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What does the UK public think about robots? Sciencewise wants to know
Toby Shannon
27 Aug 2013
What does the UK public want from robotics research? What are their hopes and fears? In order to discover more about what British citizens think about robotics and other key areas of technology, Sci...
iRobot’s single-pass floor-mopping robots vs O’Cedar’s cheap duster
Frank Tobe
26 Aug 2013
... iRobot recently announced their new Braava floor-mopping robot line of products. The $199 robots sweep and mop hard floors in a single pass while it navigates under and around furniture and other ...
Israeli study on robot adoption suggests new-tech solutions
Frank Tobe
24 Aug 2013
... A study of small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMEs) in Israel concluded that new tech robots, i.e., those which are easily trainable, relatively safe to work alongside humans, and where user-ro...
25 Russian companies added to The Robot Report’s global map of robot providers
Frank Tobe
23 Aug 2013
... Susan McFarland, of robotguide, a site providing a guide to personal robots, compiled a list of Russian robotics companies which we vetted and posted to our Global Map of Robot Providers.
... 25 ...
AUVSI conference brings robots to drone debate epicenter
David Pietrocola
23 Aug 2013
AUVSI returned to D.C. for 2013.
Amidst a climate of fiscal austerity and vibrant debates over the growing importance of unmanned vehicles in foreign policy and homeland security, the 2013 AUVSI Unma...
Funding news
Frank Tobe
18 Aug 2013
... Neato Robotics - the NJ-based competitor with iRobot’s Roomba vacuum cleaner - raised $14 million in new funding from two VC firms. In 2012, Neato raised $12.2 from two different VC companies....
Orbotix introduces Sphero 2.0
John Payne
15 Aug 2013
http://youtu.be/5Bg88VkWGOQ
There's not much more about Sphero 2.0 on the Orbotix website other than this two-minute video, but Evan Ackerman of Automaton has a little more information. The followi...
SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully completes 100m lateral maneuver before returning to launchpad
Robohub Editors
14 Aug 2013
Yesterday SpaceX's Falcon 9 test rig (code name Grasshopper) successfully completed a 100m lateral maneuver, beginning at an altitude of 250m, before returning to the center of the pad from which it w...
ShanghAI Lectures: Weidong Chen “Modeling and control of mobile robotic networks”
Nathan Labhart
14 Aug 2013
Guest talk in the ShanghAI Lectures, 2010-12-16
Swarm intelligence of mobile robots is defined as a mobile robot network with only local interactions and finite sensing capabilities which however c...
SparkFun National Tour
John Payne
12 Aug 2013
Following their east and west coast tours late last year, SparkFun has embarked on the ambitious goal of taking their experiential learning nationwide, with 50 stops in 50 states.
From the SparkFun...
National Geographic uses AGVs and drones for photo story about lions
Frank Tobe
12 Aug 2013
... Once again National Geographic photographers have used innovative techniques to capture amazing images. Remember the polar bear cam in 2011 that got crushed by the curious bear as he examined and ...
Videos of presentations at Ryerson University symposium on UAVs
John Payne
11 Aug 2013
On June 30th of this year, Ryerson University in Toronto held an event titled UAVs: Pros vs Cons Symposium. Some of the presentations have since been incorporated into a YouTube playlist by Nikola Dan...
China’s 5-Year Plan targets robotics as a growth industry
Frank Tobe
11 Aug 2013
... China's 12th 5-Year Plan (2011-15) targeted robotics as a growth industry necessary for China's development. It expects a compound growth rate of 25%, said Wang Weiming, deputy director of the Min...
CSAIL demos two robots assembling IKEA furniture
Frank Tobe
11 Aug 2013
... At last week’s White House Google+ Hangout, Daniela Rus, the director of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), demonstrated two robots working together to asse...
White House hosts Google+ Hangout; NASDAQ gets new ETF targeting robotics and automation
Frank Tobe
10 Aug 2013
... Leading roboticists talked about their recent projects and what inspired them to become involved with robotics at a White House hosted Google+ Hangout Friday. The event was covered by many media i...
Major players in robotics join Whitehouse hangout
Sabine Hauert
09 Aug 2013
Major players in robotics joined the Whitehouse's "We the Geeks" Google+ hangout series to discuss the positive impact of robots in the future....
SparkFun Redbot
John Payne
09 Aug 2013
http://youtu.be/AGVsV4abajo
The ready-made platform (kit) options just keep getting better. Here SparkFun shows off its new Redbot kit, which includes everything you need to put together a basic mo...
Dash launching Dragon hardware crowdfunding platform
Andra Keay
08 Aug 2013
Dash is the first product to launch today on Dragon Innovation‘s new hardware crowdfunding site. Dragon Innovation was founded in 2009 by Scott Miller and Herman Pang, ex iRobot and Hasbro. Dragon a...
