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Logistic companies Swisslog, Dematic, Egemin and Intelligrated all acquired
Frank Tobe
05 Jul 2016
First, the KION Group acquires Dematic for $2.5 billion. A week later, Honeywell acquires Intelligrated for $1.5 billion. KION acquires Retrotech and earlier still Egemin, while Kuka acquires Swisslog...
What’s happening in robotics? Five trends to watch
Frank Tobe
29 Jun 2016
Industrial robots used to be dumb, somewhat inflexible, and mostly blind - but also fast, precise and very efficient. As the cost of components, sensors and vision systems has been dro...
New partnership looks to strengthen European robot industry
Samuel Brøgger
22 Jun 2016
A new EU-funded, robot technology transfer partnership is looking to help manufacturing and robotics companies with robot consultancy, networking, and funding....
Industrial robot sales for 2015 set new record, despite troubles in China
Frank Tobe
22 Jun 2016
Worldwide sales of industrial robots set a new record: 248,000 units sold in 2015, 12% more than 2014. 66,700 units sold in China of which 20,400 were made in China.
Asia is still the strongest gr...
Going the last mile with robots
Peter Feuilherade
14 Jun 2016
This article was first published on the IEC e‑tech website.
From robots delivering small packages in cities, to driverless trucks transporting bulk loads over long distances, advances in robotic ...
Chinese investors keep buying international robotics companies
Frank Tobe
13 Jun 2016
The latest acquisition is Gimatic, an Italian pneumatic and electric grippers, sensors and positioners maker, by Agic Capital. The Financial Times reported the sale price to be between $112 and $16...
Big data, the cloud — FANUC and Kuka?
Frank Tobe
07 Jun 2016
FANUC, the world’s largest maker of industrial robots, plans to start connecting 400,000 of their installed systems by the end of this year. The goal is to collect data about their operations and...
What is a CRO and will your business soon need one?
Jeffrey Walker
02 Jun 2016
The times are changing! What seemed like science fiction a few years ago is now on the front page of the news. Augmented reality, wearables, virtual assistants, robots, and other smart devices are beg...
May fundings, acquisitions and IPOs
Frank Tobe
01 Jun 2016
UPDATE: June 1, 2016: Forbes wrote today that Toyota is in discussions with Google not only for Boston Dynamics but also for Schaft, the Japanese startup that won the DARPA Robotics Challenge — a...
How is Pepper, SoftBank’s emotional robot, doing?
Frank Tobe
30 May 2016
Pepper is a child-height human-shaped robot described as having been designed to be a genuine companion that perceives and acts upon a range of human emotions.
SoftBank, the Japanese telecom gia...
Why businesses must get ready for the era of robotic things
Jeffrey Walker
27 May 2016
We’ve entered a period of epic technological transformation that is impacting society in ways that are leaving even veteran tech observers speechless. In some ways, it might seem like 1998 all over ...
EU’s Horizon 2020 has funded $179 million in robotics PPPs
Frank Tobe
25 May 2016
Over the past two years, research in 5G and robotics PPP projects have received the highest funding awards within Horizon 2020, the EU’s research and innovation program....
Bringing robots to retail: Interview with Fellow Robots CEO and co-founder, Marco Mascorro
Andra Keay and Silicon Valley Robotics
19 May 2016
Robotics today is a fast growing industry with applications in myriad markets, including retail, transportation, manufacturing, and even as personal assistants. Fellow Robots is at the forefront of re...
Chinese Midea makes $2.5 billion bid for up to 49% of KUKA
Frank Tobe
19 May 2016
In China’s relentless state-stimulated quest to grow their robotics industry, Midea Group, a Chinese appliance manufacturer which already owns 13.5% of KUKA’s shares, has offered to buy up to 49...
MIT, Lockheed Martin launch long-term research collaboration
MIT News
17 May 2016
In a new collaborative initiative in autonomy and robotics, MIT and Lockheed Martin scientists will focus on innovations needed to enable generation-after-next autonomous systems. Improvements in huma...
Paradigm shift: from Siri to Viv
Frank Tobe
12 May 2016
Artificial intelligence that programs itself on the fly - from the team that developed Siri at SRI and Apple - was demonstrated this week in New York and it quickly performed complex spoken tasks, liv...
SVR Case Studies: OATV investing in early stage service robotics
Andra Keay and Silicon Valley Robotics
05 May 2016
OATV, or O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, is a seed stage investment firm based in San Francisco with a track record of backing robotics startups in emerging areas. As well as investing in Fetch Robotic...
Stakeholders likely to be disrupted by the changeover to self-driving vehicles
Frank Tobe
26 Apr 2016
Volumes have been written about the possible beneficial (and negative) effects of self-driving cars and systems. But few have studied what industries will be disrupted by the transformations as self-d...
