🦾 HardTech Reads: The AI & Robotics Revolution vol.34

Welcome to the exploration of the world where founders embark on bold quests and solve non-obvious problems🤘

🤖 1930s Japan’s steel humanoid robot resurfaces in history books, 🛻 Waymo expands to San Jose, Houston, and beyond, 📉 U.S. factory output slows for the 3rd month — recession watch?, 🧲 China’s rare earth export freeze disrupts global EV lines, 🏛 Congressional Robotics Caucus is back in Washington, 🦿 Amazon’s humanoid robots enter package delivery testing, 🛸 Walmart & Wing launch drone delivery across 100+ U.S. stores, 🔬 Vivodyne replaces animal testing with robotics, 🏗️ Buildots scale AI for construction ops, 🚀 Impulse Spacescales in-space mobility, 🌊 Saildrone and ocean data + maritime security, 🧪 Pallet, Posha, Orca AI, and more scale across AI & robotics.

🚀 HARDTECH NEWS: Robotics & AI Innovations

🤖 A Century-Old Humanoid Dream
In 1930s Japan, visionary inventor Yasutaro Mitsui built one of the first steel humanoid robots — a static but electrified machine with moving arms. While today’s humanoids like Optimus and Figure AI are powered by advanced AI and fluid locomotion, Mitsui’s creation reminds us that the dream of lifelike machines is not new. Our future often has roots in the forgotten past. Learn more.

The image also appears in Haruki Inoue’s 1993 book Nihon Robotto Soseiki 1920–1938.

Nihon robotto sōseiki, 1920–1938

🚗 Waymo Expands Across the U.S.
The California Public Utilities Commission approved Waymo’s expansion into San Jose, while the company announced new pilot sites in Houston, Orlando, and San Antonio. Their autonomous driving research shows their robotaxis are significantly safer than human drivers. Learn more.

📉 U.S. Manufacturing Slows
May’s ISM Manufacturing Index fell to 48.5, signaling a contraction in factory activity. With rising interest rates, slowing output, and global debt fears, America’s industrial base may need stronger policy support. Learn more.

🧲 Rare Earth Supply Shocks
China’s export restrictions on rare earth magnets have halted several European automotive production lines. With over 90% control of the global supply chain, China’s grip on these critical materials is a major threat to EVs, robotics, and defense. Learn more.

🏛 U.S. Robotics Policy Revived
The Congressional Robotics Caucus relaunched with bipartisan support, aiming to boost U.S. competitiveness. Focus areas include ethics, education, R&D, and robot density. After years of lagging, the U.S. is getting serious about robotics. Learn more.

🦅Cleveland-Area Startup Begins US Production of 4G Modules

Eagle Electronics is making waves just nine months after its inception, claiming to be the first to produce 4G modules in the United States. These modules are crucial components that connect cellular phone towers to various devices, including cars, medical equipment, and alarm systems. The company has already secured necessary certifications from government agencies and some cellular networks, with final approval from Verizon anticipated soon. This move to domestic manufacturing for such critical electronic components signifies a potential shift away from reliance on Chinese production.

🤖 Amazon Explores Humanoid Robots for Package Delivery

Amazon is reportedly developing and testing humanoid robots for package delivery within a specialized “humanoid park,” an indoor obstacle course comparable in size to a coffee shop. The company is focusing on creating the artificial intelligence software to power these robots, while utilizing hardware from other developers. The ultimate goal is for these robots to be able to travel in and deliver packages from Amazon’s Rivian vans, potentially impacting the roles of human delivery workers in the future. Learn more.

📦 Walmart and Wing Significantly Expand Drone Delivery Across US

Walmart and drone delivery company Wing are dramatically increasing their partnership, expanding drone delivery services to over 100 Walmart stores across Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Orlando, Tampa, and the Dallas-Fort Worth area. This marks a nearly five-fold increase in Wing’s operations with Walmart, indicating that drone delivery is moving beyond trials and into a significant scaling phase for both companies. Learn more.

🚀 Startups to Know: Game-Changers in HardTech & AI

Digua Robotics — $100M Series A for humanoid robotics in industrial & service sectors. Backed by Chinese investors.

