a Palo Alto, CA-based firm with a focus on technically-differentiated companies and industrial automation, healthcare, and enterprise. Alongside data-minded colleagues Lu and Kevin Zhang (whose insights made this episode possible), he uses his technical expertise to evaluate investment opportunities and push the needle toward a more advanced world. In this episode of Crazy Hard Robots, Tom chats with Homan Yuen, partner of Fusion Fund. Listen in as Tom and Homan talk about Challenges in finding the right investors to take a leap of faith on robotics What to look for from founders to evaluate investment opportunities The first-time VS. repeat founder argument Having the right customer set in mind to go to market faster Robotics and AI investment opportunities outside Silicon Valley The “It” factors that make certain robotics investment opportunities stand out Future investment opportunities and automation advances turning the corner About Homan Yuen Homan Yuen provides deep expertise in the application of technologies and in operations and management. Prior to Fusion Fund, he was the co-founder, CTO, and director of Solar Junction Corp., which produces and sells world-record solar products to the terrestrial and satellite markets. Yuen has 20 years experience working in a broad range of technologies, management, finance, and investor activities. He is active in the entrepreneur and investor communities, providing mentorship to programs like StartX and Alchemist Accelerator, and in the community with organizations like the Asian Pacific Fund, where he is on the Advisory Board. Yuen holds a Ph.D. in Engineering from Stanford University and a B.A. in Physics from UC Berkeley.

There are thousands of problems in our human lives. We’re solving more and more of them with robots, but the much-hyped “robot apocalypse” is far in the distance. Robotics writer Steve Crowe is no stranger to the advances—and rumors—within the industry. He’s a leading authority at WTWH Media, the publisher behind The Robot Report, Robotics Business Review, Collaborative Robotics Trends, and Mobile Robot Guide. Crowe has covered robotics from all angles, so he knows the possibilities and limitations. Listen to Crazy Hard Robots as Steve Crowe, Editorial Director at WTWH Media, geeks out with Tom about successes, failures, and possibilities for robotics, including: The Robot Report Podcast and misadventures with robo taxis Limitations of robot programming to account for unknowns Robots that don’t work well because manufacturers aim too high What needs to happen for robots to go mainstream for individuals Repeatability, reliability, and ease-of-use as keys to robotics success Being able to pivot when a robotics concept proves undoable The value of applying existing technology to new robotics solutions Keeping things simple and using robotics to solve a specific problem About Steve Crowe Steve Crowe is a dynamic editor, writer and public speaker with 10+ years in B2B and robotics. He is the Editor of The Robot Report and Collaborative Robotics Trends, two flagship publications of WTWH Media. The Robot Report provides engineering, technology, and business professionals with a single source for breaking news, product information, independent analysis, and in-depth research. Collaborative Robotics Trends provides news and analysis about emerging collaborative robotics capabilities, powerful enabling technologies, cobot applications and insights into future innovations. Crowe joined WTWH Media after spending five years as Managing Editor of Robotics Trends and Robotics Business Review. He is also co-founder and co-chair of the Robotics Summit & Expo, a technical conference and expo dedicated to addressing the issues involved with the design, development, manufacture of commercial robotics systems; is co-chair of RoboBusiness, an international robotics business development and innovation event located in the Heart of Silicon Valley; and has produced robotics conferences for CES and PTC’s LiveWorx. Crowe holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College.

One of the “original gangsters” of the robotics startup space, Charlie Duncheon has done it all, from pioneering robotics technology and hobnobbing with Steve Jobs at Adept in the ‘80s to launching Grabit, a leader in material handling automation. Now he’s CEO and co-founder of a drug discovery automation and robotic solutions provider. As an engineering/sales hybrid, Charlie uses his technical expertise to create and grow businesses from scratch with next-gen technology. His secret sauce? Keep things simple with existing technology, identify a market, and tailor that technology for that market. In this episode of Crazy Hard Robots, Tom chats with Charlie Duncheon, CEO and co-founder of Celltrio. Tune in as Tom and Charlie discuss Charlie’s early beginnings in sales for the AdeptOne direct-drive robot How Covid-19 made robotic automation in life sciences a necessity Celltrio’s commitment to using robotics to help scientists be more effective How Celltrio takes ready-to-go tech and applies it to life sciences. Why you need an experienced advisory board for a new robotics company Vertical and horizontal plays to secure venture capital for robotics A robotics sale that almost didn’t happen with Steve Jobs Charlie’s favorite past and present robotics companies About Charlie Duncheon Charlie Duncheon has spent over thirty years in the robotics and factory automation industry. He joined Adept Technology at its inception and rose to become chief commercial officer, where he led Adept to a successful IPO. With a successful consulting background behind him, Duncheon went on to become CEO of Artificial Muscle, Inc. and founder of Grabit, Inc. He currently serves on the Silicon Valley Robotics Board and as a robotics and IoT mentor at Plug and Play. He was also elected as president and board chairman of the Robotics Industries of America (RIA) and received RIA's distinguished Joseph Engelberger Leadership Award. Duncheon holds a B.S. in industrial engineering from Purdue University and an M.S. in business administration from Southern Illinois University. He is a registered professional engineer.

Andrea Thomaz is a human-robot interaction specialist who builds social robot assistants that help people with chores. Her company, Diligent Robotics, is focused first on thoughtfully introducing robot assistants into the healthcare industry. “Moxi” their hospital robot assistant is designed to help nurses with their non-patient-facing tasks, so they can have more time for patient care.