Entrepreneurs unveil robotic inventions in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A group of entrepreneurs unveiled their latest robotic inventions Wednesday in San Francisco. Some of the futuristic products could be on sale as soon as next year.

In a crowded room full of young techies, someone's playing a cat video. But if you look closely, that cat is chasing a tiny robot.

"And then when it goes pounce, the robot takes off," said Petronics co-founder Doom Friedman. "And that's when the chase game begins."

Mousr was 1 of 10 new inventions on display at the fall Demo Day for HAXLR8R.

"An intensive program where they not only have to build a product but also launch it," said HAXLR8R founder Cyril Ebersweiler.

For three months, the entrepreneurs travel to Shenzhen, China.

"Because it's the central hub for all of manufacturing sourcing in the entire world," said Opentrons co-founder Will Canine.

According to Canine, being right where the parts are made was key to building a lab robot at a price grad students can afford.

"You know, grad students have been doing manual labor in the life sciences for since the invention of biotechnology basically," he said.

While all of the products are being made in China, that comes with a twist. Some of them are specifically meant to help future entrepreneurs make their products here at home

Circuit boards are typically ordered from overseas, but not this one. Instead of waiting two weeks for a prototype to arrive from China, Voltera lets you make circuit boards at your desk.

"Just press print," said Voltera co-founder Alroy Almeida. "And within an hour you'll have a printout of your prototype board for you to test out. And if it's wrong, you can just make another one."

And then, there's KATIA.

"Her name stands for Kick-ass Trainable Intelligent Arm," said KATIA CEO Rosanna Myers.

If you're a photographer, the $3,000 robot might just be your perfect partner.

But KATIA does other tricks, like giving one company a hand with its assembly line.

"They want to bring manufacturing back to the U.S.," Myers said. "And by using custom end effectors and KATIA, we're able to help them afford to do that."

HAXLR8R's founder says we've entered a time where serious robots are now seriously affordable.

"I think we are actually just at the verge of even more explosion in terms of technology and how it can be useful," Ebersweiler said.

Even if it's mainly useful to your cat.