Collaborative Robotics, the Santa Clara, Calif., company founded in 2022 by former Amazon Robotics VP and Distinguished Engineer Brad Porter, has hired Michael Vogelsong, who co-founded Amazon’s Deep Learning Technologies team.
Vogelsong will lead the company’s new Foundation Models AI research team from a newly opened Seattle office in an emerging AI corridor on the north side of Lake Union, close to the University of Washington and the Allen Institute for AI.
In addition, the company is making a grant to the UW Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering to support research led by Sidd Srinivasa, a professor and former Amazon exec who is also an advisor to Cobot.
Collaborative Robotics, also known as Cobot, is building a yet-to-be-revealed mobile collaborative robot that is already in use at a transload facility in the Seattle region as part of a global shipping and logistics operation.
Porter, the Collaborative Robotics CEO, oversaw the development and deployment of hundreds of thousands of robotic units at Amazon. He describes Cobot’s robot as “human-capable, but not humanoid,” with fewer design constraints than those that mimic the human form.
Competitors in the broader field of AI and robotics include Covariant, Figure AI, Agility Robotics, 1X, Sanctuary AI, and others.
Collaborative Robotics’ expansion, which follows its $100 million Series B funding in April, illustrates Seattle’s rise as an AI hub, and the broader implications of fundamental AI advances for a new wave of robotics technology.
“Between Oculus, Google, Apple, and Microsoft, there’s a ton of AI talent up there,” Porter said in an interview this week. However, there are fewer good options for AI specialists seeking to join startups in Seattle than there are in Silicon Valley. “So we think it’s going to be a great place to recruit,” he said.
The company has initially leased enough space for about 30 people. Porter said he’s bullish about the future of the Northlake Avenue corridor as an AI hub, along the Burke Gilman Trail between Fremont and the University of Washington, with future opportunities for expansion in existing and new office space.
Collaborative Robotics employs about 40 people overall. Beyond the new Foundation Models AI research group, the new office will also serve as an in-person workplace for some of the company’s Seattle-area employees who were previously working remotely, allowing them to shift to a hybrid model locally.
For example, Alex David, a senior software engineer who was one of the company’s earliest employees, joining Collaborative Robotics in August 2022, was working in the office when GeekWire visited Wednesday.
Porter said AI will play a key role in advancing robotics in areas like manipulation and human collaboration. The company wants to make robots that can better understand humans and assist with tasks through the use of advanced foundation models, with the ability to generalize to a wider range of capabilities after training.
Vogelsong worked at Amazon from 2014 to 2020, on a range of AI and robotics projects, and was most recently chief machine learning engineer for Groundlight AI.
Collaborative Robotics’ new group will conduct fundamental research into AI foundation models and partner with others in an effort to advance the broader field. It’s hiring for roles including AI Research Scientist and AI Research Engineer.
Vogelsong said the field of robotic task learning and manipulation is benefitting from the growing multimodal capabilities of AI foundation models, including not just text and language but also computer vision, for example.
“We see that as a really interesting area to work on,” Vogelsong said. “Our goal is to establish more of this research direction, understand where this field is heading, and where we can bring that into Cobot.”
Vogelsong and others from the company are planning to attend the annual Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Conference in Seattle next week.
Collaborative Robotics’ $100 million round was led by General Catalyst, joined by Bison Ventures, Industry Ventures and Lux Capital. Existing investors Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, Mayo Clinic, Neo, 1984 Ventures, MVP Ventures and Calibrate Ventures also took part. Its total funding is more than $140 million.
At the same time as the funding, Collaborative Robotics also announced former Amazon and Microsoft public sector leader Teresa Carlson as an advisor.
