Investors and executives in robotics and automation are pushing Massachusetts lawmakers to invest in their industries, claiming that more state backing would stimulate growth and development in other sectors.
The state invested big to create a biotech hub in the region nearly two decades ago, and local executives ranging from lab and warehouse automators to the founder of the company behind the Roomba vacuum bot are hoping for the same. At a State House briefing with policymakers Thursday, they cited competition from tech hubs in California, Texas, and even Pittsburgh, which they said are becoming more attractive options for developing companies than Massachusetts.
State legislators in July passed an economic development bill that included $25 million devoted to robotics research and development, and $75 million in AI development and applications.
Robotics business developer and venture capital investor Fady Saad called the $25 million investment a “good gesture” during the briefing, but claimed it would not be enough to grow the already well-established robotics presence in the state meaningfully.
“Billions are invested somewhere else between Europe, the West Coast, and other places,” Saad said. The question, he said is how the Commonwealth can “make sure that we continue to be the leading hub for robotics.”
Robotics and physical AI advancement are being driven by the rapid growth of AI engines like ChatGPT, Saad said. He and executives at the briefing said the problem facing Massachusetts is a lack of retention and growth for burgeoning tech startups, and argued that the state should make major investments in retaining talent coming out of universities in particular.
“I’d be afraid we would have a departure of talent going to other places,” said Ira Hoffman, CEO and founder of lab automation company HighRes Biosolutions. “My belief is that robotics and AI are going to be a massive thing.”
Paul Sabin, executive director of Harvard University’s Move Lab, a medical robotics research hub, urged policymakers to treat robotics as a supplemental industry driving growth across Boston’s other major sectors.
Robotics is ”enabling health care products and biotech products and consumer products,” he said. “It’s an accelerator. If we invest in that, we’re investing in all the other downstream things that come beyond that.”
State Senator Barry Finegold, cochair of the Senate’s economic development committee, organized the briefing along with Cybernetix Ventures, Saad’s venture capital firm. Finegold recently introduced an AI bill on the Senate floor to create guardrails on the largest AI companies.
“We could have [an] incredible, innovative robotics industry, while also creating good job opportunities in our state,” he said during the briefing. “AI and robotics can be the future of our economy if we are willing to invest.”
Karyna Cheung can be reached at karyna.cheung@globe.com.
