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Individual investors: Take a cue from corporate capital … the time is right for robotics
Rob Wilson
19 Feb 2014
Megatrends are easiest to recognize in hindsight, which leads many investors to wonder how they missed out on something so big. How many times have you thought to yourself, “I knew that business o...
Hexagon acquires Aibotix
Frank Tobe
18 Feb 2014
Hexagon, a Swedish provider of R&D and design, measurement and visualization products, with 14,000 employees in over 40 countries, and which serves a broad range of industr...
Will companies like Google and Amazon usher in a new era for robotics?
Chad Partridge
18 Feb 2014
Amazon announced its plans to launch a new drone delivery service this past December.
Recent eye-popping acquisitions of robotics technology companies by giants like Google and Amazon might sugge...
iRobot is on a tear
Frank Tobe
17 Feb 2014
On February 5th iRobot reported their quarterly and annual report. 4Q revenue was up 25% from the previous year and full year 2013 revenue of $487 was up 12%....
Foxconn and Google cooperating to make robots
Frank Tobe
13 Feb 2014
In a Wall Street Journal story by Lorraine Luk, Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou met with Google Robotics Division Andy Rubin in Taipei recently and they discussed new robotic techno...
Four interesting robotic investments
Frank Tobe
09 Feb 2014
Microsoft is betting $5.57 million on IT-related projects at two Swiss universities; James Dyson is putting $8.21 million into a London college lab; Ekso Bionics went public with a $20 million IP...
Microsoft pays 5M CHF to ETHZ and EPFL for research on flying robots and new memory architectures
Robohub Editors
07 Feb 2014
ETH Zurich and EPFL are jointly entering into a new research partnership with Microsoft Research. Over five years, Microsoft Research will provide five million Swiss francs of funding to support IT re...
Competing sales reports for industrial robotics
Frank Tobe
29 Jan 2014
Research and Markets, an online market research store, is offering a new $3,000 report, Global and Chinese Automotive Industrial Robotics Industry Report 2013-2014, with figure...
In the news: Intuitive Surgical
Frank Tobe
27 Jan 2014
Mini-tender offer:
TRC Capital Corp, a private firm founded by a Canadian securities lawyer, has made a mini-tender offer to purchase 250,000 shares of Intuitive Surgical stock at a price slightly be...
Bloomberg Businessweek says: “Factory Jobs Are Gone. Get Over It.”
Frank Tobe
27 Jan 2014
Although politicians and economists may have been aggravated by the article, the figures are impressive and worthy of study.
Manufacturing makes up 12% of the U.S. economy with only 10% of the non-...
Startup Funding, with Jan Westerhues
Per Sjöborg
24 Jan 2014
Link to audio file (25:51)
In today’s episode Per Sjöborg speaks with Jan Westerhues, Investment Partner with Robert Bosch Venture Capital, about how they fund robotics companies. As a stepping st...
Beam+ remote presence robots becoming affordable
Frank Tobe
21 Jan 2014
Suitable Technologies just announced their new Beam+ remote presence robot and is offering the first 1,000 units at a price of $995 (thereafter it will be $1,995). First shipments are scheduled for Su...
Robot tourism coming soon to Korea: Masan Robot Land project finally breaks ground
Jong-Oh Park
20 Jan 2014
With permission finally given to occupy lands that include an existing road and stream, the Masan Robot Land Project that went adrift for almost two years was officially launched on December 7, 2013 w...
Ekso Bionics goes public for $20.6 million
Andra Keay
15 Jan 2014
Rehabilitative robotics company Ekso Bionics announced today that it has completed a public offering which will provide $20.6 million in a 'reverse merger'. Funds raised will go primarily to expanding...
Google acquires Nest for $3.2 billion
Frank Tobe
13 Jan 2014
In another surprise release to the press, Google announced the acquisition of Nest Labs, the inventor and manufacturer of the stylish learning thermostat device, for $3.2 billion.
According to Aaro...
Google getting more roboticists with Nest acquisition
Andra Keay
13 Jan 2014
Is Google getting a robot company? Or just another source of roboticists with the Nest acquisition that was announced today? Alongside Google’s recent acquisition of eight robotics companies, there ...
Are investments in robotics capital intensive?
Frank Tobe
13 Jan 2014
In a recent post in IEEE Spectrum Automaton, Robert Morris abstracted a paper he wrote with Richard Green, a finance professor at CMU. The thesis of his article is that robotic ventures are not capi...
