🦾 HardTech Reads: The AI & Robotics Revolution vol.46
Welcome to the exploration of the world where founders embark on bold quests and solve non-obvious problems🤘
Happy Labor Day (Weekend)!🙂
What a wonderful time to be working on such exciting things — and to pause for a moment of gratitude 🙏 Sending greetings from the Smoky Mountains 🌲✨ and some hot news from the HardTech World!🛠️
🚀 HARDTECH NEWS: Robotics & AI Innovations
🤖 Taiwan’s First Humanoid Robot
Taiwan’s industrial automation leader Techman Robot is fast-tracking the nation’s first humanoid robot to mass production. Developed with NVIDIA, the TM Xplore I is designed to automate the last bits of work needing human-level dexterity in smart factories, helping them go completely lights out.
👉 Learn more.
🤝Manufacturing Jobs
The renaissance happens on factory floors, job sites, and control rooms, and right now, those places are running out of hands. Across semiconductors, batteries, aircraft, robots, minerals, ships, and grids, the bottleneck is often talent. Projects hit the same wall again and again: not enough welders, machinists, electricians, or operators.
🤖 MIT Students Invent AI Kitchen Robot
MIT students have created Kitchen Cosmos, a retro-futuristic kitchen robot that uses AI to scan leftovers and generate recipes. The playful and intentional design challenges conventional smart kitchen technology by transforming food waste into personalized meals.
👉 Learn more.
🔋 World’s Largest Sand Battery Goes Live in Finland
Finnish firm Polar Night Energy has built an industrial-scale sand battery in Pornainen, Finland, set to cut carbon emissions from the local heating network by 70%. The battery, 42 feet tall and 50 feet wide, can store up to 100 MWh of energy, enough to heat the town for a week, and can hold a charge for months.
👉 Learn more.
🏦 Malaysia Unveils First AI Bank
Malaysia has launched Ryt Bank, its first AI-powered bank, blending finance with cutting-edge technology. Built by YTL Group and Sea Limited, the bank’s AI assistant “Ryt AI” can chat in local languages, pay bills, explain financial basics, and process transactions securely.
👉 Learn more.
🤝 DoD and MP Materials Forge 10-Year Rare Earth Magnet Pact
The US Department of Defense is providing MP Materials with a $400 million equity investment, a $150 million loan, and a minimum price guarantee of $110/kg for NdPr over ten years, almost double the current market price, along with a 100% offtake commitment for 7,000 metric tons of magnets annually and $140 million yearly to guarantee minimum profits.
👉 Learn more.
🛡️ TSMC’s Fragile Armor
Taiwan’s silicon shield is showing some hairline cracks, per MIT Tech Review. TSMC has long acted as the island’s “silicon shield,” deterring Chinese aggression due to its existential role in the global chip supply. Facing U.S. pressure, TSMC is scaling production far and wide, raising concerns in Taiwan about losing leverage.
👉 Learn more.
🚫 TSMC (again) Is Removing Chinese Chipmaking Tools From Its 2nm Production Lines
To avoid any repercussions from the U.S. that might disrupt its production plans, TSMC is reportedly removing Chinese chipmaking tools from its 2nm production lines.
👉 Learn more.
🤖 Self-Driving Robots Deliver for $3
Robomart has unveiled the RM5, a 500-pound autonomous delivery vehicle designed to undercut food apps with a flat $3 fee. Launching in Austin later this year, the robot can handle multiple orders at once, offering cheaper, faster deliveries than DoorDash or Uber Eats.
👉 Learn more.
🧠 NVIDIA Launches Jetson AGX Thor
Robotics just gained a powerful new brain with NVIDIA’s Jetson AGX Thor. Built on the Blackwell GPU, it offers 7.5x more AI performance and 3.5x greater efficiency than before, enabling robots to run advanced language and vision models that push real-world interactions further than ever.
👉Learn more.
💧 Back to End of Thirst Traps
A Sci Am feature takes a closer look at the viability of subsea desalination. Researchers have deployed submerged pods off the coast of Santa Monica, CA and Mongstad, Norway, promising cleaner, cheaper fresh water by letting ocean pressure do the heavy lifting of reverse osmosis.
