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Why robot startups now? Part 1
Andra Keay
10 May 2012
Now is the right time for robot startups. Why? The reasons range from changes within robotics to changes in the broader financial and technological environment. There is a critical mass which we belie...
Largest robotics program in DARPA’s history
Frank Tobe
09 May 2012
... DARPA has created it’s largest robotics program to date: the DARPA Robotics $2 Million Challenge (DRC), to help the world’s resiliency to disasters through the use of robotics.
... Som...
Silicon Valley: In search of a robotics cluster
Frank Tobe
07 May 2012
UPDATE 5/7/12: Thorough review of event and situation by Chris O’Brien of the Silicon Valley MercuryNews. He captured the flavor as well as the details. (Saved me from having to write the story!...
New spin-off from SRI: Grabit gaining traction
Frank Tobe
06 May 2012
... Grabit’s electroadhesion gripping products provide a technique for holding or grasping objects without the need of bulky, energy-intensive clamping or vacuum suction devices.
... Grabit’s “g...
Meka Robotics + Willow Garage + SRI = Redwood Robotics
Frank Tobe
04 May 2012
... Meka Robotics, Willow Garage and SRI announced a new startup competitor to Heartland Robotics: Redwood Robotics.
...The new website says that Redwood will be offering a new generation of robot ar...
Recon Robotics: In the news with sales and acquisitions
Frank Tobe
02 May 2012
... Last month Recon acquired Xollai LLC, a systems engineering firm with a broad base of intellectual property in automated guidance technology, optics-based autonomous control systems, and image pro...
List of publicly-traded robotics stocks
Frank Tobe
02 May 2012
... Robotics is becoming a big deal and people want to invest in the industry. But choosing robotics stocks is complicated. Many of the companies are international, some are small subsidiaries within ...
2012 Robotics H.S. Championships energize thousands
Frank Tobe
30 Apr 2012
... 30,000+ fans, family, educators and industry leaders attended the 2012 FIRST Championship held in Atlanta, Georgia. More than 600 teams from 32 countries competed in the three levels of FIRST comp...
iRobot stock plunges again on Q1 earnings report… but then rebounds
Frank Tobe
26 Apr 2012
... Click to enlarge.
... After suffering a 33% price drop early February upon announcing that future governmental sales would be down because of DoD cutbacks and delays, iRobot drops another 6.5% whe...
AeroVironment gets additional Puma orders
Frank Tobe
21 Apr 2012
... AeroVironment receives 3 new orders ($28.4 million from Army, Marines and Air Force) for their popular Puma drone.
... More than 1,000 Puma’s are produced and in the field already. AeroViron...
Robots. Startups. Women. Opportunity.
Andra Keay
17 Apr 2012
This guest post at Women 2.0 helped us have 1:3 ratio of women:men in robotics track at MEGA startup weekend.
Women hackers wanted for robots at the Mountain View MEGA Startup Weekend!
By Andr...
Agricultural robotics at the European Robotics Forum 2012
John Payne
16 Apr 2012
A press release issued by the European Robotics Platform website regarding agricultural robotics as a presence at the European Robotics Forum 2012 makes plain not only that there is a significant leve...
Being startup robot shoes
Andra Keay
04 Apr 2012
What are the success strategies for robot startups? Hardware startups have specific issues to navigate, but the underlying question for innovative startups goes beyond the how-tos, how to build it in ...
Health Robotics has banner 1st quarter
Frank Tobe
03 Apr 2012
... Health Robotics, an Italian supplier of life-critical intravenous medication automation, produces robotic devices which make sterile, accurate, tamper-evident and ready-to-administer IVs for hospi...
GM Robo-Glove to help workers relieve hand stress
Frank Tobe
28 Mar 2012
... One of the features of the GM/NASA co-development of Robonaut 2, the robotic assistant now residing in the space station, was the grasping capabilities of its hands.
... GM has now translated tho...
“Robots Ate My Job” airs all week on PBS
Frank Tobe
26 Mar 2012
... American Public Media’s ‘Marketplace’ has produced a 5-part audio series entitled ‘Robots Ate My Job.’
... The issue of jobs being displaced by automation is very top...
Military ground robotics displayed in San Diego
Frank Tobe
25 Mar 2012
... Robots of all types were displayed at the Ground Robotics Capabilities Conference and Exhibition held in San Diego and sponsored by the National Defense Industrial Association and the DoD.
... Hit...
