Robohub.org
RBI answers
Nicola Tomatis on “What does it take to get from imagination to market?”
Nicola Tomatis
14 Mar 2014
RBI Update
The short answer is: a lot of patience and perseverance!
More seriously, this is one of the most frustrating aspects of entrepreneurship. High-tech entrepreneurs are supposed to be inno...
Robert Morris on “What does it take to get from imagination to market?”
Robert Morris
12 Mar 2014
This is a really important question, and one that our community should focus on more. That said, the answer is not truly profound or particularly obscure. It takes three things: doing something people...
Andra Keay on “What does it take to get from imagination to market?”
Andra Keay
12 Mar 2014
The rise of online crowdfunding platforms over the last decade has created a whole new pathway for some robot startups. In the process, crowdfunding campaigns have helped to catapult hardware and robo...
Mark Stephen Meadows on “What does it take to get from imagination to market?”
Mark Stephen Meadows
12 Mar 2014
There are two parts to this process: the invisible and visible.
Rodin once said that sculpture is an art dedicated to holes. What he meant is that great work is invisible: if you are building a tec...
Alan Winfield on “What does it mean to have giants like Google, Apple and Amazon investing in robotics?”
Alan Winfield
12 Feb 2014
Judging by the levels of media coverage and frenzied speculation that has followed each acquisition, the short answer to what does it mean is: endless press exposure. I almost wrote 'priceless exp...
Mark Stephen Meadows on “What does it mean to have giants like Google, Apple and Amazon investing in robotics?”
Mark Stephen Meadows
12 Feb 2014
Google, is the wild card for me. With more acquisitions (DeepMind, Boston Dynamics, Redwood Robotics, Industrial Perception, Meka, Schaft, and others) than Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Microso...
AJung Moon on “What does it mean to have giants like Google, Apple and Amazon investing in robotics?”
AJung Moon
12 Feb 2014
We have reasons to feel both excited and uneasy about giant corporations’ investment in robotics.
It’s exciting for the robotics community that the giants (Google, Apple, and Amazon) are active...
Mark Stephen Meadows on “If you could enhance yourself with some robotic accessory or implant, what would it be?”
Mark Stephen Meadows
15 Jan 2014
There are two kinds of cyborgs - those that have broken the skin, and those that have not. Iron Man comes to mind as a cyborg of the second category, in that he can remove his enhancement (save for th...
AJung Moon on “If you could enhance yourself by some robotic accessory or implant, what would it be?”
AJung Moon
15 Jan 2014
As a researcher in robotics, I tend to cringe whenever someone asks how long it will take until people start to see terminator-like robots on the streets. It’s a fun question to think about, but it ...
Daniel H. Wilson on “If you could enhance yourself by some robotic accessory or implant, what would it be?”
Daniel Wilson
15 Jan 2014
The potential of robotic implants is limitless, but I am not interested in super-human powers. Instead, I’d be happy with human powers, and in particular the ability to remember. Growing up, I would...
Andra Keay on “What were the top stories in robotics from 2013?”
Andra Keay
11 Dec 2013
'David and Goliath' was the most exciting story in robotics this year. 2013 has seen huge companies showing an interest in robotics, starting with Apple launching Anki live on stage at their global de...
Frank Tobe on “What were the top stories in robotics from 2013?”
Frank Tobe
11 Dec 2013
As Editor and Publisher of the Robot Report, I follow robotics news closely, especially in business and finance. Here are my top picks for 2013:...
AJung Moon on “What were the top stories in robotics from 2013?”
AJung Moon
11 Dec 2013
2013 was a year filled with talk of drones.
I’m not saying this just because I’m biased by the recent news reporting on how large companies (Amazon, DHL, and UPS to be exact) are exploring t...
Lynne Parker on “What were the highlights at IROS/iREX this year?”
Lynne Parker
13 Nov 2013
I found the plenary speeches at IROS to be especially interesting. Marc Raibert gave an entertaining talk on the robots being developed at Boston Dynamics. It's encouraging to see that robots are beco...
Frank Tobe on “What were the highlights at IROS/iREX this year?”
Frank Tobe
13 Nov 2013
Two images remain in my mind from IROS 2013 last week in Tokyo. The respect for Professor Emeritus Mori and his charting of the uncanny valley in relation to robotics, and the need for a Watson-type s...
Andra Keay on “What were the highlights at IROS/iREX this year?”
Andra Keay
13 Nov 2013
For me, the highlight of IROS was the Uncanny Valley special session, although the sheer size of the IROS conference and the parallel iRex industrial and service robot expo also gave much food for tho...
Robert Morris on “Is open source a good business model for robotics?”
Robert Morris
09 Oct 2013
The premise of this question is that robotics companies are manufacturers and that there is choice between an open source and closed source business model. Robotics companies are best thought of as ...
Brian Gerkey on “Is open source a good business model for robotics?”
