75-Year-Old Hinton Announces New AI Robot Venture! Join Forces with Protegé in Exciting Startup Collaboration

Geoffrey Hinton, the 75-year-old "godfather of AI," has stepped back into the artificial intelligence arena after his departure from Google. He has officially joined the advisory board of Vayu Robotics, a company focused on developing AI-powered robotic solutions. Despite receiving numerous invitations from startup advisory boards, Hinton chose to partner with Vayu Robotics, underscoring his optimism for the robotics sector.

Jim Fan, a senior scientist at NVIDIA, remarked, “Robotics technology is the final frontier we need to conquer in artificial intelligence. The competition will be intense in 2023, and no company is close to the finish line yet.” Vayu Robotics, which is attracting the attention of this Turing Award winner, is working on designing lightweight, low-speed robots for local deliveries. These robots operate at just 1% of the kinetic energy of a car traveling 50 mph, which allows for shorter stopping distances and enhanced safety.

Hinton believes Vayu Robotics is addressing a significant niche market, and their ethical approach to AI applications stands out compared to others in the field. He expressed enthusiasm about leveraging machine learning and visual sensors in robotic technology, stating, "I see tremendous potential in their approach." Hinton is also excited to collaborate once again with his former Ph.D. student, Nitish Srivastava, who now serves as the co-founder and CTO of Vayu Robotics. While studying under Hinton at the University of Toronto, Srivastava developed the dropout technique to prevent overfitting in neural networks and contributed to early sequence model development for unsupervised video learning.

The CEO of Vayu Robotics, Anand Gopalan, is a former CEO of Velodyne, a prominent laser radar design company. Founded in 2022 and headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, Vayu Robotics aims to provide high-quality, cost-effective robotic systems. The company recently secured $12.7 million in seed funding, led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Lockheed Martin Ventures and others. This funding will be utilized to expand product development across various markets, including last-mile delivery, factory automation, and automotive solutions.

Vayu Robotics is taking a principled approach to automation by focusing on cost-effectiveness and ease of deployment through two key technologies: a foundational model for mobility and low-cost, disruptive sensing technology that can replace LiDAR in many mid-tier applications. As AI technology evolves, the company's innovations sit at the intersection of significant trends — the rise of large models allowing robots to perform versatile tasks, and American startups revitalizing manufacturing capabilities to reduce reliance on overseas production.

With Hinton’s involvement, Vayu Robotics is poised to lead the charge in sustainable and accessible robotics solutions aimed at achieving efficient last-mile delivery.