Taking robotics and AI from cage to stage – TechCrunch

Research at universities and grad students who are innovative have led to many promising companies. ButThe transition fromGroup for tech-focused research to product-focused startup isn’t easy toMake; luckily, three experts in this matter joined us at TC Sessions: Robotics toLet’s talk about a few options toIt will be worth it.

Milo Werner is a new general partner at MIT’s The EngineAn accelerator andFunds that are focused on “tough tech.” Joyce SidopoulosMass was co-founded by himRobotics, a community and advocacy group for the sector’s startup ecosystem. And Pieter AbbeelUC professor Berkeley andThe co-founder of CovariantHe is currently designing a new generation warehouse robots. won the ACM Prize — belated congratulations, Pieter).

OurPanel began with the most basic technical considerations that founders require. toWhen shifting, keep these points in mind fromA research toA mass production process. (QuotesThese have been lightly edited to improve clarity and continuity.)

“When the technologists are designing the product itself, they just want it to work, right? But when you actually go to manufacturing, the manufacturer will say, we can’t put that board on top of that, we can’t assemble it that way. So you really, from the beginning, should be thinking about manufacturing, and design for manufacturing,” said Sidopoulos.

WernerIt is important to note that precision, tolerances and precision are all aspects of the product. andMonitoring will not be as accurate as your lab’s, so be prepared to accept that — as well as compromises for cost. “The reality is you go through a series of iterations once you enter manufacturing, for cost down, and managing the ramp up,”she said.

“In a research lab, you’re just trying to get a prototype working. And often you can write a paper that gets a lot of visibility and excitement for showing something for the first time — it can work!” said Abbeel. “Then you go to something in production… and all of a sudden, it’s not the fact that you can make it work once that matters — it’s the consistency, having it essentially always work. So, chasing the kind of high nines of performance and reliability, I think is probably the biggest difference.”

AsThe company must adapt to the changing demands of the company toThey can be accommodated. WernerIt should be noted that founders often come from four. toAfter eight years of hard work in the region, I now have a passion and familiarity with the material that’s difficult to match — but that can be a barrier toBuilding a team.

“The part that they often face is that they need to build a big team, and that team needs to be just as strong or stronger than them,”she said. “Coming from the academic, institutional space, it can be a very individual contributor ideology. And moving to the business space, it’s completely team oriented. And you are only as strong as your team.”

“I would totally agree with that,” Sidopoulos said. “We find that a lot of time, the co-founders are passionate about what they’re doing. But then they have to bring in, you really have to bring in a strong business-focused person, because how do you sell this thing? How do you put it into a pitch deck? That’s not what you’re taught when you’re in engineering school. Finding the right people and the right combination. It’s like getting married, right? You’re marrying someone who you’re going to be spending a lot of time with. And so you have to make sure that you have the same goals, you have the same mission, you have the same work ethic.”

Werner pointed out it’s always wise to hire ahead of the need — andA community of like-minded individuals can help founders build their network andGet a feel for where others are at the same time.

AbbeelA story about a serendipitous romance that happened. Covariant built:

OurFirst lead investor AmplifyThey had a partner that they made available five hours per week. He had tons of operational experience in sales and business development, which was a result of many previous startups where he had been full-time. and now he was a venture capitalist,” he said. “And he brought all that operational experience into what we were doing. And we quickly found that five hours wasn’t [enough]… we wanted more! Over time, we got him so excited to join us as our COO! It’s a great example of somebody who most likely would not have been in our natural network, but came our way in a way that actually it was possible to get to know each other very well, for several months before we really started working full time together. With a completely different set of experiences and skill set — so valuable.”

IfNot all founders had this kind of luck! It’s not exactly advice, but it does show that it pays toYou should strike while the iron’s still hot.

FindingWe also touched on the topic of product market fit. andEach panelist offered their own interpretations of the notion of focusing quickly.

“We get a lot of startups that have an awesome technology that can really solve a lot of problems… if you’re not focused on one solution, for one industry, you’re spreading yourself too thin,” Sidopoulos said. “You have to really know your customer, what their challenge is, what they want solved, and what they’re willing to pay for. Get that focus on one, get it accomplished — then you have a story, then you have someone who’s using your technology. Then pivot to another case. It really, really helps with investment as well.”

AbbeelThis can be extended, it should be pointed out toThe timeline is also available. SureYou may be able toProblem Y can be solved in six months and problem Z in 18 months — but what’s problem X you can solve tomorrow? SomeoneOut there are needs toEven if you have a better idea, they will pay you.

“To us, that was very eye opening,”He said. “Because many others were also very excited about robots, but it was excitement for, in some sense, of the future of the company. It wasn’t excitement for the today of the company. To us, that was really the big factor in our decision making, who’s excited for robots today?”

WernerActually, I would recommend partnering with a strategic company in the sector to gain their deep understanding.andPockets) are a great way to start your first use case. EvenCompanies such as Tesla(Where she has worked before). The Engine) started out partnering with bigger ones toTry it! andProve their product.

“You’re kind of using your partner to de-risk your technology,”she said. “Once you’ve de-risked that technology, build on that and go farther.”

ButShe warned that you should be cautious not to fall into the trap of over-specialization or over-reliance on the partner’s resources, or you’ll find yourself dependent and tied toInstead of yours, they will provide a roadmap.

That’s just a handful of the topics we covered today — you can watch the rest of the panel for free right here.