Impulse Space — $300M Series C for in-space mobility. Linse Capital led; Valor, DFJ Growth, Lux Capital joined.

Heron Power — $38M Series A for next-gen power infrastructure. Led by Capricorn, with Breakthrough Energy, EIP, Tesla alumni.

Pallet — $27M Series B for AI-powered workforce tools. Led by General Catalyst, joined by Bain, Activant, Bessemer.

Serve Robotics — $80M Series B to expand sidewalk food delivery robots. U.S. scaling with fleet autonomy..

Orca AI — $72.5M Series B for autonomous shipping. Brighton Park, Ankona, Hyperlink backed.

Saildrone — $60M for maritime autonomy and data. Led by Export & Investment Fund of Denmark.

Posha — $8M Series A for countertop cooking robots. Led by Accel.

MX3D — €7M Series A for robotic 3D metal printing. Led by EDF Pulse Ventures.

Milvus Robotics — $4.5M for warehouse robots. Backed by Türk Telekom Ventures and others.

Buildots — $45M Series D for AI in construction. Led by Qumra Capital; clients include Intel.

👨‍🔧HARDTECH STARTUPS ARE HIRING

Looking for a 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐉𝐨𝐛? Check 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐉𝐨𝐛𝐬 𝐁𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝!⚒️🏭🧑‍🏭🤖

Figure, SpaceX, Cobot, ABB, Blue Origin, NASA, Boston Dynamics, Tesla, Rivian, Bright Machines, Archer , GITAI , Relativity Space are hiring!

Check it here 👇

HardTech Jobs Board

📚FAVORITE RESOURCES

Techstars Space Accelerator — For companies breaking into aerospace. Apply by Jun 11.

Hitachi Factory Tour — A rare look at full-scale robotics in heavy machinery.

Michigan Mobility Grants — New state-backed funding for autonomy and domestic supply chains.

Figure’s Helix Model — CEO Brett Adcock dives into logistics, humanoids & neural networks.

IDTechEx Report — “Humanoid Robots 2025–2035: Markets & Opportunities”.

Fei-Fei Li Interview — Reimagining AI for the physical world.

🎤EVENTS

Upcoming Events:
➖ June 4 Bots&Beer&BoardGames (Mountain View, CA)
➖ June 10–11 Robotics Invest Boston (Boston, MA)
➖ June 14–14 LeRobot Worldwide Hackathon
➖June 22–27 Deep Tech Week (San Francisco, CA) - ping me if you are there!🔥
➖June. 18–19 IEEE Hard Tech Summit — San Francisco, CA - ping me if you are there!🔥
➖ June 30-July 2 International Conference on Ubiquitous Robots (College Station, Texas)
➖ July 16–17 — Reindustrialize, Detroit, MI — ping me if you are there!🔥
➖ Aug. 18–22 Intl. Conference on Automation Science & Engineering (Anaheim, California)
➖October 6–10 Intl. Conference on Advanced Manufacturing (Las Vegas, NV)
➖October 15–16 RoboBusiness (Santa Clara, CA) - ping me if you are there!🔥
➖October 19–25 IEEE IROS (Hangzhou, China)
➖October 29 — Hard Tech Summit, Ontario, Canada.
➖October 27–29 ROSCon (Singapore)
➖November 3–5 Intl. Robot Safety Conference (Houston, TX)
➖December 11–12 Humanoid Summit (Silicon Valley TBA)

🤝 Passionate about HardTech?

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You can also find me on LinkedIn and Substack 🛠️

If you are interested in AI, Robotics & HardTech, check my previous posts:

➡️ The world doesn’t fix itself. These startups are trying — The Top 100 HardTech Startups
➡️ Will we have a chatGPT moment for Robots?
➡️ The Coming Scarcity of Humanity
➡️ The Art and Science of Venture Capital Investing
➡️ Deep Thinkers & Builders in Tech, Science and Bio
➡️ Humanoids Don’t Exist in Isolation — It Takes an Ecosystem to Bring Them to Life!
➡️ Clone Alpha: The Next Leap in Humanoid Robotics
➡️ ‘Made in China’-Robotics Market Overview
➡️ The Science of Networks: From Theory to New Realities