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SVR Case Studies: OATV investing in early stage service robotics
Andra Keay and Silicon Valley Robotics
05 May 2016
OATV, or O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, is a seed stage investment firm based in San Francisco with a track record of backing robotics startups in emerging areas. As well as investing in Fetch Robotic...
#ICRA16 duckies and robots: a poetic tribute
Robohub Editors
04 May 2016
ICRA is the largest conference on Robotics and Automation. This year, the robotics community reflected on the strong and natural relationship between robots and rubber duckies. This is the result:
...
Robohub roundtable: Why is it so difficult to define ‘robot’?
Kassie Perlongo
29 Apr 2016
Put on your thinking caps. Every few weeks, Robohub will conduct a roundtable discussion. In this edition, we discuss the challenges and limitations in defining the word ‘robot’. We strongly encou...
Robotics narratives: If I only had a brain
UW-Madison Science Narratives
27 Apr 2016
UW-Madison Science Narratives and partners have joined together to create a 5-month video and audio adventure, exploring the work of Dr Bilge Mutlu and colleagues as they craft robots from a human per...
4 reasons why Industry 4.0 will leave AGVs behind
Clearpath Robotics
22 Apr 2016
By Paula de Villavicencio
Technology has been in development for the last decade and has now come to fruition in the form of self-driving vehicles. These vehicles are driving into industrial cente...
Collaborative robots and breaking down evolving risk assessment
Alexandre Paré and Robotiq Inc.
14 Apr 2016
During the last 50 years, industrial robots have been increasingly used in manufacturing industries around the world. The technology has been evolving and adapting to the needs of its users. Over the ...
Why robots need to be able to say ‘No’
Matthias Scheutz
13 Apr 2016
Should you always do what other people tell you to do? Clearly not. Everyone knows that. So should future robots always obey our commands? At first glance, you might think they should, simply because ...
Performing rescue missions with drone networks: Interview with Samira Hayat
Christian Bettstetter
13 Apr 2016
Samira Hayat is following her calling: She has been a member of the Mobile Systems research team at the Department of Networked and Embedded Systems since 2012. Before that, she studied in Trento. Ma...
Celebrating robot makers and enthusiasts at the 7th Annual Silicon Valley Robot Block Party
Andra Keay and Silicon Valley Robotics
12 Apr 2016
On April 6th, Jabil Blue Sky Innovation Center hosted the 7th Annual Silicon Valley Robot Block Party. The free event was ‘sold out,’ with more than 2000 RSVPs and 40 companies in attendance. Th...
Where should robots go when they retire?
Sarah Laskow, Atlas Obscura
12 Apr 2016
Most robots, when their creators are done with them, meet one of two fates. Either they’re stashed away, in some corner of a lab, closet or basement, or they’re cannibalized to make another robot....
Considering the future of law and robotics: We Robot 2016 video recap
Robohub Editors
11 Apr 2016
The fifth annual We Robot conference at University of Miami School of Law celebrated its most international and interdisciplinary group of participants yet, with people across the globe attending...
Celebrating National Robotics Week at Robot Garden
Andra Keay and Silicon Valley Robotics
06 Apr 2016
For a small group, Robot Garden has the most National Robotics Week activities in the whole US. But that’s hardly surprising, as Robot Garden is a maker space in Livermore, California with a focus...
15 robot portraits taken with an 1880s camera
Kassie Perlongo
05 Apr 2016
Amsterdam-based photographer Wanda Tuerlinckx feels inspired by the slow style of classic photography. So influenced, in fact, you can find her observing all her subjects through an old-fashioned...
Gestures improve communication – even with robots
Frontiers in Psychology
31 Mar 2016
By: Abigail Pattenden
In the world of robot communication, it seems actions speak louder than words. Scientists in the UK have discovered that by getting robot avatars to “talk with their hands,...
Robotics narratives: Look alive
UW-Madison Science Narratives
30 Mar 2016
UW-Madison Science Narratives and partners have joined together to create a 5-month video and audio adventure, exploring the work of Dr Bilge Mutlu and colleagues as they craft robots from a human per...
Weekly smiles from the queen of useless robots
Frank Tobe
24 Mar 2016
Simone Giertz, the 25-year-old Swedish inventor who lives on a houseboat in Stockholm, is called ‘the queen of shitty robots.’ She has attracted thousands of followers with her quirky contraptio...
ROSCon 2015 recap and videos – part 2
Open Source Robotics Foundation
23 Mar 2016
ROSCon is an annual conference focused on ROS, the Robot Operating System. Every year, hundreds of ROS developers of all skill levels and backgrounds, from industry to academia, come together to teach...
Robotics narratives: Your move, robot
UW-Madison Science Narratives
22 Mar 2016
UW-Madison Science Narratives and partners have joined together to create a 5-month video and audio adventure, exploring the work of Dr Bilge Mutlu and colleagues as they craft robots from a human per...
