San Francisco – May 16, 2025

Swissnex in San Francisco is currently witnessing a “Robotics Renaissance” in the Bay Area, a new chapter in robotics defined not by mechanical precision alone, but by adaptability, reasoning and intelligent interaction. Today’s robots, powered by LLMs and multimodal algorithms, are no longer limited to repetitive, pre-programmed tasks. Instead, they now can see, hear, interpret, and communicate with the world in increasingly sophisticated ways.

Equipped with advanced sensors, computer vision, and real-time reasoning capabilities, thanks to recent advances in AI and reasoning models, robots are transitioning from tools to collaborators.

Beyond the physical machine, innovations in software platforms, such as “Omniverse” by the California based company NVIDIA, are accelerating this shift by making possible hyper-realistic simulations, training, and deployment environments.

Robotics blending with artificial intelligence, is leading to what is often referred as physical or spatial AI, which opens up new possibilities for automation, industry and makes us rethink some older business models.

While Silicon Valley continues to innovate in AI-driven robotics, Switzerland has long been a leader in precision engineering, automation, and robotics research. Swiss universities and companies have developed world-class robotic solutions, particularly in industrial automation, mobile robotics, and collaborative systems.

At Swissnex San Francisco, we are at the heart of evolution in both geographies. Our aim is to bring together thought leaders, researchers, startups, and companies from both Switzerland and the Bay Area, to advance the conversation and innovation in the field.

As one of our strategic topics of 2025, we recap the robotics-focused activities we’ve hosted so far in 2025 and offer a glimpse of what’s coming next.

Startup Camp (Robotics)
Feb 3–14, 2025
Together with Innosuisse, Swissnex in San Francisco hosted a group of four Swiss robotics startups and supported their market validation and entry journey with contacts, expert sessions and strategic advice, with visits to Stanford Robotics Center and Silicon Valley Robotics at Circuit Launch. The Startup Camps are powered by Innosuisse and managed by Swissnex.

Event: Pitching the Future of Robotics with AWS Robotics
Feb 11, 2025
During the Startup Bootcamp (Robotics), Swissnex partnered with AWS Robotics for a pitch night to showcase the four Swiss startups, giving them visibility to a local audience of investors, industry enthusiasts and local experts in the field.

Visit by Fabienne Kiener, Switzerland Innovation Park Zurich
Jan 27–Feb 12, 2025
Fabienne Kiener, Ad Interim Managing Director Foundation Switzerland Innovation Park Zurich, spent several weeks at Swissnex in San Francisco, focusing on robotics. Her visit overlapped with the Startup Camp focused on robotics, and Swissnex hosted and supported her in engaging with leading private R&D actors in the Bay Area to build collaborations. Being a key player in the robotics ecosystem in Zurich, Switzerland Innovation Park Zurich is well equipped to deepen R&D collaborations between Switzerland and the Bay Area.

Event: Midas’ Touch – The Next Robot Astronaut in the Golden Age of Space Robotics Robots in Space with INSEAD
Feb 7, 2025
Engaging with business leaders as part of the INSEAD Americas conference, Swissnex brought together space and robotics experts to discuss the potential of robots in space, especially as it relates to the space and emerging lunar economy. While many robotics startups are not focused on space itself, it could become an interesting field of application due to its environment being so challenging for humans to navigate.

All these activities lead to synergies and a thorough engagement with all elements of the robotics ecosystem—the entrepreneurial side, the business leaders, the academic labs and private R&D institutions.

Swissnex in San Francisco is gearing up for the 2nd wave of robotics programming planned for the Fall, centered around two main pillars:

October 2025: Embodied Intelligence Program (More details coming soon; sign up to receive updates)
October/November 2025: AI + Robotics Startup Camp. Application closes on July 17, 2025

Two of our program participants summarized their experiences in the articles below – you can check them out here:

Bridges and Innovation Ecosystems: A Deep Dive in Robotics
Expanding Bionomous Horizons: How the Startup Camp (Robotics) Transformed Our Silicon Valley Journey