👉Learn more.
🤝 Automated Industrial Robotics Inc. Acquires Owens Design
Automated Industrial Robotics Inc. has acquired Owens Design, a Fremont, California-based industrial automation company. The transaction expands AIR’s U.S. presence and strengthens its ability to deliver innovative automation solutions for its global customer base.
👉 Learn more.
🚁 China Enters Era of “Flying Taxis”
China has officially entered the era of “flying taxis,” with two companies obtaining commercial operation certificates for autonomous passenger drones from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). This marks the beginning of low-altitude, pilot-free air travel.
👉 Learn more.
🔬 STARTUPS TO KNOW: Game-Changers in HardTech & AI
Kruncher AI: The Most Comprehensive AI Analyst for Data-Driven VCs. First 5 reports free.
Eyebot, a startup that operates self-service kiosks offering 90-second vision tests that generate doctor-verified prescriptions, raised a $20 million Series A.
Quantinuum, a quantum computing group backed by Honeywell, is in talks to raise new funding at a $10b valuation
FieldAI, an Irvine, California-based developer of “brains” for robots, raised $393 million in Series A and Series A-1 funding, at a $2 billion post-money valuation.
Nuro, a Mountain View, Calif.-based self-driving technology company, raised $203 million in Series E funding from Uber, Baillie Gifford, Icehouse Ventures, Kindred Ventures, NVIDIA, and Pledge Ventures.
Overhaul, an Austin, Texas-based supply chain risk and intelligence company, raised $105 million in Series C funding.
Aalo Atomics, an Austin, Texas-based builder of nuclear plants, raised $100 million in Series B funding.
Stark, a German weaponized drone maker, raised $62m at a $500m valuation.
Keychain, a New York City-based developer of an AI-powered manufacturing platform for the consumer packaged goods industry, raised $30 million in Series B funding.
SpinLaunch, a Long Beach, Calif.-based developer of a low-orbit broadband constellation, raised $30m.
Garage, a New York City-based online emergency vehicle and surplus equipment marketplace, raised $13.5 million in Series A funding.
Group14 Closes US$463M Series D Funding Round led by SK, Inc., with strong participation of other existing investors, including Porsche Investments, ATL, OMERS, Decarbonization Partners, Lightrock Climate Impact Fund, Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, and others. The funds will be used to continue scaling the manufacture of Group14’s silicon battery material, SCC55, in the U.S. and South Korea.
📚FAVORITE RESOURCES
➡️ The State of AI 2025 — published in Bessemer’s Atlas; co-authored by Kent Bennett, Talia Goldberg, Janelle Teng, Sameer Dholakia, Mike Droesch, Lauri Moore, Caty Rea, Lindsey Li, Maha Malik, Bhavik Nagda, Lance Co Ting Keh, Darsh Patel, and Christine Deakers.
➡️ The Silicon Valley Ecosystem Map
👨🔧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!
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🎤EVENTS
🇺🇸 Sept 9–10 — Michigan Defense and Aerospace Summit (Lansing, MI)
🇺🇸 Oct 1 — Renaissance UnDemo Day (Detroit, MI)
🌱 Oct 13–15 — RECESS25 Clean Energy Summit (Detroit, MI)
🏗 Oct 6–10 — Intl. Conference on Advanced Manufacturing (Las Vegas, NV)
🤝 Oct 15–16 — RoboBusiness (Santa Clara, CA)
🇸🇬 Oct 27–29 — ROSCon (Singapore)
🌍 Oct 19–25 — IEEE IROS(Hangzhou, China)
🔧 Oct 29 — Hard Tech Summit (Ontario, Canada)
🤠 Nov 3–5 — Intl. Robot Safety Conference (Houston, TX)
🇯🇵 Dec 1–4 — Intl. Conference on Space Robotics (Sendai, Japan)
🇦🇪 Dec 8–12 — Deep Tech Week Dubai 2025
🦿 Dec 11–12 — Humanoid Summit (Silicon Valley, TBA)
🇬🇧 Mar 16–19, 2026 — Intl. Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (Edinburgh, Scotland)
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