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Robotics Expo 2013, Moscow
Frank Tobe
02 Nov 2013
The bleak autumn Moscow day didn’t seem to have dampened the enthusiasm of the crowds of people making the journey to the 2013 Moscow Robotics (and advanced technologies) Expo http://robot-ex.ru/en...
Down on the farm with drones
Patrick Egan
29 Oct 2013
Photo credit: Patrick Egan.
There are bushels of folks out there now spending money and putting time in finding niches for unmanned systems that already exist. You may be saying, isn’t that what we...
Beaming-in to RoboBusiness 2013
Frank Tobe
27 Oct 2013
RoboBusiness 2013, held last week at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Silicon Valley, was a revitalized example of previous RoboBusiness events. Throughout the three-day event, there was renewed e...
A close(ish) encounter with Voyager 2
Alan Winfield
27 Oct 2013
It is summer 1985. I'm visiting Caltech with colleague and PhD supervisor Rod Goodman. Rod has just been appointed in the Electrical Engineering Department at Caltech, and I'm still on a high from ...
RoboBusiness: Day Two
Robert Morris
26 Oct 2013
On a rare overcast day in San Jose, RoboBusiness got down to business with keynotes and the general exhibition in full swing. The morning held keynote speakers, breakouts in the afternoon, and then ...
Lay of the land: Unmanned systems coming to commercial agriculture
Rich Tuttle
25 Oct 2013
Yamaha is testing spraying vineyards in Napa Valley through a COA with the FAA. Photo courtesy Yamaha Corp.
With the global market for unmanned systems in agriculture on the rise, companies that ma...
Transformational robotics and its application to agriculture
John Payne
25 Oct 2013
No, this is not about shapeshifting robots, come to save or destroy Earth. It is about transforming the contexts within which robotic technologies are applied, and about practicing robotics with the i...
Matching technology to value creation: Drones in agriculture
Robert Morris
24 Oct 2013
‘Drones in agriculture’ has been a topic hot lately, but is it a real business?
As a former Army UAV platoon leader and a current founder of an aerial data collection start-up, I believe so, bu...
Harvey: A working robot for container crops
Jospeh Jones
23 Oct 2013
Two robots follow boundary markers on either side of an irrigation pipe. Photo credit: Harvest Automation.
In mid-2012, four HV-100 robots from Harvest Automation achieved an elusive milestone in rob...
Robo-Stox: A dream come true
Frank Tobe
23 Oct 2013
Throughout my 35-year career in the computer business, I always read and thought about what disruptive technology was ahead. When I had an IBM mainframe, I was looking at the DEC mini-computers and ev...
DARC talks about the elephants in the room – freight planes and fighters
Andra Keay
23 Oct 2013
It was fitting that Missy Cummings had the last word at the DARC drones and aerial robotics conference in NY. As an ex-TopGun navy pilot who saw drones taking over her job, she was the one to talk abo...
Ten lessons for farm drones
Chris Anderson
22 Oct 2013
3D Robotics's Vice President of Sales and Marketing John Cherbini prepares to launch a plane at Small Vines Wines in Sebastopol, Ca Sept. 13, 2013. The plane can help day-to-day operations on a farm...
Selected start-ups from Demo Fall 2013, Silicon Valley
Frank Tobe
19 Oct 2013
DEMO describes itself as the launchpad for emerging technology and trends. The DEMO Fall 2013 Conference was produced by IDG, the publishing giant of Computerworld, PC World, MacWorld, etc. I went to ...
Start-up profile: Knightscope
Frank Tobe
19 Oct 2013
What happens when you mix big data analytics, a policeman, homeland security, some funding from an insurance company and robotics?
You get Knightscope, a Santa Clara, California start-up developin...
Robotic cornucopia: Robohub focuses on the state-of-the-art and the future of agricultural robotics
Hallie Siegel
18 Oct 2013
With an ever-increasing need to feed the world's hungry, the agricultural sector has long been an important boon to the field of robotics: the sector's widespread acceptance and use of automation tec...
25 women in robotics you need to know about (2013)
In celebration of Ada Lovelace Day, we've compiled a short list of some women in robotics that everyone should know about. There are so many many more that we're already looking forward to featuring t...
Is open source a good business model for robotics?
RBI Editors
09 Oct 2013
Open source vs. proprietary software is an age old question. Since the advent of robotics, we also have the question of open source hardware.
In academia, where robotics researchers look to open so...
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...
Robot startup resources: Pitching
Andra Keay
07 Oct 2013
You have a robot prototype or an idea. At some stage you want funding. Here are the two most useful resources for robot startups. Even if you are bootstrapping, using crowdfunding or friendly angels, ...
Don’t build robots, build robot systems
Alan Winfield
07 Oct 2013
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Why aren't there more intelligent mobile robots in real world applications? It's a good question, and one I'm often asked. The answer I give most often is tha...
Don’t blame technology for persistent unemployment | Slate
John Payne
06 Oct 2013
Posting on the Slate blog Future Tense, James Bessen takes issue with the notion that technology causes unemployment, illustrating his point by debunking a pair of frequently cited examples, textile w...
Co-robots really ARE a BIG thing
Frank Tobe
05 Oct 2013
UPDATED: October 6, 2013
Small and medium shops and factories (SMEs) are an untapped marketplace for robotics but direly in need of automation to remain competitive in this global economy. Two ne...
Classroom robotics: Motivating independent learning and discovery
Sharon Marzouk
03 Oct 2013
Sharon Marzouk with a class of excited youngsters and their Thymio-based creations.
Sharon has found classroom robotics is an excellent motivator for independent learning and discovery: “The way I ...
Robohub turns one!
Hallie Siegel
01 Oct 2013
Anniversaries have a way of inspiring even the most cynical of us to ask ourselves big existential questions: "Why are we here?", "What do we stand for?" and "What's the meaning of all this anyway?" S...
A glimpse at our robotic future: 235 start-ups reviewed
Frank Tobe
27 Sep 2013
Robotic start-up companies range from the whimsical to the amazing, from futuristic to topical, and from hubs of robotic activity in Silicon Valley, Boston, New York City (a new hub) and Switzerland t...
Getting into the driver’s seat: Girls of Steel tell us how they got hooked on robotics
Mike Hamer and Lynn Urbina
26 Sep 2013
Girls of Steel at the 2013 FIRST Championships. Photo credit: Walt Urbina.
The Girls of Steel – a competitive FIRST team located in Pittsburg, PA – is on a mission to draw more young women into e...
My pathway to robotics
Jaidyn Edwards
25 Sep 2013
My name is Jaidyn Edwards. I am eighteen years old and live in South Australia. For me, being interested in robotics was part of an evolutionary process built upon a few core interests I had as a chil...
Drones for Schools
Matthew Schroyer
24 Sep 2013
To understand what the Drones for Schools program is, and how it came about, it helps to know a few things about my background. I didn't originally set out to be a STEM educator. I had some science ed...
Getting started in robotics, an educational concern
Claude Baumann
23 Sep 2013
I am profoundly convinced that if we are able to preserve the natural curiosity of early childhood in growing up individuals, without fail they will develop a durable attraction to science, technology...
The triangle of life: Evolving robots in real-time and real-space
Alan Winfield
20 Sep 2013
At the excellent European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL) a couple of weeks ago we presented a paper called The Triangle of Life: Evolving Robots in Real-time and Real-space (this links...
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...
