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Field and service robotics: Live tweets and pics from #FSRToronto
Robohub Editors
24 Jun 2015
FSR, the biannual single track meeting on field and service robotics, is on now in Toronto. With 42 papers on a range of applications and keynotes by Chris Urmson (Google[x]), Paul Newman (Oxford...
DRC is not just about building robots; it’s about building community
Gill Pratt and DARPA Robotics Challenge
03 Jun 2015
Something remarkable is happening in Building 9 here at the Fairplex in Pomona, Calif. Imagine a long, giant warehouse-like building divided into 24 bays, within which people from around the world are...
DARPA’s Robotics Challenge: A pocket-sized guide to the finals
Adriana Hamacher
03 Jun 2015
DARPA's latest Challenge reaches its climax on 6 June 2015, when 25 finalists compete for $3.5m of prize money in what’s possibly the most anticipated robotic contest ever. Since its inception in 20...
DARPA’s legacy: Open source simulation for robotics development and testing
DARPA Robotics Challenge
27 May 2015
When the DARPA Robotics Challenge first began to coalesce from an idea to a plan, we knew that we wanted to create a lasting legacy not only for robot hardware capabilities, but also for robotics simu...
Live tweets from UN #CCWUN debate on lethal autonomous weapons
Robohub Editors
13 Apr 2015
Experts from all over the world are gathered at the United Nations in Geneva today to debate questions surrounding lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) for the Convention on Certain Conventiona...
Should robots make life/death decisions? UN to discuss lethal autonomous weapons next week
Open Roboethics Initiative
10 Apr 2015
Should robots be allowed to make life and death decisions? This will be the topic of heated debate at the United Nations (UN) Palais des Nations in Geneva next week (April 13-17th, 2015). As part of...
FAA exemption permits drones for oil and gas inspections
Frank Tobe
17 Mar 2015
Sky-Futures, a UK-based company offering drone inspection services to the global oil and gas industry, through their Houston office, was awarded an FAA exemption allowing their drones to fly in US air...
Minesweepers uses robotics’ awesomeness to raise awareness about landmines & explosive remnants of war
Alaa Khamis
27 Feb 2015
Paul Jefferson, one of the earliest humanitarian deminers, said “a landmine is the perfect soldier: Ever courageous, never sleeps, never misses”. The simplicity and cost-effectiveness of mines are...
Call for euRathlon 2015 air/land/sea challenge now open
Marta Palau Franco
13 Feb 2015
euRathlon is a new outdoor robotics competition that invites teams to test the intelligence and autonomy of their robots in realistic mock emergency-response scenarios inspired by the 2011 Fukushima ...
Virginia Tech students demo firefighting humanoid robot on US Navy ship
The College of Engineering at Virginia Tech
06 Feb 2015
In fall 2014 in Mobile Bay, Alabama, Virginia Tech engineering students made history during a five-minute demo that placed an adult-sized humanoid robot with a hose in front of a live fire aboard a U...
euRathlon Competition: A source of real data for robotics research
Marta Palau Franco
23 Jan 2015
euRathlon is an EU-funded project that aims to set the standard for research through robotics competitions. It not only provides opportunities to test advanced emergency response robots in very chall...
Island Forum 2014: Advancements in robotics and artificial intelligence
LEE Chor Pharn and Aaron MANIAM
06 Jan 2015
The Singapore Ministry of Defence convened the sixth edition of the Island Forum in November 2014 to explore the emerging future of artificial intelligence and robotics, developments that could have e...
The Drone Center’s Weekly Roundup: Weekly Roundup 12/8
At the Center for the Study of the Drone
In 2007, Addie Wagenknecht started using drones to make abstract paintings. Her works both challenge and celebrate the aerial robot and its power. In an in-...
Robo-Wars: The regulation of robotic weapons
Alexander Leveringhaus and Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford
05 Dec 2014
Robotic weapons, whether autonomous or remote controlled, have generated widespread controversy in recent years.
Alex Leveringhaus, James Martin Fellow, Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed ...
Minesweepers 2014: Outdoor robotic competition on humanitarian demining
Alaa Khamis
21 Nov 2014
Minesweepers: Towards a Landmine-Free World is an outdoor robotic competition initiated by IEEE Robotics and Automation Society – Egypt Chapter that aims to raise public awareness of the seriousne...
First TRADR EU FP7 Joint Exercise (TJEx)
Zoe Fragoulopoulou
30 Oct 2014
ALCOR Lab members describe their experience.
From September 23rd to October 2nd the first TRADR Joint Exercise (TJEx) took place at the Tremora hospital (ex American hospital of Calambrone) near Pi...
GridBot robot takes just 5 hrs to remove wood log stuck in high-pressure powerplant pipe
Frank Tobe
29 Oct 2014
Gridbots Technologies, a start-up located in Ahmedabad, India, has focused their efforts on providing the power industry, particularly nuclear power companies, defense organizations and space agenci...
This military robotics company vows to never make a killer robot | Fast Company
CIS Blog
23 Oct 2014
Cars are already close to driving themselves down the highway. How far are we then from military weapons systems that decide on their own when and where to fire?