Brian Gerkey
09 Oct 2013
The IT economy has powerfully demonstrated what happens when companies can leverage open source infrastructure when they build new products and services. A company like Google would never have come ...
Frank Tobe on “Is open source a good business model for robotics?”
Frank Tobe
09 Oct 2013
To be able to choose between proprietary software packages is to be able to choose your master. Freedom means not having a master. Freedom means not using proprietary software.
- Richard Stallman, o...
Matthew Schroyer on “What is the best way to get a robotics education today?”
Matthew Schroyer
16 Sep 2013
A quality learning experience centered on robotics is hard to find for many students who lack STEM resources through their own schools. Although new science standards hope to improve the situation, K-...
Terry Fong on “What do you look for when hiring a roboticist?”
Terry Fong
15 Sep 2013
We look for good people from all over the world who have had some formal education in robotics theory, particularly in the basics of kinematics, perception, and cognition. Many universities offer cour...
Mark Tilden on “What is the best way to get a robotics education today?”
Mark Tilden
15 Sep 2013
In the past, a robotics education started with any inspiration that filtered through the sparse media of the time. Imagine a dull illness during a bland winter, black and white TV on a fuzzy channel, ...
Theresa Richards on “What’s the best way to get a robotics education today?”
Theresa Richards
15 Sep 2013
At the high school or middle school level there is no single best way for students to get a robotics education: there are many ways, and each way reaches the students differently. The easiest way is f...
Jonathan Roberts on “What do you look for when hiring a roboticist?”
Jonathan Roberts
15 Sep 2013
We are looking for researchers who are highly motivated, and who are passionate about seeing the results of their research come to fruition and be used by industry or the public. They should have a de...
Nicola Tomatis on “What do you look for when hiring a roboticist?”
Nicola Tomatis
15 Sep 2013
When hiring at BlueBotics, we first assess the personal profile, soft competencies, and team compatibility. After that, we go into a deep technical assessment.
Today, the product sales with the ...
David Robert on “Do robots need heads?”
David Robert
15 Aug 2013
As a robot animator I can attest to the fact that robots don't "need" heads to be treated as social entities. Research has shown that people will befriend a stick as long as it moves properly [1].
...
AJung Moon on “Do robots need heads?”
AJung Moon
15 Aug 2013
Are you curious about what your future robotic assistants will look like?
My bet is that by the time you buy your very first robotic butler, it will have a friendly head on it that moves. In fact, ...
Mark Stephen Meadows on “Do robots need heads?”
Mark Stephen Meadows
15 Aug 2013
I don't know about you, but if something has a head I assume it has thoughts. When watching a movie I stare at the character's face because I want to know what they feel. So for me a head's a pretty i...
Travis Deyle on “Do robots need heads?”
Travis Deyle
15 Aug 2013
The obvious answer to this question is "No: there are lots of robots without heads." It's not even clear that social robots necessarily require a head, as even mundane robots like the Roomba are anthr...
Long view required to keep economic policy in step with developments in robotics
Frank Tobe
16 Jul 2013
Policy is really about long-term thinking — a process we should do but don't do for various reasons. Though China is a notable exception, very few governments make long-term planning a priority.
...
Rich Mahoney on “What do policy-makers need to do to keep pace with economic development?”
Rich Mahoney
15 Jul 2013
I am not sure how to describe the specifics of what policy makers should do, but I think there are two gaps that policy makers should think about that are associated with the economic development impa...
Frank Tobe on “What do policy-makers need to do to keep pace with economic development?”
RBI Editors and Frank Tobe
15 Jul 2013
[RBI Editors]
As an active robotics investor, a leading authority on the business of robotics, and the author of The Robot Report and Everything Robotic, you are at the pulse of the field's econ...
Mark Tilden on “What would you research if you did not have to worry about grants?”
Mark Tilden
17 Jun 2013
Well, I'm lucky enough to be a gentleman scientist, so I concurrently study problems on minimal dynamical control systems (optimizing performance to silicon ratios), power regeneration and efficiency...
Illah Nourbakhsh on “What would you research if you did not have to worry about grants?”
Illah Nourbakhsh
17 Jun 2013
Community empowerment through massive robotic sensing.
There is no question we live in a world that is changing. Pollutants are changing the dynamics of the air we breathe, the water we drink and...
Alan Winfield on “What is the single biggest obstacle preventing robotics from going mainstream?”
Alan Winfield
15 May 2013
Well it depends on what you mean by mainstream. For a number of major industry sectors robotics is already mainstream. In assembly-line automation, for instance; or undersea oil well maintenance and...
Brian Gerkey on “What is the single biggest obstacle preventing robotics from going mainstream?”
Brian Gerkey
15 May 2013
The biggest obstacle to broader adoption of robotics is that only experienced roboticists can develop robotics applications. To make a robot reliably and robustly do something useful, you need a d...