KUKA buys 51% of Reis Robotics with option to buy remainder
Frank Tobe
20 Dec 2013
In a surprise move, KUKA, one of the global big four robot manufacturers, signed a letter of intent to acquire 51% of the shares of Reis Robotics, a 57-year old family-owned Germany-based robotics ...
Foxconn plans factory in PA and funds robotics research at CMU
Frank Tobe
16 Dec 2013
Foxconn’s parent company Hon Hai Precision will fund $10 million for robotics and advanced manufacturing research at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. No further details about the 2-year str...
KUKA opens Shanghai factory and announces orders
Frank Tobe
15 Dec 2013
... KUKA cut the ribbon at their new factory outside of Shanghai. The factory will begin employing 350 and produce the QUANTEC line of robots and controllers and will be able to produce 3,000 robots a...
Apple, Amazon and now Google: It’s a pretty exciting day for robotics!
Frank Tobe
14 Dec 2013
There is serious momentum in robotics these days, evidenced by recent news from Apple, Amazon and Google:
Apple announced that they were investing $10.5 billion in supply chain robots and automati...
Rethink Robotics downsizing: 23% laid off
Frank Tobe
13 Dec 2013
... The Boston Globe reported that Rethink Robotics, maker of the $22,000 Baxter 2-armed robot, has cut 21 jobs from their staff of approximately 90.
... CEO Scott Eckert said, “The layoffs are the...
Frank Tobe on “What were the top stories in robotics from 2013?”
Frank Tobe
11 Dec 2013
As Editor and Publisher of the Robot Report, I follow robotics news closely, especially in business and finance. Here are my top picks for 2013:...
Forget the octocopter, let’s talk about Kiva
Shawn Milne and Michael Carroll
10 Dec 2013
Given all the chatter on drones and automation, we thought it would be a good time to dive deeper into the Kiva opportunity and potential impact on leverage/margins. For the sake of our analysis, we t...
Amazon isn’t the only delivery service testing flying robots
Frank Tobe
10 Dec 2013
... Amazon isn’t the only delivery service testing flying robots. DHL and microdrones are testing drones that could be used to deliver urgently needed goods to hard-to-reach places, eg, medicines to...
Google makes big robotics investment
Frank Tobe
06 Dec 2013
... In a revealing NY Times interview with Google’s Andy Rubin, some heretofor unknown things came to light. Google is now in the robotics business. They’ve made seven acquisitions in the last six...
Jeff Bezos reaches for tip of UAS iceberg
Frank Tobe
05 Dec 2013
On Sunday, Charlie Rose from CBS News 60 Minutes, interviewed Jeff Bezos about what is next for Amazon, the world's largest online retailer with more than 225 million customers.
Volume can reach 30...
Google buys up robotics companies from DRC
Andra Keay
04 Dec 2013
If you've recently wondered where all the roboticists were going, the answer is to an unassuming complex in Palo Alto. Google has backed Android developer Andy Rubin to acquire at least 7 major roboti...
Amazon announces plans for drone delivery service, says safety will be key priority
Hallie Siegel
02 Dec 2013
Amazon announced yesterday that it is developing a drone delivery service called Prime Air that will aim to get packages into customer's hands within 30 minutes. They are planning to launch as soon a...
Apple buys Israel’s PrimeSense for $350 million
Frank Tobe
29 Nov 2013
Famous from being the synchronized depth perception system inside the Microsoft Kinnect, PrimeSense, a venture-funded company based in Tel Aviv, was just acquired by Apple for $350 million.
Bloomb...
Global Machine Vision market to grow at 9.4% CAGR
Frank Tobe
26 Nov 2013
New report by Research and Markets, Global Machine Vision Market 2012-2016, a $2,500 report, forcasts global machine vision market to grow at a CAGR of 9.4% to 2016....
Mazor Robotics on a roll
Frank Tobe
25 Nov 2013
Mazor Robotics’ stock (NASDAQ:MZOR and TASE:MZOR) has steadily rolled up 260% year-to-date....
How I helped create Robo-Stox, a new stock index for the robotics community
Frank Tobe
18 Nov 2013
Photo: Nasdaq
On Tuesday, a sleek robotic arm rang the closing bell of the Nasdaq stock exchange. It was the first time a robot performed the task.
The event celebrated the launch of Robo-Stox, a...
New ETF (NASDAQ:ROBO) focuses on robotics industry
Frank Tobe
13 Nov 2013
... UPDATE 11/12/13: NASDAQ’s 10-story tall sign was all about Robo-stox LLC, ROBO the ETF, and a Universal Robot with a Schunk hand ringing the NASDAQ closing bell. Quite a spectacle. The arm/hand ...
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...
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...