"You want the scary answer?" asks C...
Disaster relief this year’s theme at University of Maryland | The Diamondback
Robohub Editors
20 Oct 2014
Because of the prevalence of environmental and man-made disasters from Ebola, earthquakes, oil spills and Wednesday’s tornado warning, the engineering college [at the University of Maryland] decided...
euRathlon 2014 Sea competition recap: Day 1 and 2
Marta Palau Franco
02 Oct 2014
euRathlon is an outdoor robotics competition focused on realistic emergency-response scenarios inspired by the 2011 Fukushima accident. After a successful land-based competition in 2013, a marine-base...
Liquid Robotics continues its growth by partnering with Boeing
Frank Tobe
24 Sep 2014
Sunnyvale-based Liquid Robotics continues their growth-by-partnering formula by striking another collaboration, this time with Boeing....
Clearpath’s public stance on Killer Robots sets precedence in corporate responsibility
AJung Moon
20 Aug 2014
Last week the Waterloo-based Clearpath publicly pledged not to develop lethal autonomous weapons, otherwise known as "killer robots". In an open letter to the public, Clearpath's CTO Ryan Gariepy wr...
See what it’s like to go off-road inside the Marines’ self-driving vehicle | The Verge
Hallie Siegel
28 Jul 2014
http://youtu.be/sFkj36JJ8mk
The US military has been working on self-driving vehicles of its own for several years now, and earlier this month a video was published showing just what it's...
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Ekso Bionics, with Russ Angold
Audrow Nash
26 Jul 2014
In this episode, Audrow Nash speaks to Russ Angold, co-founder and CTO of Ekso Bionics, about the wearable bionic suit, Ekso. This suit enables individuals with any amount of lower extremity weakness ...
The thriving drone community of South Africa
Dronologista
30 Jun 2014
Source: Skylab Productions
A couple of years ago, while I was living in Cape Town, I met a group of people who were so into drones and aerial filming that they managed to initiate me into the world ...
DARPA announces new challenges, teams, and research goals for the DRC’s finale in June 2015
Ransom Mowris
27 Jun 2014
Teams of roboticists from around the globe will convene in Los Angeles for the third and final round of the DARPA Robotics Challenge on June 5th and 6th, 2015. For this phase, DARPA will be cutting ...
Research Group from University of Zurich wins KUKA Innovation Award
NCCR Robotics
10 Jun 2014
The team collect their award at the Automatica fair in Munich, June 2014.
Four researchers from Davide Scaramuzza’s Robotics and Perception Group at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, have won ...
Can killer robots learn to follow the rules of war? | The Smithsonian
Hallie Siegel
29 May 2014
Using robots is potentially more efficient, more precise and less expensive than relying solely on humans in warfare. And it would also, of course, mean fewer human casualties.
But this transforma...
America’s dominance in military robotics is starting to crumble
Frank Tobe
19 May 2014
Foreign Policy Magazine's recent examination of "The Looming Robotics Gap" by University of Pennsylvania International Relations Associate Professor Michael C Horowitz, and recent Pentagon in...
Ron Arkin and Noel Sharkey debate lethal autonomous weapons at UN
Hallie Siegel
14 May 2014
The Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) is currently underway at the United Nations in Geneva to discuss questions relating to emerging technologies in the area of lethal autonomous weapons syst...
1.1M£ robotic “Porton Man” to test protective clothing for UK’s armed forces
Ioannis K. Erripis
07 Apr 2014
UK’s Ministry of Defense invested 1.1M GBP in a new robotic mannequin that will test protective suits and equipment for the UK’s armed forces. The project is named “Porton Man” and is able to ...
ROV operations expenditures to grow to $1.5 billion by 2017
Frank Tobe
24 Mar 2014
Douglas-Westwood, an energy research group, says (in their $5,000 World ROV Operations Market Forecast 2013-2017 report), that ROV operations expenditures will grow 80% over the next 5 years....
DARPA’s Gill Pratt on Google’s robotics investments
Gill Pratt and Robohub Editors
19 Mar 2014
When Google bought Boston Dynamics last December, the news made headlines, but it was not the first time the Internet giant has invested in DARPA-funded robotics. As part of Robohub's Big Deals series...
American nuclear materials storage site guarded by robots
Frank Tobe
10 Mar 2014
Since 2011, a Nevada nuclear materials storage site has been guarded by robots (Mobile Detection, Assessment and Response System). Last week the US Marines announced that their airbase in Twentynine P...
New book on disaster robotics
Robohub Editors
25 Feb 2014
A new book by MIT's Robin Murphy documents the use and performance of tactical ground, aerial, or marine robots at 34 incidents between 2001 and 2013....
Robots, soldiers and cyborgs: The future of warfare
Armin Krishnan and Footnote
05 Feb 2014
Boston Dynamics' BigDog.
When we imagine the future of warfare, we often envision a battlefield where humanoid robots and other machines fight alongside or in the place of human soldiers. From the dr...
