Robotics (2024)

1. Robots could be the answer to long waiting lists

   Robots have made their way into the operating room and doctors believe they can enhance surgical precision, which aids quicker patient recovery.

   It also adds efficiency to hospital schedules: startups say their systems can shave tens of minutes off procedures, allowing hospitals to pack more surgeries into a day.

   Surgeons at Southmead Hospital in Bristol used robots to help perform 24 procedures over two days in November 2023. According to one consultant, this use of robots helped reduce the hospital backlog from 24 months to 12-14 months.

   Investors are seeing plenty of potential here. Last year, Cambridge-based CMR Surgical announced a $165m top-up, following a $600m raise for the startup in 2021. With a valuation of $3bn, CMR’s success is one of the clearest signs of optimism regarding the role of robots in healthcare. But challengers beware: the regulatory path is long.

2. Robots won’t replace us yet

   Robots remain on the fringes of several industries. They’re great in warehouses and greenhouses — where things can be precise and managed — but a poor fit for rough-terrains.

   It seems infeasible they’ll ever do for construction what they did for the auto industry, for example.

   Robots are making slow headway onto farms too. They’re picking fruit and weeding but, with margins so tight in that world, they’re not going to be affordable for the majority of farmers any time soon.

3. Not just for the deep-pocketed

   Warehouses will increase robot adoption by 50% or more in the next five years, according to surveys taken by the Material Handling Institute, an industry trade group.

   But it’s not just large companies that are feeling a need for more automation — SMEs want some help too.

   German startup RobCo is trying to address this challenge by offering robot tech for the middle market. Another German company, fruitcore robotics, is offering industrial automation through its AI-supported robot, HORST. Both companies offer rental options for companies that wish to avoid hefty up-front investments.

4. Germany has the robot brain makers too

   Software to help train robots and manage their integration with other products is picking up steam.

   Again, Germany appears to be leading the field. Dresden-based Wandelbots offers a platform that helps individuals without technical backgrounds to programme and train robots, while Darmstadt-based Energy Robotics provides software designed for the management of robot fleets in challenging remote environments.

5. AI droids are coming

   There's a lot of interest in using AI to make robots faster and smarter (plenty of fear too that AI will make robots too smart).

   Investors are certainly keen to bet on AI robotics. In January, OpenAI-backed Norwegian AI robotics startup 1X Technologies raised $100m. So-called humanoid robots are being developed by Vancouver-based Sanctuary AI and Elon Musk has previously said Tesla is working on a robot called Optimus.

Who early stage startups are up against