As 2023 draws to a close, I am filled with gratitude and excitement for what has been achieved by this community over the past year and am both inspired and optimistic for what lies ahead.

This year brought significant expansions and investments to the robotics and autonomy business community in Pittsburgh, with the launch of new autonomous vehicle companies such as Latitude AI and Stack AV, major investments made into existing businesses such as Astrobotic, Aurora, Bloomfield, Formant, Gather AI, Gecko Robotics, iotaMotion, Koop Technologies, Seegrid, and Thoro, just to name a few, as well as the addition of new Pittsburgh-area offices by Atlas Robotics, Oshkosh Corporation, Re:Build Manufacturing, Spyrosoft, UXV Technologies, and more. The 100+ commercial robotics cluster companies in the Pittsburgh area are featured on our recently updated Pittsburgh Robotics Landscape Chart, which shows the amount of growth and change that can occur in a short period of time.

2023 brought a multitude of new partners, programs, companies, investments, achievements and opportunities for the Pittsburgh Robotics community. There are too many to fully list, but below are some notable highlights:

• Pittsburgh Robotics Network launched a new Membership program, allowing companies and organizations from around the world to get more involved with this commercial robotics community to increase their visibility, grow and develop new business opportunities, forge strong connections, and get more engaged with the 100+ robotics businesses operating in this network.
• The Robotics Factory was launched by our partners at Innovation Works to create, accelerate and scale robotics startups in the Pittsburgh region. The Robotics Factory will further the region's efforts to grow robotics startups and link them to industry and manufacturing capabilities.
• Global leaders from airports and airlines landed in Pittsburgh in late April for an Aviation & Robotics Summit, which was a three-day event designed to foster collaboration between aviation leaders and Pittsburgh robotics entrepreneurs to catalyze new products and businesses for the aviation industry.
• Pittsburgh Robotics Network established a strategic partnership with Odense Robotics in Denmark, to create transatlantic opportunities between our ecosystems for business growth and collaboration.
• Pittsburgh Robotics Discovery Day connected approximately 4,000 attendees with 130+ exhibiting organizations, showcasing an impressive variety of commercial robotics business solutions across 12+ industry markets, robotics career pathway opportunities, advanced manufacturing innovations being adopted, and so much more. The day served as a vivid demonstration of Pittsburgh's standing as The Robotics Capital of the World and a global powerhouse of growth and innovation for robotics and autonomy.
• Through collaboration with our regional partners, and thanks to the $62.7 Million Build Back Better (BBB) Regional Challenge Grant, we have spurred unprecedented growth in resources for the Pittsburgh Robotics cluster through a range of innovative projects in 2023. The many public-private partnerships and new programs born from this opportunity are too numerous to list here, but I encourage you to learn more by checking out the 2023 Build Back Better: A Year in Review event recording for a summary of the progress achieved during the last twelve months of our collective journey.

As we turn our sights to 2024, I am filled with optimism for the future we are building together. Pittsburgh continues to be a beacon of innovation, business growth and a place where the boundaries of robotics and autonomy are constantly being pushed to new frontiers. As we step into the new year, let's carry forward this momentum, championing groundbreaking ideas and continuing to foster a thriving commercial community in which robotics serves humanity in transformative ways.

Wishing you all a joyous holiday season and a prosperous New Year!

Jennifer Apicella
Executive Director, Pittsburgh Robotics Network