# 2024 year in review: bold bets and dashed dreams

- Show: [The Robot Report Podcast](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast)
- Published: 2024-12-18
- Length: 1h 03m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2024-12-18-2024-year-in-review-bold-bets-and-dashed-dreams
- Listen: https://soundcloud.com/robot-report-podcast/2024-year-in-review-bold-bets-and-dashed-dreams

## Summary

Steve Crowe, Mike Oitzman, Gene Demaitre, and Brianna Wessling review 2024 robotics trends, highlighting the surge in humanoid development led by Agility Robotics and Figure AI, alongside significant funding for autonomous systems. The team discusses the collapse of Cruise’s robotaxi operations, the success of Waymo, and the strategic pivot of Amazon through its acquisition of Covariant talent to advance foundation models. They also cover the rise of mobile manipulation from companies like Pterodyne and Locust Robotics, noting the industry's shift toward practical, revenue-generating applications despite broader economic headwinds.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2024-12-18-2024-year-in-review-bold-bets-and-dashed-dreams#t=0) Introduction and Showhousekeeping
- [2:50](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2024-12-18-2024-year-in-review-bold-bets-and-dashed-dreams#t=170) The Humanoid Boom: Agility, Figure, and Investment
- [11:27](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2024-12-18-2024-year-in-review-bold-bets-and-dashed-dreams#t=687) Funding Trends and Company Failures
- [14:14](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2024-12-18-2024-year-in-review-bold-bets-and-dashed-dreams#t=854) Amazon’s Strategy and the Covariant Acquisition
- [19:03](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2024-12-18-2024-year-in-review-bold-bets-and-dashed-dreams#t=1143) China’s Robotics Growth and Global Market Shifts
- [24:56](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2024-12-18-2024-year-in-review-bold-bets-and-dashed-dreams#t=1496) A3 Industry Insights and Labor Shortages
- [27:41](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2024-12-18-2024-year-in-review-bold-bets-and-dashed-dreams#t=1661) Mobile Robotics Success: Locust and Körber
- [33:10](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2024-12-18-2024-year-in-review-bold-bets-and-dashed-dreams#t=1990) The Rise of Mobile Manipulation
- [40:53](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2024-12-18-2024-year-in-review-bold-bets-and-dashed-dreams#t=2453) Robotaxi Wars: Waymo vs. Cruise
- [47:34](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2024-12-18-2024-year-in-review-bold-bets-and-dashed-dreams#t=2854) Ingenuity Helicopter and Favorite Robots of 2024

## Topics

- [Robotics & autonomy](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/robotics-and-autonomy)
- [Fundraising & investors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/fundraising)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Policy, trade & tariffs](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/policy-trade-and-tariffs)
- [AI & machine learning](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/ai-and-machine-learning)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- FlexQube Navigator AMR (product)
- Agility Robotics (company)
- Figure AI (company)
- Boston Dynamics (company)
- Tesla (company)
- Covariant (company)
- Amazon (company)
- iRobot (company)
- Waymo (company)
- Cruise (company)
- Locust Robotics (company)
- Körber Supply Chain (company)
- Pterodyne (company)
- Hello Robot (company)
- NASA (company)
- Ingenuity (product)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [191: The State of Robotics: Live From the 2024 Robotics Summit & Expo in Boston, MA](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2024-06-25-191-the-state-of-robotics-live-from-the-2024-robotics-summit-expo-in-boston-ma) (Manufacturing Happy Hour)
- [Live from LA - Matt and Scotty’s Austin and LA adventures, plus NVIDIA and Google power plays](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/built-2-scale/2025-07-30-live-from-la-matt-and-scottys-austin-and-la-adventures-plus-nvidia-and-google-po) (Built 2 Scale)
- [BONUS: Leaders in Machine Vision and Robotics: Live from Boston, Pt. 2 of 2 (brought to you by A3)](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2022-12-23-bonus-leaders-in-machine-vision-and-robotics-live-from-boston-pt-2-of-2-brought) (Manufacturing Happy Hour)
- [Receipts or Regrets | End of Year Special](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/built-2-scale/2025-12-22-receipts-or-regrets-end-of-year-special) (Built 2 Scale)
- [OpenAI's SORA 2 Drops + WE CALLED THE BUBBLE TOP + Shopping Agents Win](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/built-2-scale/2025-10-03-openais-sora-2-drops-we-called-the-bubble-top-shopping-agents-win) (Built 2 Scale)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2024-12-18-2024-year-in-review-bold-bets-and-dashed-dreams. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to The Robot Report Podcast.