From Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

A new accelerator program and a $20 million venture fund started by Carnegie Mellon University and GE Ventures could brand Pittsburgh as the official home of the globe’s growing robotics industry.

CMU’s National Robotics Engineering Center and GE Ventures, the investment arm of Fairfield, Conn.-based General Electric, have teamed up to create The Robotics Hub, an independent, early-stage startup accelerator program designed to draw the nation’s best advanced robotics firms to Pittsburgh and to keep those started here firmly in place.

The for-profit Robotics Hub will provide funding through newly created Coal Hill Ventures and access to equipment at CMU and the NREC to chosen companies by 2016, in addition to putting their creations on a fast track toward commercialization...

... So far, the team has used an undisclosed investment from GE to kick-start Coal Hill Ventures, a venture capital fund that is expected to grow to $20 million by the end of the year. If all goes well, by early next year Coal Hill will begin writing checks for anywhere between $200,000 and $2 million for 20 to 30 burgeoning robotics companies that will be part of The Robotics Hub. Ten to 15 of the companies chosen are expected to receive rounds closer to the low end while the others will see millions of dollars in funding... (cont'd)