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Point-to-point mobile robots hot sellers
Today’s e-commerce spurs demand for reduced response times in fulfillment centers; generally has fewer products per order; and is constantly changing — increasing system complexity and the need fo...
15 January 2018, by
Frank Tobe
A round up of robotics and AI ethics: part 1 principles
This blogpost is a round up of the various sets of ethical principles of robotics and AI that have been proposed to date, ordered by date of first publication. The principles are presented here (in fu...
09 January 2018, by
Alan Winfield
Top Robocar news of 2017
Here are the biggest Robocar stories of 2017....
04 January 2018, by
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
December 2017 fundings, acquisitions and IPOs
Twenty-one different startups were funded in December cumulatively raising $430 million, down from the $782 million in November. Three didn’t report the amount of their funding. Only three were over...
02 January 2018, by
Frank Tobe
Drones, volcanoes and the ‘computerisation’ of the Earth
By Adam Fish
The eruption of the Agung volcano in Bali, Indonesia has been devastating, particularly for the 55,000 local people who have had to leave their homes and move into shelters. It has als...
29 December 2017, by
The Conversation
An emotional year for machines
Two thousand seventeen certainly has been an emotional year for mankind. While homo sapiens continue to yell at Alexa and Siri, the actuality of people’s willingness to pursue virtual relationsh...
29 December 2017, by
Oliver Mitchell
So where are the jobs?
Dan Burstein, reporter, novelist and successful venture capitalist, declared Wednesday night at RobotLab‘s winter forum on Autonomous Transportation & SmartCities that within one hundred yea...
07 December 2017, by
Oliver Mitchell
Warner Brothers and Intel experiment with in-robocar entertainment. Is that a good idea?
Intel and Warner made a splash at the LA Auto Show announcing how Warner will develop entertainment for viewing while riding in robotaxis. It's not just movies to watch, their hope is to produce somet...
07 December 2017, by
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
November fundings, acquisitions and IPOs
Twenty-two different startups were funded in November cumulatively raising $782 million, down a bit from the $862 million in October. The big $400 million funding for UBTech and the $55 million for Tu...
06 December 2017, by
Frank Tobe
DARPA challenge mystery solved and how to handle Robocar failures
A small mystery from Robocar history was resolved recently, and revealed at the DARPA grand challenge reunion at CMU....
01 December 2017, by
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
Robots and the two-edged blade of new technology
There’s a scare-tactic video going around on social media, and I wanted to weigh in on it—this particular video has gone from 500,000 views to almost 2 million in the past 10 days. As a matter of ...
29 November 2017, by
Frank Tobe
Uber buys 24,000 Volvos, trolley problems get scarier, and liability
Uber and Volvo announced an agreement where Uber will buy, in time, up to 24,000 specially built Volvo XC90s which will run Uber's self-driving software and, presumably, offer rides to Uber customers....
29 November 2017, by
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
30+2 research reports forecast significant growth for robot industry
Press releases for this batch of 30 research reports all agree that most segments of the robotics industry are expected to grow at a double-digit pace at least through 2022....
24 November 2017, by
Frank Tobe
Locus Robotics raises $25 million for warehouse RaaS
Locus Robotics, a Wilmington, MA-based startup, raised $25 million in a Series B funding led by Silicon Valley Scale Venture Partners, with additional participation from existing investors. Locus plan...
24 November 2017, by
Frank Tobe
Jibo personal robot tops Time’s Best Innovations of 2017
Jibo is a personal robot with a difference. It is unlike the stationary Amazon Alexa or Google Home. It attempts to offer the same repertoire of features while adding its physical presence and mo...
19 November 2017, by
Frank Tobe
Another Chinese acquisition of a European robotics manufacturer
Huachangda Intelligent Equipment, a Chinese industrial robot integrator primarily servicing China’s auto industry, has acquired Swedish Robot System Products (RSP), a 2003 spin-off from AB...
19 November 2017, by
Frank Tobe
Bossa Nova raises $17.5 million for shelf-scanning mobile robots
Bossa Nova Robotics, a Silicon Valley developer of autonomous service robots for the retail industry, announced the close of a $17.5 million Series B funding round led by Paxion Capital Partners and p...
19 November 2017, by
Frank Tobe
Robocar/LIDAR news and video of the Apple car
Robocar news is fast and furious these days. I certainly don't cover it all, but will point to stories that have some significance. Plus, to tease you, here's a clip from my 4K video of the new Apple ...
13 November 2017, by
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
Robots’ two-pronged role in Alibaba’s $25.3 billion Singles’ Day sale
The Singles’ Day Shopping Festival held each year on November 11th is just like Black Friday, Mothers’ Day or any other sales-oriented psuedo-holiday, but bigger and more extravagant. Starting in ...
13 November 2017, by
Frank Tobe
Waymo deploys with no human safety driver oversight
In a major milestone for robocars, Waymo has announced they will deploy in Phoenix with no human safety drivers behind the wheel. Until now, almost all robocars out there have only gone out on public ...
09 November 2017, by
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
Funding trends: self-driving dreams coming true
Participants and startups in the emerging self-driving vehicles industry (components, systems, trucks, cars and buses) have been at it for over almost 60 years. The pace accelerated in 2004, 2005 and ...
06 November 2017, by
Frank Tobe
Three concerns about granting citizenship to robot Sophia
I was surprised to hear that a robot named Sophia was granted citizenship by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia....
02 November 2017, by
Hussein Abbass and The Conversation
October 2017 fundings, acquisitions and IPOs
Twenty-eight different startups were funded in October cumulatively raising $862 million, up from $507 million in September. Three of the top four fundings were for startups involved in the self-drivi...
02 November 2017, by
Frank Tobe
Brain surgery: The robot efficacy test?
The internet hummed last week with reports that “Humans Still Make Better Surgeons Than Robots.” Stanford University Medical Center set off the tweetstorm with its seemingly scathing repo...
02 November 2017, by
Oliver Mitchell
The senate’s automated driving bill could squash state authority
My previous post on the House and Senate automated driving bills (HB 3388 and SB 1885) concluded by noting that, in addition to the federal government, states and the municipalities within them also p...
31 October 2017, by
Bryant Walker Smith
Robocars will make traffic worse before it gets better
Many websites paint a very positive picture of the robocar future. And it is positive, but far from perfect. One problem I worry about in the short term is the way robocars are going to make traffic w...
25 October 2017, by
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
The five senses of robotics
Healthy humans take for granted their five senses. In order to mold metal into perceiving machines, it requires a significant amount of engineers and capital. Already, we have handed over many of our ...
24 October 2017, by
Oliver Mitchell
Stifled ambitions: a review of Google robotics
Despite recent attempts to tease the robotics projects incubating at its Google X skunkworks, industry observers say that Google has done more to stifle than advance innovation in robotics....
24 October 2017, by
Frank Tobe
Robots on the Rise
NEDO, Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, is a regular funder of robotic technology, has an office in Silicon Valley, and participates in various regional events t...
20 October 2017, by
Frank Tobe
Could we build a Blade Runner-style ‘replicant’?
The new Blade Runner sequel will return us to a world where sophisticated androids made with organic body parts can match the strength and emotions of their human creators. As someone who builds biolo...
19 October 2017, by
Fumiya Iida, Lecturer in mechatronics, University of Cambridge
