Qualcomm Names First 10 Companies to Robotics Accelerator

Inova Drone team in Qualcomm Robotics Accelerator

a landing pad, and can be easily scaled to accommodate larger drones and electric-powered vertical take off and landing (VTOL) aircraft.

—SkyFront, based in Hoboken, NJ, builds hybrid-electric technology for long-endurance, multi-rotor drones. Founders Troy Mestler and Anton Stepanov say their technology extends typical drone flight times by as much as a factor of 10, and enables unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to be used for extended commercial applications.

—Solenica, from Rome, Italy, makes Lucy—a robot that tracks the sun throughout the day to reflect light into your home or office. Founders Diva Tommei, Mattia Di Stasi, and Alessio Paoletti say their technology creates natural illumination and reduces electricity use.

—CleverPet, founded in San Diego by Dan Knudsen, Leo Trottier, Philip Meier, and Mohsen Malmir, has developed intelligent pet feeding systems intended to keep unattended pets occupied by transforming their lonely time into learning time.

Inova Drone team in Qualcomm Robotics Accelerator
Inova Drone team

—Inova Drone, a San Diego-based startup, designs and develops advanced unmanned aerial systems for global commercial and professional markets. The first product developed by founders Chad Amonn, Alex fuller, Carlos Juvera, and Rick Thorne is a commercial unmanned aerial system for firefighters and other first responders working at public safety agencies.

—Carbon Robotics, a San Francisco-based startup founded by Rosanna Myers and Dan Corkum, has developed a robotic arm for consumers and mid-sized businesses, and that combines affordable hardware with an open platform.

—–SkyRobotics, from Athens, Greece, is enabling the streamlined, affordable creation of robots. Its open platform for robotics applications is a development platform that combines high-performance modular hardware and intuitive open source software.

—CtrlWorks, based in Singapore, is dedicated to transforming any mobile platform into an intelligent robot at an affordable price. Its first robot, Axon, attaches to just about anything and turns it into a fully autonomous robot through cloud navigation and specialized hardware.

—Rational Robotics, from Edmonton, Alberta, and founded by Canadians Ashley Reddy and Mark Fiala, produces robots that automate the restorative automotive painting process. Utilizing 3D vision and advanced path planning, Rational robots provide a safe and efficient way to paint cars on the shop floor.

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Author: Bruce V. Bigelow

In Memoriam: Our dear friend Bruce V. Bigelow passed away on June 29, 2018. He was the editor of Xconomy San Diego from 2008 to 2018. Read more about his life and work here. Bruce Bigelow joined Xconomy from the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was a member of the team of reporters who were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks. He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp. He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for “The Toymaker,” a 14-part chronicle of a San Diego start-up company. He takes special satisfaction, though, that the series was included in the library for nonfiction narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Bigelow graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977 with a degree in English Literature and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1979. Before joining the Union-Tribune in 1990, he worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles and The Kansas City Times.