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The founders of Persona are sure that the world could use another humanoid robot

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An illustration of a humanoid robot emerging from a smartphone screen

Jerry Pratt and Figura quietly split last month. The MIT scientist spent lower than two years at the Bay Area-based robotics company. In 2022, he left Boardwalk Robotics, the humanoid startup he founded and led, and joined the well-funded ranks of Figura as CTO a number of months before coming out of hiding.

However, it was only last week that Pratt made his departure public. The message has arrived via LinkedInas he announced the launch of another entry in the increasingly crowded world of humanoids. Persona AI is currently in as early a stage as possible, having only been officially founded last month.

The startup is the brainchild of Pratt and longtime collaborator Nic Radford, an industry veteran with a powerful resume of his own, including seven years in NASA robotics before founding Nauticus Robotics and Jacobi Motors.

“We wanted to get early signals from both people who wanted to work with us and investors that if we did something like this on LinkedIn, it wouldn’t be a flop,” Radford told TechCrunch.

The news was as much a hiring announcement because it was a brand reveal. “Hey LinkedIn!” Pratt remarked enthusiastically on the business website. “Have you ever dreamed of creating your own Iron Man suit, but without being a billionaire playboy?”

Radford and Pratt say they wish to hire a further 10-20 “founders” (their quotes) to assist shape the company. “Jerry and I are obviously a key part of this process,” Radford said, “but so are another 18 people. We really want to illustrate to them the company’s esprit de corps.”

At this early stage, Persona’s offerings don’t stray too removed from the various humanoid firms it goals to compete with. The introductory text on the company’s website is essentially a celebration of the technological breakthroughs that underpin this unique moment in robotics.

The founders write,

Now is a great time to commercialize humanoids. Computer vision and perception algorithms can now detect motion, discover and segment objects, and estimate poses at frame rates; electronics and computing systems have shrunk and increased efficiency so that they may be fully integrated into the robot without burdening the energy budget; mobility and manipulation algorithms are now competent enough to maneuver around rooms and perform commercially useful work; machine learning increases robot capabilities while reducing programming burden; investors are starting to imagine in the potential of humanoids; and business entities are on the lookout for humanoid robots for various applications where they will provide real added value.

That’s about so far as the pitch goes now, beyond investor presentations and worker interviews. Any advantage Persona ultimately believes it would have over Agility, Boston Dynamics, Figure, and the rest is not clear at this very early stage.

“It will be very similar in some ways, different in others,” Radford replied cryptically. “It’s like how GM feels in comparison with Ford or Toyota or some other automobile company. Every company feels, deep inside, that it has certain competitive benefits. And then, deep inside, every company is commoditized and reduced to the same things. All of them provide transportation. Do now we have our version of the Dodge Hemi? We’d prefer to think so.”

Pratt, for instance, was confident enough in Persona’s vision that he left a top job at one of the most distinguished and best-funded humanoid robotics firms, Figure. Pratt says the split was amicable, and once I spoke to Figure founder and CEO Brett Adcock last week about his latest project, Cover, he spoke highly of his former CTO. Pratt says the decision was partly geographic.

“I flew between Pensacola (Florida) and California every two weeks,” Pratt said. “At first, when I joined Figure, I thought (Pratt and his wife) would be able to move to California in about two years. I planned to do it, but it just didn’t work out. It was quite a mutual parting of the ways.”

Instead of establishing shop in a standard robotics hotbed like Boston or Pittsburgh, Persona will split its operations between Pratt’s home in Pensacola and Houston. The latter shall be the company’s headquarters and ultimately roughly two-thirds of Persona’s employees will work there.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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MIT Develops Recyclable 3D-Printed Glass Blocks for Construction Applications

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MIT develops recyclable 3D-printed glass blocks for construction

The use of 3D printing has been praised as an alternative choice to traditional construction, promising faster construction times, creative design and fewer construction errors, all while reducing the carbon footprint. New research from MIT points to an interesting latest approach to the concept, involving the usage of 3D-printed glass blocks in the form of a figure eight, which may be connected together like Lego bricks.

The team points to glass’s optical properties and “infinite recyclability” as reasons to pursue the fabric. “As long as it’s not contaminated, you can recycle glass almost infinitely,” says assistant professor of mechanical engineering Kaitlyn Becker.

The team relied on 3D printers designed by Straight line — is itself a spin-off of MIT.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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Introducing the Next Wave of Startup Battlefield Judges at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024

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Announcing our next wave of Startup Battlefield judges at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024

Startup Battlefield 200 is the highlight of every Disrupt, and we will’t wait to search out out which of the 1000’s of startups which have invited us to collaborate can have the probability to pitch to top enterprise capitalists at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. Join us at Moscone West in San Francisco October 28–30 for an epic showdown where everyone can have the probability to make a major impact.

Get insight into what the judges are in search of in a profitable company as they supply detailed feedback on the evaluation criteria. Don’t miss the opportunity to learn from their expert insights and discover the key characteristics that result in startup success, only at Disrupt 2024.

