Robohub.org
Views
Ability to do creative, non-routine work will be a must in the coming automation era. Is this realistic for most workers?
Martin Ford
13 Apr 2013
There can be no doubt that technological progress has resulted in a far more prosperous society. Technology has often disrupted entire industries and, in some cases — as with the mechanization of ag...
There is no war other than the one we are fighting with ourselves
Federico Pistono
13 Apr 2013
Just five years ago, anybody who spoke of technological unemployment was labeled a luddite, a techno-utopian, or just simply someone who doesn’t understand economics. Today things are very different...
Robots and the economy: Red herrings, or canaries in a coal mine?
Matt Beane
13 Apr 2013
Recent economic trends are perplexing. Corporate profits are up. Productivity is up. Jobs and pay for the average worker have crashed, and are recovering slower than in any other decade on record. ...
Commercial opportunities to create more than 100,000 manufacturing jobs when FAA opens airspace to UAS
Chris Mailey
12 Apr 2013
AUVSI recently released a report titled The Economic Impact of Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration in the United States. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) currently has heavy restrictions on...
Do industrial robots really have a positive impact on employment?
Frank Tobe
12 Apr 2013
Do industrial robots really have a positive impact on employment? Of course they do and there are over 50 years of data proving that to be the case....
Xconomy Forum’s final word about robots and jobs
Frank Tobe
12 Apr 2013
At the Xconomy Forum held in Palo Alto earlier this week, the focal topic was "Robots Remake the Workplace." It was expected that the jobs issue would permeate the event. Do robots take away jobs? Ins...
In agriculture robots replace job vacancies
John Payne
12 Apr 2013
It used to be that it didn’t matter how grueling the work was, so long as it was safe enough that a worker could get through the day uninjured by being careful. If the boss paid cash at the end of t...
Stanford Robot Block Party – part of National Robotics Week
Frank Tobe
11 Apr 2013
I'm always surprised when I come to Stanford. I find new companies setting up shop in the area. Ford's new research lab wasn't there the last time I drove by, for example.
Later, when walking aroun...
Jobs for roboticists
Sabine Hauert
11 Apr 2013
During my Master studies in computer science, I had the opportunity to spend a year at Carnegie Mellon University in the USA. Most of my classes there were about robotics, I got to participate in Robo...
AFK (or, Robotic free speech, and what you can do to help)
Mark Stephen Meadows
03 Apr 2013
This article looks at how the robotics industry of today is following in the footsteps of the personal computer industry of yesterday, and why Natural Language Processing, like the Graphical User Inte...
New book: “Robot Futures” by Illah Reza Nourbakhsh
AJung Moon
29 Mar 2013
Robot Futures is a new book written by Dr. Illah Nourbakhsh, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who has been teaching roboethics at the university for many years. According to Dr. Noel Sharkey,...
VLAB: Drones – The commercial era takes off, but breaking the law is going to blow-up in our faces
Robert Morris
26 Mar 2013
Last Tuesday I had the pleasure of attending VLAB: Drones – The Commercial Era Takes Off at Stanford GSB. The event was truly fantastic and the panel was amazing. The moderator was Chris Anderson,...
Kickstarter, Indiegogo and robotic start-up companies
Frank Tobe
24 Mar 2013
At last weekend's Engadget Expand event in Fort Mason, San Francisco, Kickstarter's co-founder Yancey Strickler started off the show with a presentation of many of Kickstarter's crowd-funding success...
Updated Robotics Roadmap presented to US congress
Frank Tobe
22 Mar 2013
Henrik Christensen, the KUKA Chair of Robotics at GA Tech and Chairman of the Roadmap project, Rodney Brooks, CEO of Rethink Robotics, Pete Wurman, CTO of Kiva Systems, and Russ Angold, CTO of Ekso Bi...
Chris Anderson, Marc Raibert and Steven Cousins at Engadget Expand Event
Frank Tobe
19 Mar 2013
"Moore's Law has never moved faster than is moving inside the phone you've already got in your pocket. The pace of development and the price performance curve is moving faster in smartphones than it's...
Which companies provide robotic systems to the military?
Frank Tobe
18 Mar 2013
Robohub is running a week-long series of focused stories about robotics for defense, security and surveillance purposes. In an attempt to add to the conversation, here is a list of some of the compani...
Military robots: No reason to freak out
Robert Morris
17 Mar 2013
As a robotic warfare veteran, there are three common misperceptions about the use of robots in warfare that I’d like to address.
Misperception #1: There is some sort of ethical quandary or challe...
Daniel H. Wilson on “How will robots shape the future of warfare?”
Daniel Wilson
16 Mar 2013
Robots have already changed the face of modern warfare, particularly through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly called "drones." Currently, armed drone aircraft are in widespread use...
