Over the past two decades, a good way to scare away venture capital was to tell investors you wanted to build robots. Earlier robotics companies typically flopped when it became clear the computational power didn't exist to drive the fine sensory and motor capabilities required of even the simplest devices. But with companies now producing robots that do things like paint ship hulls or remotely stroll the office, bankers at Chicago-based Olympic Cascade Financial believe the technology has finally caught up with the promise.

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