We’re excited to introduce our next group of investors who will evaluate startups and dive into each pitch in an in-depth and insightful Q&A session. Stay tuned for more big names coming soon!

Alice Brooks, Partner, Khosla Ventures

Alicja is a partner in Khosla’s ventures interests in sustainability, food, agriculture, and manufacturing/supply chain. She has worked with multiple startups in robotics, IoT, retail, consumer goods, and STEM education, and led mechanical, electrical, and application development teams in the US and Asia. She also founded and managed manufacturing operations in factories in China and Taiwan. Prior to KV, Alice was the founder and CEO of Roominate, a STEM education company that helps girls learn engineering concepts through play.

Mark Crane, Partner, General Catalyst

Mark Crane is a partner at General Catalysta enterprise capital firm that works with founders from seed to endurance to assist them construct corporations that may stand the test of time. Focused on acquiring and investing in later-stage investment opportunities equivalent to AuthZed, Bugcrowd, Resilience, and TravelPerk. Prior to joining General Catalyst, Mark was a vice chairman at Cove Hill Partners in Massachusetts. Prior to that, he was a senior associate at JMI Equity and an associate at North Bridge Growth Equity.

Sofia Dolfe, Partner, Index Ventures

Sofia partners with founders who use their unique perspective and private understanding of the problem to construct corporations that drive behavioral change, powerful network effects, and transform entire industries, from grocery and e-commerce to financial services and healthcare. Sofia can also be one of Index projects‘ gaming leads, working with some of the best gaming corporations in Europe, making a recent generation of iconic gaming titles. He spends most of his time in the Nordics, but works with entrepreneurs across the continent.

Christine Esserman, Partner, Accel

Christine Esserman joined Acceleration in 2017 and focuses on software, web, and mobile technology corporations. Since joining Accel, Christine has helped lead Accel’s investments in Blackpoint Cyber, Linear, Merge, ThreeFlow, Bumble, Remote, Dovetail, Ethos, Guru, and Headway. Prior to joining Accel, Christine worked in product and operations roles at multiple startups. A native of the Bay Area, Christine graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a level in Finance and Operations.

Haomiao Huang, Founding Partner, Matter Venture Partners

Haomiao from Venture Matter Partners is a robotics researcher turned founder turned investor. He is especially obsessed with corporations that bring digital innovation to physical economy enterprises, with a give attention to sectors equivalent to logistics, manufacturing and transportation, and advanced technologies equivalent to robotics and AI. Haomiao spent 4 years investing in hard tech with Wen Hsieh at Kleiner Perkins. He previously founded smart home security startup Kuna, built autonomous cars at Caltech and, as part of his PhD research at Stanford, pioneered the aerodynamics and control of multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles. Kuna was part of the Y Combinator Winter 14 cohort.

Don’t miss it!

The Startup Battlefield winner, who will walk away with a $100,000 money prize, can be announced at Disrupt 2024—the epicenter of startups. Join 10,000 attendees to witness this breakthrough moment and see the next wave of tech innovation.

Register here and secure your spot to witness this epic battle of startups.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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India Considers Easing Market Share Caps for UPI Payments Operators

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phonepe UPI being used to accept payments at a road-side sunglasses stall.

The regulator that oversees India’s popular UPI rail payments is considering relaxing a proposed market share cap for operators like Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm because it grapples with enforcing the restrictions, two people accustomed to the matter told TechCrunch.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which is regulated by the Indian central bank, is considering increasing the market share that UPI operators can hold to greater than 40%, said two of the people, requesting anonymity because the knowledge is confidential. The regulator had earlier proposed a 30% market share limit to encourage competition within the space.

UPI has change into the most well-liked option to send and receive money in India, with the mechanism processing over 12 billion transactions monthly. Walmart-backed PhonePe has about 48% market share by volume and 50% by value, while Google Pay has 37.3% share by volume.

Once an industry heavyweight, Paytm’s market share has fallen to 7.2% from 11% late last yr amid regulatory challenges.

According to several industry executives, the NPCI’s increase in market share limits is more likely to be a controversial move as many UPI providers were counting on regulatory motion to curb the dominance of PhonePe and Google Pay.

NPCI, which has previously declined to comment on market share, didn’t reply to a request for comment on Thursday.

The regulator originally planned to implement the market share caps in January 2021 but prolonged the deadline to January 1, 2025. The regulator has struggled to seek out a workable option to implement its proposed market share caps.

The stakes are high, especially for PhonePe, India’s Most worthy fintech startup, valued at $12 billion.

Sameer Nigam, co-founder and CEO of PhonePe, said last month that the startup cannot go public “if there is uncertainty on regulatory issues.”

“If you buy a share at Rs 100 and value it assuming we have 48-49% market share, there is uncertainty whether it will come down to 30% and when,” Nigam told a fintech conference last month. “We are reaching out to them (the regulator) whether they can find another way to at least address any concerns they have or tell us what the list of concerns is,” he added.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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