How will robots shape the future of warfare?
RBI Editors
15 Mar 2013
Updated March 17, 2013 | This month we've asked our experts to weigh in on the future of robotics in warfare, and the broadness of this topic has prompted some of our panelists to push back and reques...
The inevitable conflict?
Chris Mailey
14 Mar 2013
Study the past if you would define the future. - Confucius
War will always have a human element. Robots will be tools in future conflicts, just as they (and other technologies) have been in the past...
Robohub focus: Robots and warfare
Hallie Siegel
13 Mar 2013
For the rest of this week, Robohub will have a special focus on the use of robots in warfare.
All kinds of robots are being developed for strategic defence and military action (in space, in the...
Mark Tilden on “How will robots shape the future of warfare?”
Mark Tilden
13 Mar 2013
Robot machines have been shaping the future of war since the first siege engines appeared in ancient times (I like to think the Trojan Horse was motorized). Now with technology significantly exten...
Raffaello D’Andrea on “How will robots shape the future of warfare?”
Raffaello D'Andrea
13 Mar 2013
How will robots shape the future of war? I don’t know. I think that the more important question, however, is: what role should robots have in warfare?
In my answer I have tried (as much as is h...
Why isn’t my mother a mechanic?
Andra Keay
08 Mar 2013
As a child, my mother had her own overalls. She grew up stripping engines and cleaning carburettors. She was the daughter of a mechanic and master builder. Then she became a librarian.
As a child, ...
Why we didn’t plan for Women’s Day
Sabine Hauert
08 Mar 2013
International Women's Day crept up this year, and no one on our team planned for it. As it turned out, we didn't need to. Making STEM fields attractive for women, giving them a voice, and helping them...
The death of search (or, My dysfunctional relationship with Siri)
Mark Stephen Meadows
06 Mar 2013
This article looks at the arrival of systems such as Siri, Google Now, and Watson and claims that these systems are the search engines of the next decade because they mine intimate data. Since they ...
Disruptive robotics
Frank Tobe
05 Mar 2013
On February 1st of this year, Catherine Mohr, Director of Medical Research and chief spokesperson for Intuitive Surgical (ISRG:NASDAQ), gave a talk on the campus of CMU. (Video of talk and Q&A)....
Know your robot space torsos: Justin, Robonaut, SAR-400, & AILA
Reno Tibke
04 Mar 2013
Astronauts: awesome, but only human
It's cold out there beyond the blue. Full of radiation. Low on breathable air. Vacuous. It's hard to keep machines and organic creatures functioning and/or alive....
ExOne IPO Successful: Shareholders Contribute Random Passers-by
Robert Morris
21 Feb 2013
Before I start bashing bankers, I’d like to congratulate the ExOne Company on a successful initial public offering (IPO). I haven’t seen much about ExOne [NASDAQ:XONE] on the robotics sites, b...
Thoughts about RoboBusiness 2012
Frank Tobe
19 Feb 2013
I've read a wide range of reports and single-topic reviews about the presentations and about some of the exhibitors at last November's RoboBusiness Leadership Summit held in Pittsburgh. I didn't feel ...
Nicola Tomatis on “What funding scheme is the most conducive to creating a robotics industry?”
Nicola Tomatis
15 Feb 2013
I would like to start from the other side: "Why is robotics great in creating new technologies and poor in creating new businesses?". Well, someone may disagree, but I really think that robotics is gr...
Frank Tobe on “What funding scheme is the most conducive to creating a robotics industry?”
Frank Tobe
15 Feb 2013
Funding new robotic projects in America is mostly done two different ways:
(1) strategic funding from NASA, DARPA, DoD, NSF and other government organizations to do the pure science involved in sol...
Henrik Christensen on “What funding scheme is the most conducive to creating a robotics industry?”
Henrik Christensen
15 Feb 2013
The public should in most cases not subsidize companies. Tax payers should not be venture capitalists. The new wave of Lean Startup going around the world is a great model to ensure that companies are...
What funding scheme is the most conducive to creating a robotics industry?
RBI Editors
15 Feb 2013
Welcome to Robotics by Invitation! This month we've asked our experts to weigh in on the best way to create tomorrow's robotics industry. Here's what they have to say:
Raffaello D'Andrea on “Wh...
Raffaello D’Andrea on “What funding scheme is the most conducive to creating a robotics industry?”
Raffaello D'Andrea
15 Feb 2013
The best way to commercialize robotics research is to make better connections between academics and entrepreneurs. Academics venturing out into the business world tend to have a "hammer looking for ...
So long, and thanks for all the bots!
Markus Waibel
12 Feb 2013
So, depending on who you ask, Willow Garage is shutting down, pursuing commercial interests, or changing direction. But things are not as dire as some may think: ROS is fine (the OSRF will support it)...