China’s growing robot industry turns to acquisitions
Frank Tobe
25 Apr 2016
Paslin, a Michigan integrator of welding robots, automation systems, and tooling, was acquired by Wanfeng Technology Group for an undisclosed amount (but reported as $302 million i...
Big day for robotics: 3 fundings and a merger acquisition
Frank Tobe
21 Apr 2016
Auris Surgical Robotics will acquire Hansen Medical for $80M+, PrecisionHawk raised $18M to help bring commercial drones safely into US airspace, and SkySafe raised $3M to disable badly behaving ...
Grishin Robotics launches new $100M hardware fund
Frank Tobe
15 Apr 2016
In 2012, Dmitry Grishin, co-founder and CEO of Mail.Ru Group, the largest Internet and social networking company in the Russian-speaking world, seeded a fund with $25 million of his own money to f...
Filling the void left by Kiva Systems’ 2012 acquisition by Amazon
Frank Tobe
14 Apr 2016
In March 2012, in an effort to make their distribution centers (DCs) as efficient as possible, Amazon acquired Kiva Systems for $775 million and almost immediately took them in house.
There was c...
47 reports dissect and examine the robot industry
Frank Tobe
04 Apr 2016
The robotics industry has graduated to be big business -- at least for research firms. 47 different reports on subjects ranging from broad to very drilled-down views of the industry are analyzed and...
March fundings, acquisitions, IPOs and failures
Frank Tobe
04 Apr 2016
Funding for robotics startup companies rose dramatically in 2015 reaching record highs in deals and dollars. CB Insights, a VC database provider, reported similar findings as seen in their quarterly f...
iRobot’s $199 floor mopper designed for Chinese markets
Frank Tobe
31 Mar 2016
iRobot has been streamlining its operations to focus on consumer products and enhancing shareholder value. Recent moves to divest their defense division, launch a low-cost Braava Jet floor cleaner...
3D Robotics undergoing layoffs and other challenges
Frank Tobe
29 Mar 2016
3D Robotics unveiled sweeping changes by closing its San Diego facility, reducing staff at its Berkeley headquarters and in Austin, TX, and acknowledging that co-founder and president Jordi Muñoz ...
Google puts Boston Dynamics up for sale
Frank Tobe
22 Mar 2016
The maker of advanced humanoid and 4-legged robots (BigDog and Atlas), Boston Dynamics, is up for sale. According to the Financial Times, "this is one of those discordant moments that makes you questi...
Harvest Automation stumbles with warehouse robot
Frank Tobe
19 Mar 2016
In a Boston Globe story by Scott Kirsner, it was revealed that Harvest Automation's CEO has departed, as have 3/4 of the 30 employees that worked there in 2015. The company is attempting to sell it...
SVR Case Studies: Hardware may be hard, but strategic investing can make it smart
Silicon Valley Robotics
15 Mar 2016
by Ekta Sahasi, Vice President at Konica Minolta Business Innovation Center
and Greg Lok, Business Strategy Lead at Konica Minolta Business Innovation Center
After years of flying under the ventur...
European Robotics: Creating new markets for SMEs
SPARC
09 Mar 2016
In this original ten-part series, we're putting the spotlight on European Robotics. You'll be hearing from experts about the latest robotics technology with the power to change the way we work, live, ...
Collaborative robots are broadening their marketplaces
Frank Tobe
08 Mar 2016
Universal Robots, the Danish manufacturer of a line of collaborative robots (also called "co-bots"), recently published financial statements which provide valuable insights into the growth potential ...
SVR Case Studies: Lessons for robotics from enterprise computing
Michael Harries and Silicon Valley Robotics
03 Mar 2016
Many advances in our technologies occur through borrowing capabilities from one field to progress another. Our technological universe is built from a web of interrelated advances that push one another...
February fundings and acquisitions
Frank Tobe
02 Mar 2016
It's too early to tell whether the record-breaking pace of 2015 fundings for robotic startups and the number of acquisitions will carry over into 2016, nevertheless, here are the transactions that hap...
2016 funding and acquisition spree continues
Frank Tobe
03 Feb 2016
2015 was a phenomenal year for funding and acquiring robotic companies. Over $1.32 billion in seed, crowd, series A,B,C,D and VC fundings and more than $2.27 billion in acquisitions. And they've begu...
Robotics, AI and automation in “Forbes 30 under 30”
Hallie Siegel
26 Jan 2016
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Forbes has once again expanded their "30 under 30" list this year to celebrate the achievements of the up and coming; the main list now covers 20 different sectors, and an inaugural E...
Rising Media acquires RoboUniverse and Inside 3D Printing shows
Frank Tobe
25 Jan 2016
MecklerMedia's RoboUniverse trade shows and conferences and Inside 3D Printing shows have been acquired by Rising Media, a Germany-based global events producer focusing on Internet and technology-r...
