Standard Bots is building and training robots to think for themselves artificial intelligence – and it could be Bring more manufacturing to America in the process.
The Long Island-based company is the first to apply AI to robotics and one of the first to do so for commercial purposes rather than conducting academic research.
Founder and CEO Evan Beard told The Post, “We’re building the tools so anyone can use this robot for their business and show the robot what they want it to do through hand-held training devices.” Want.”
Instead of writing long lines of code, AI allows robots to learn a task from humans by capturing the motion through a camera and mirroring it – like pouring soda into a cup. Unlike traditional autonomous robots, which perform rote movements, AI-powered robots “sense” their environments and adapt.
For example, a standard Bots AI robot can see if a soda can has been moved and pick it up from the new location.
“ChatGPT has given AI a language, and robotics is giving AI a framework,” said Randy Howie, who helped start it. New York Robotics NetworkA non-profit advancing robotics in NYC. “Robotics has not progressed as fast as software over the past 30 years… But, now, with the intersection of AI and robotics, a new frontier has opened up where robots are smart and can learn. [They are] Able to explore their environments and reason through them. Standard Bots is leading the commercialization of AI and robotics on that front.
In practical terms, Beard believes this means robots could be smart enough to fill manufacturing jobs or wash dishes in restaurants within the next five years.
This focus on real-world applications is part of the reason why companies including Amazon and Samsung invested $63 million standard bot in this summer.
Contrary to fears about robots taking over human jobs, Beard said the initial application is meant to help companies that already automate manufacturing make it more efficient and economical. And that should make it more attractive for companies to bring supply chains back to the US.
“If we can automate a lot of production, we can really bring jobs back to this country and we can compete on price,” Beard explained. “Right now we see the importance of manufacturing here from both presidential candidates… it can improve national security. It’s better for the environment [and] Our transportation costs and food costs go down.”
Getting major corporate backing is a dramatic leap from 2017, when Beard, 37, and his co-founder started tinkering with robots in their apartment. But he struggled to raise money and Beard poured the last of his personal savings into Standard Bots before his first outside cash investment came in just days before the coronavirus lockdown in 2020.
One reason the development of robotics has been slow compared to other software technologies is that it is “multidisciplinary”.
But Beard’s background — he studied computer science at Duke and was accepted into Y Combinator, the specialized incubator for launching a software company — bridges the gap of bringing software and hardware together.
“You have to have people who are good at electronics, good at hardware, good at manufacturing and good at software… there are so many different areas that you need to bring together,” Beard said. ” “It makes it really hard.”
After raising the seed round, Beard was able to open an 8,500-square-foot factory in Glen Cove, Long Island with his children and wife (a second 13,000-square-foot factory is opening in Long Island in early 2020).
In the next few months, Standard Bots will be ready to sell its new AI robotic “arm” — a product Beard believes is far more efficient than building a full humanoid robot — and it will make its film debut. will also.
Beard and his bots were banned from A24’s “Baby girl,” in theaters on Christmas Day and starring Nicole Kidman as the CEO of a robotics company. While Beard only appears in one scene, his robotics play a major role. It was the New York Robotics Network that connected Beard to A24, which is based in NYC.
And Beard believes NYC has helped prove his luck.
In the early days of Standard Bots, he would invite venture capitalists and technologists to come to his downtown apartment to demonstrate robotics — and eventually won over some investors that way.
“We have the talent, we have the engineers, and we have the investors… there’s a whole ecosystem in New York City,” Beard said. “It’s important to live near a center like this…it creates a lot of contingency.”
this is part of the story NYNext, a new editorial series Which highlights New York City’s innovations as well as leading figures across a variety of industries.
