Blue Origin is an interesting one. Last month, it launched and landed its New Shepard vehicle on its latest test with hopes that human flights into space can begin soon.
Bezos has long made clear that, similar to founders Elon Musk with SpaceX and Richard Branson with Virgin Galactic, he wants to go beyond Earth and found future societies.
Who will go there beyond some human tourists, however, is less clear. The Autonomous Robot Evolution (ARE) project wants to develop robots that can evolve on their own in software and hardware. The ultimate goal is to send robots to explore other planets and allow them to evolve on their own to survive in different unpredictable environments, according to Emma Hart, The Conversation (H/T Neeraj Kamdar’s blog, Humans + Tech).
As Hart said: “We use a new kind of hybrid hardware-software evolutionary architecture for design. That means that every physical robot has a digital clone.
“Physical robots are performance-tested in real-world environments, while their digital clones enter a software programme, where they undergo rapid simulated evolution. This hybrid system introduces a novel type of evolution: new generations can be produced from a union of the most successful traits from a virtual ‘mother’ and a physical ‘father’.
“As well as being rendered in our simulator, ‘child’ robots produced via our hybrid evolution are also 3D-printed and introduced into a real-world, creche-like environment. “The most successful individuals within this physical training centre make their ‘genetic code’ available for reproduction and for the improvement of future generations, while less ‘fit’ robots can simply be hoisted away and recycled into new ones as part of an ongoing evolutionary cycle.”
Last month, Horizon Robotics, a China-based developer of artificial intelligence chips for robots and autonomous driving, raised $400m in the second tranche of its series C round from a consortium including battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL). This was a month after its $150m first close.
Robots, however, can go beyond the physical. Software robotics or robotic process automation (RPA) effectively uses digital workers to automate business processes, such as standards emails or administration. UiPath recently raised $750m in its F round at a post-money valuation of $35bn.
And the opportunities go beyond the profane. As Pope Francis said in November: “Robotics can make a better world possible if it is joined to the common good.”
Corporate-backed deals in Robotics & Unmanned Aerial Vehicles 2011-20