Book Review: Mastering ROS for Robotics Programming, by Lentin Joseph
Robots for Roboticists
21 Mar 2016
Mastering ROS for Robotics Programming is a good book that will help you learn ROS and take advantage of some of the powerful nodes (programs) that are out there. The book covers both a 7 DOF robot ar...
‘Moon Shot’ nine-part documentary series available on YouTube
Kassie Perlongo
18 Mar 2016
The nine-part documentary web series about the Google Lunar XPRIZE that first launched on Google Play is now available YouTube....
Robotics narratives: Birth of the bots
UW-Madison Science Narratives
15 Mar 2016
UW-Madison Science Narratives and partners have joined together to create a 5-month video and audio adventure, exploring the work of Dr Bilge Mutlu and colleagues as they craft robots from a human per...
Google DeepMind challenge match: Lee Sedol vs AlphaGo
Robohub Editors
14 Mar 2016
Update: The final match was played on Tuesday, 15 March, with AlphaGo winning over Lee Sedol 4-1! Watch all the livestream matches below....
Applying direct transcription methods to robot motion planning
NCCR Robotics
08 Mar 2016
When you walk across a room or down a path, your brain is making thousands of decisions on how best to move. For example, how best to use your weight, scanning for any obstacles or uneven surfaces, ...
WeRobot 2015 Keynote: The future of robotics, with R2D2 maker Tony Dyson
Robohub Editors
04 Mar 2016
UPDATED 4 Mar: We're sad to report that Professor Tony Dyson, who built the original Star Wars R2-D2 droid, has died. We’re reposting this excellent video of his keynote at WeRobot to highlight his...
3 types of robot singularities and how to avoid them
Alex Owen-Hill and Robotiq Inc.
02 Mar 2016
If you are interested in science, "singularity" probably makes you think of a black hole. Black holes are popular in the media right now since the LIGO lab in America proved the existence of gravitat...
Creating a synthetic “second skin” with soft pneumatic actuators
NCCR Robotics
17 Feb 2016
Soft pneumatic actuators (SPAs) are an up and coming solution to the contradictory design criteria that many robotic systems have – high torque/force often means greater weight and volume, which is ...
Robotic assistants: Science meets fiction, with Carme Torras
In this video lecture Carme Torras, Research Professor at the Spanish Scientific Research Council (CSIC) looks at the process of working on assistive robots employed as helpers to disabled or elderly...
Understanding joint impedance with a knee exoskeleton
NCCR Robotics
09 Feb 2016
When designing exoskeletons for rehabilitation of patients after spinal cord injury or stroke, a constant concern is creating them to be as natural as possible to best enable user training to rebuild ...
Meet the drone that already delivers your packages, Kiva robot teardown
Ben Einstein
01 Feb 2016
There’s been a lot of talk about package delivery via flying drones. While this is an interesting vision of the future, current economics make this an unlikely substitute for base-load ground delive...
A brief history of robotic force torque sensors
Alex Owen-Hill and Robotiq Inc.
28 Jan 2016
Force torque sensors are now ubiquitous in robotics, but where did they come from? What series of inventions and discoveries happened for robot force sensors to arrive where they are today? It turns...
How to fine tune your robot’s payload, and why
Mathieu Bélanger-Barrette and Robotiq Inc.
20 Jan 2016
Payload, grip force, weight, and reach are all data that are used to describe and differentiate robots from each other. Payload is mostly used to determine the weight that the robot can carry through ...
Mastering ROS for robotics programming
Lentin Joseph
19 Jan 2016
A new book by Lentin Joseph, Mastering ROS for Robotics Programming, discusses advanced concepts in robotics and how to implement them using ROS. Readers will learn how to build models of complex ...
Watch this service robot predict your organizing preferences
Nichola Abdo
18 Jan 2016
How many of us have envisioned intelligent robots operating and assisting us in our homes with everyday tasks? Different users typically have varying preferences and expectations when it comes to tas...
How to design a robotics experiment
Alex Owen-Hill and Robotiq Inc.
08 Jan 2016
The ability to design good scientific experiments is a key skill for any robotic researcher. Without a grasp of experimental design, even the best technological developments may never succeed in being...
Create a ROS sensor plugin for Gazebo
Ricardo Téllez
07 Jan 2016
There are magnificent tutorials about how to create plugins for Gazebo in the GazeboSim webpage. There are even some tutorials about how to create plugins for Gazebo + ROS, which show that there are...
10 essential skills for roboticists
Alex Owen-Hill and Robotiq Inc.
07 Jan 2016
What Type of Person Works in Robotics?
Roboticists are a combination of opposites. As specialists, we are skilled in the fine details of our respective specialisms. As generalists, we are able to se...