Military still doling out orders and getting attention for drones and robots
Frank Tobe
25 Mar 2012
... AeroVironment gets $11.1 million order for hand-launched 4-pound Raven UAV. Same company makes the kamikaze drone (Switchblade) which explodes on impact and the hummingbird drone (Nano Air Vehicle...
Horto domi: The open garden by Outer Babylon
John Payne
25 Mar 2012
More information available here and here....
Closed vs. open source for robotics?
Frank Tobe
23 Mar 2012
... Impromptu debate at cocktail party in Lyon, France at Innorobo 2012 between Colin Angle of iRobot and Robert Bauer of Willow Garage and their opposing views on how to nurture profitable robotics b...
iRobot and Willow Garage debate closed vs. open source robotics at cocktail party
Frank Tobe
22 Mar 2012
What's the best approach to building commercially successful robotics companies? Here are two arguments from two prominent people in the robotics industry:
Identify a need that can be filled with...
iRobot and Willow Garage debate closed vs. open source robotics at cocktail party
Frank Tobe
22 Mar 2012
A version of this post originally appeared on Automaton, IEEE Spectrum's robotics blog.By Frank Tobe, editor/publisher, The Robot ReportWhat's the best approach to building commercially successful rob...
Turkish start-up for paraplegics
Frank Tobe
22 Mar 2012
... $15,000 device enables paraplegics to be vertical and mobile. Click image to enlarge.
... Turkish start-up company AMS Mekatronik begins selling devices this week in Turkey; US and EU later this y...
Another big robot acquisition: Amazon buys Kiva Systems
Frank Tobe
19 Mar 2012
... Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) will acquire privately-held Kiva Systems for approximately $775 million!
... Kiva’s novel warehousing system uses robots to bring the shelves to the picker and packer in...
Softbank acquires Aldebaran… maybe
Frank Tobe
15 Mar 2012
UPDATE 3-25-2012: Translated from an Aldebaran post on their user forum: “Hello everyone. Information originally issued by the Financial Times is false. The reporter called us several times. We ...
Korean company to produce 20,000 window-cleaning robots
Frank Tobe
11 Mar 2012
... Korean manufacturer Ilshim Global is working on orders for $4 million (20,000 window-cleaning robots) for resellers Euroboats of Germany and Ezicom of France.
... The iWindoro version of this wind...
FAA told to integrate UAVs into airspace by 2015
Frank Tobe
11 Mar 2012
... President Obama signed into law a bill which gives the FAA three years to integrate UAVs into the national air space.
... The DoD has hundreds of camera-carrying drones from Iraq and Afghanistan t...
3 robotics companies included in 50 most innovative list
Frank Tobe
05 Mar 2012
... Kiva Systems - for their disruptive warehousing robots, Liquid Robots - for their versatile wave gliders, and Siemens AG - for their extensive R&D in energy, transportation and healthcare, wer...
$160 million for VC-Funded robotic projects in 2011
Frank Tobe
05 Mar 2012
... One roboticist’s opinion why VC funding for robotics is a tough nut to crack: projects have large capital requirements, few potential acquirers and little “Google-scale” IPO pros...
Platform for agricultural robotics development
John Payne
05 Mar 2012
Something that would help move the work on robotic sensors and manipulators for agriculture forward would be an affordable, robust platform on which they could be mounted and transported through a fie...
The wacky (and not so wacky) robots of Innorobo 2012
Frank Tobe
04 Mar 2012
... Innorobo 2012 is a trade show and conference to be held March 14-16 in Lyon, France, where companies display their latest and also participate in three days of conferences on technological breakth...
$160 million for 14 VC-funded robotic companies in 2011
Frank Tobe
03 Mar 2012
By Frank Tobe, editor/publisher, The Robot ReportTravis Deyle, is a postdoc researcher at Duke and a recent PhD from GA Tech's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering where he was a member of th...
$160 million for 14 VC-funded robotic companies in 2011
Frank Tobe
03 Mar 2012
Travis Deyle, is a postdoc researcher at Duke and a recent PhD from GA Tech's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering where he was a member of the Healthcare Robotics Lab and a frequent blogger ...
When a 3rd shift starts, 7.85 new jobs are created. What happens when a robot is deployed?
Frank Tobe
28 Feb 2012
… A study commissioned by the Intl. Fed. of Robotics found that 3.6 jobs are created for every robot deployed. Click the image to enlarge.
… The logic is complicated and nets out jobs displaced ag...