Calling all do-it-yourselfers: Robohub seeking contributions for focus series on “Getting Started in Robotics”
Mike Hamer
08 Aug 2013
In light of the popularity of his AR.Drone tutorials, we have invited Robohub contributor Mike Hamer to act as Guest Editor for our next focus series "Getting Started in Robotics."
Like many ch...
Talking robot sent into space
Frank Tobe
04 Aug 2013
Kirobo, a 13” humanoid robot, was launched today and is on its way to the International Space Station.
A mashup of the Japanese word for hope, “Kibo”, and “robot”, Kirobo is designed to b...
Blabdroid: From Tribeca to Bolt
Andra Keay
31 Jul 2013
Alex Reben’s dissertation robot, Boxie “the needy robot” morphed into Blabdroid, the documentary film about making robots. Blabdroid were the official “robots in residence” at the Tribeca ...
After a lackluster 2nd quarter, Hansen Medical gets a $93 million equity infusion
Frank Tobe
31 Jul 2013
Although the number of procedures using Hansen Medical's Magellan and Sensei robotic systems has risen, the number of units sold has fallen slightly and the company continues to operate in the red, he...
ISO to adopt nursing-care robot safety standards
Frank Tobe
31 Jul 2013
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) will compile global safety standards for nursing-care robots based on criteria provided by the Japanese government. Nursing care robots are des...
Does crowdfunding derisk robotics?
Andra Keay
30 Jul 2013
Crowdfunding is often cited as one of the mechanisms accelerating robot startups, alongside COTS, reduced costs, rapid prototyping, digital manufacturing, smart phones, connectivity etc. The entire pr...
SpaceX awarded launch reservation contract with MDA Robotics for Canadian satellite program
Hallie Siegel
30 Jul 2013
The Falcon 9 rocket in the hangar at SpaceX's launch site at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Photo credit: SpaceX.
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) announced today that, in 2018, it will...
World’s lightest and thinnest circuits pave the way for ‘imperceptible electronics’
DigInfo TV
29 Jul 2013
Researchers from Asia and Europe have developed the world's lightest and thinnest organic circuits, which in the future could be used in a range of healthcare applications.
Lighter than a feather, ...
Two small drones approved by FAA for civilian use in the US
Frank Tobe
27 Jul 2013
Insitu's Scan Eagle x200.
Two small drones, Insitu's Scan Eagle X200 and AeroVironment's PUMA, have become the first federally certified unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for civilian use in the US. O...
SUSBEXPO: The first unmanned systems business conference
Andra Keay
27 Jul 2013
SUSBEXPO is the first conference about unmanned systems to really focus on the growing commercial opportunities of this market. AUVSI put on a spectacular annual show, but it is predominantly militar...
Multi-purpose wings allow flying robot to walk across rough terrain
Ludovic Daler and Hallie Siegel
26 Jul 2013
The Deployable Air Land Exploration Robot (DALER) uses its own wings to crawl and roll over a variety of terrains. Using a self-adjusting structure to transform its wings into rotating arms, the robo...
Dmitry Grishin on evaluating robotic investment opportunities
Dmitry Grishin and Hallie Siegel
25 Jul 2013
As part of our series on high-risk, high-reward robotics, and as a follow-up to his recent Robot's Podcast interview, I asked entrepreneur and venture capitalist Dmitry Grishin to talk to us about how...
iRobot Q3 profits were good but revenue was static
Frank Tobe
25 Jul 2013
... Stock drops 13% on news that 3Q and next quarter revenues were and will be static.
... Everything else was fine.
... Go figure!...
IBIS pneumatic keyhole surgery robot potentially 1/10 the cost of da Vinci
DigInfo TV
23 Jul 2013
This is a robot system for keyhole surgery, consisting of a master unit operated by the surgeon, and a slave unit that moves on the patient side.
"A feature of the slave robot is, it's powered enti...
Intuitive Surgical stock takes another big hit
Frank Tobe
20 Jul 2013
... After months of negative news about poorly trained surgeons, class action suits claiming misleading communications with shareholders, an FDA review, a product recall, an article saying that proced...
Three ag robot companies featured in AP story
Frank Tobe
19 Jul 2013
... In an Associated Press article by Gosia Wozniacka, using robots to sort, thin, harvest and handle fruits and vegetables were examined.
... Blue River Technology and their Lettuce Bot; Vision Ro...
OMC robot mixing system
DigInfo TV
19 Jul 2013
This industrial mixing system, developed by OMC, uses a multi-axis robot from Nachi.
In contrast with conventional mixing systems that rotate the container along two axes, using this multi-axis mul...
Guiding technology through uncertain valleys: SRI’s Rich Mahoney on risks, rewards, and the future of robotics
Rich Mahoney and Hallie Siegel
18 Jul 2013
As part of our series on ‘High-Risk / High-Reward’ robotics, I interviewed SRI International's Director of Robotics, Rich Mahoney, who's role there is to help identify important emerging robot...
