Robohub.org
 

Robotics 2014 in a word: MORE


by
18 December 2014



share this:
trr-logo-hi-res-YEAREND-REVIEW_800_267_80

The list of top stories in robotics for 2014 is a story of “MORE”: MORE uses of and for robots; MORE serious discussions about robots; MORE robots in unusual places; MORE news in the financial press; MORE funding, acquisitions and IPOs; and MORE choices.

2014 was the year when spectacular online sales drove companies like Amazon, Alibaba, FedEx, DHL and UPS to new records: Amazon hired 80,000 temporary workers for its Christmas season; Alibaba created a new holiday, Singles Day, and had its biggest sales day ever during which it sold, amongst other things, 70,000 robotic vacuum cleaners; Amazon used 15,000 orange Kiva robots to bring shelves of goods from their warehouse to their pickers and packers at new US distribution centers. 2014 was the year robotic vacuum cleaners hit the mainstream consumer products marketplace.

2014 was a year full of editorials and position papers about the need to build ethics into future robots and AI; about humanitarian uses for drones; about income disparity, hi-tech jobs and job losses; and included Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine saying that there will be job loss and that we should get over it. Most of the job loss articles were fear-mongering attention grabbers but a few were truly newsworthy and thought-provoking, from the NY Times and the MIT Technology Review in particular.

2014 found robots in unusual places: on Royal Caribbean cruise ships as bartenders and entertainers; in Lowes hardware stores as guides; in Aloft hotels as deliverers and gofors; at concerts and shows as illusionists; and as guides and sales agents in airports, museums, telephone and coffee stores. Robots began to supplement the already automated agriculture industry.

2014 was also a year when robots, robotics and AI were talked about in the financial press: a 34-page special in The Economist; Google investing in and acquiring AI companies; Google leaking its drone program and acquiring Titan; IPOs, partnerships and some failures, plus an IndieGoGo crowdfunding phenomena (JIBO).

 



tags:


Frank Tobe is the owner and publisher of The Robot Report, and is also a panel member for Robohub's Robotics by Invitation series.
Frank Tobe is the owner and publisher of The Robot Report, and is also a panel member for Robohub's Robotics by Invitation series.





Related posts :



Robot Talk Episode 126 – Why are we building humanoid robots?

  20 Jun 2025
In this special live recording at Imperial College London, Claire chatted to Ben Russell, Maryam Banitalebi Dehkordi, and Petar Kormushev about humanoid robotics.

Gearing up for RoboCupJunior: Interview with Ana Patrícia Magalhães

and   18 Jun 2025
We hear from the organiser of RoboCupJunior 2025 and find out how the preparations are going for the event.

Robot Talk Episode 125 – Chatting with robots, with Gabriel Skantze

  13 Jun 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Gabriel Skantze from KTH Royal Institute of Technology about having natural face-to-face conversations with robots.

Preparing for kick-off at RoboCup2025: an interview with General Chair Marco Simões

and   12 Jun 2025
We caught up with Marco to find out what exciting events are in store at this year's RoboCup.

Interview with Amar Halilovic: Explainable AI for robotics

  10 Jun 2025
Find out about Amar's research investigating the generation of explanations for robot actions.

Robot Talk Episode 124 – Robots in the performing arts, with Amy LaViers

  06 Jun 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Amy LaViers from the Robotics, Automation, and Dance Lab about the creative relationship between humans and machines.

Robot Talk Episode 123 – Standardising robot programming, with Nick Thompson

  30 May 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Nick Thompson from BOW about software that makes robots easier to program.

Congratulations to the #AAMAS2025 best paper, best demo, and distinguished dissertation award winners

  29 May 2025
Find out who won the awards presented at the International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems last week.



 

Robohub is supported by:




Would you like to learn how to tell impactful stories about your robot or AI system?


scicomm
training the next generation of science communicators in robotics & AI


©2025.05 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence


 












©2025.05 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence