Move over software, it’s time for robot startups to take center stage. Robotics is no longer science fiction. The robot you’ll buy for your home tomorrow may be a startup in someone’s garage or lab today. Silicon Valley Robotics, the robotics tech cluster, and Robohub, the global robotics news site, are partnering to launch the first online robot startup competition. [robot.istart.org]

Organizer Andra Keay from Silicon Valley Robotics hopes to see hundreds of early stage robotics startups entering the competition. With prizes that include personal VC interviews and mentoring, industrial design reviews, free startup legal services and lean startup coaching, the competition will help startups get the early attention of investors.

All the startups will have publicly searchable online summaries and the Top 30 will be showcased on Robohub. The finals will be conducted live online, with the top 3 startups getting a showcase at O’Reilly’s new hardware/software conference Solid.[solidcon.com]

“Our goal is to grow the robotics ecosystem and all the awards we’re offering are exactly what a robot startup needs to accelerate their growth. Robotics is entering an exciting period of rapid growth. And these days there are a lot of tools available to help you iterate from prototype to product very quickly. It’s time for software to move over, the future is robotics,” says Keay.

Awards are still being finalized but already include “People’s Choice”, “Crowd Pleaser” “Best European Startup” and “Best Lean Startup”. Companies partnering with Robot Launch 2014 include: Grishin Robotics, Indiegogo, WilmerHale, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, Lemnos Labs, Luxr, and Robolution Capital.

“Robot Launch 2014 is opening up a very important outlet to help identify and showcase some groundbreaking business and technology ideas, not only in the Silicon Valley but throughout the world. It also provides an opportunity to develop them into highly successful ventures. WilmerHale is excited to be part of this robot startup competition,” said Glenn Luinenburg, a Partner at WilmerHale who has seen the recent surge in robot deals up close.

WilmerHale is just one of the top law firms and banks starting to take robotics very seriously, as mentioned by Ryan Calo in Forbes. WilmerHale will be donating a legal startup package worth more than $25,000 USD. WilmerHale have started to host robot startup seminars and investor forums for this emerging sector. Of course every startup knows that they need legal advice for company formation and IP issues, but they don’t always realize that lean startup advice can help them make decisions about how to rapidly develop their prototype quickly and effectively. Luxr will be offering 3 Core Curricula packages to help startups grow. And of course, personal mentoring from a top VC is a prize you can’t put a price tag on (but it may be worth a large valuation).

Where — When — How — Who

Robot Launch 2014 will run online at robot.istart.org from Feb 20 till May 20.

Follow updates and commentary on Robohub.org, SVRobo.org and RobotLaunch.com

Use #robotlaunch and @robotlaunch @svrobo @robohub

Contact — Andra Keay — Silicon Valley Robotics — [email protected]

Silicon Valley Robotics

svrobo.org

Silicon Valley Robotics is the tech cluster for robotics on the west coast of the USA, supporting innovation and commercialization in robotics. With over 100 members and growing rapidly, Silicon Valley Robotics hosts regular seminars, network events, a central website and directory for robotics companies and signature events like the Big Robot Block Party.

Robohub

robohub.org

Robohub is a non-profit online news platform that brings together leading communicators in robotics research, start-ups, business, and education to provide high-quality information to the robotics community and to the general public. We have an international readership of more than 30K unique visitors each month, and have an active social media presence with more than 1K followers on Facebook, 2.2K on Twitter, and over 580K on Google Plus.