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Andra Keay on “What does it take to get from imagination to market?”
Andra Keay
12 Mar 2014
The rise of online crowdfunding platforms over the last decade has created a whole new pathway for some robot startups. In the process, crowdfunding campaigns have helped to catapult hardware and robo...
Mark Stephen Meadows on “What does it take to get from imagination to market?”
Mark Stephen Meadows
12 Mar 2014
There are two parts to this process: the invisible and visible.
Rodin once said that sculpture is an art dedicated to holes. What he meant is that great work is invisible: if you are building a tec...
What does it take to get from imagination to market?
RBI Editors
12 Mar 2014
It's the top-of-mind question for every would-be entrepreneur, and with the Robot Launch 2014 competition deadline coming up on March 30, it's an especially fitting question to pose to our panelists t...
Facebook plans to offer Internet service using aerial robots
Frank Tobe
05 Mar 2014
In a story on TechCrunch, it was revealed that Facebook is in talks to acquire or partner with Titan Aerospace. Titan makes solar-powered aerial robots that can fly for up to five years without needin...
With 11,000 pre-orders, Play-i gets $8 million Series A
Frank Tobe
05 Mar 2014
It was just a few months ago that Play-i raised over $1.4 million on Kickstarter. With a heavy advertising buy during the holiday season they now have 11,000 pre-orders for their Bo and Yana...
Brand strength, cultural influence of consumer-facing giants like Google, Apple and Amazon help legitimize robotics for businesses and investors
Dan Kara
04 Mar 2014
What is one to make of this focus series … Big Deals: What It Means to Have the Giants Investing in Robotics … with the giants being Google, Amazon and Apple (as given in the preamble)? The ass...
Mazor Robotics is gaining momentum
Frank Tobe
03 Mar 2014
Mazor Robotics, producer of the Renaissance Guidance System for spine and neuro surgeries, reported favorable earnings for the 4th quarter and for the whole year of 2013.
4Q revenue was up 111% ove...
Valery Komissarova on when investing in robots is the right move
Valery Komissarova and Andra Keay
26 Feb 2014
As part of Robohub’s Big Deals series, startup expert Andra Keay asks Valery Komissarova, Grishin Robotics’ Director of Business Development, about what all the recent robotics acquisitions mean t...
Top ten things I learned at Willow Garage
Steve Cousins
25 Feb 2014
10. Focus Focus Focus. When I started at Willow Garage, we had two projects (an autonomous car and an autonomous boat) and were planning to grow to 60 people, and I thought we needed to “round out ...
The robots behind your Internet shopping addiction: How your wallet is driving retail automation
Erin Rapacki
25 Feb 2014
When you're shopping for the best online deals you're probably not thinking much about the massive distribution network required to bring that pair of shoes to your doorstep. Is your quest for the bes...
168,000 robots were sold in 2013; 5% more than in 2012
Frank Tobe
21 Feb 2014
Based on the results of the IFR Quarterly Statistics, the IFR estimates that in 2013 about 168,000 industrial robots were sold, 5% more than in 2012....
Robot Launch 2014: The first global startup competition for robotics is here!
Andra Keay
19 Feb 2014
Ready, set, launch! Is your prototype the next breakthrough in home robotics? Or are you developing a smart device, sensor, component or software that will help build the robots of the tomorrow? Roboh...
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...
Big deals: What it means to have the giants investing in robotics
Hallie Siegel
12 Feb 2014
If the world outside the robotics community didn't know about Boston Dynamics, Kiva and Nest, they do now. Recent robotics acquisitions and investments by major-league players like Google, Apple a...
Automation, not domination: How robots will take over our world
The first question people tend to ask when they find out you are a roboticist is, “When are robots going to take over the world and become our masters?” The answer to this question is a big “Ne...
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...
DoD Unmanned Air, Sea & Ground Budget 2014-2018
Frank Tobe
03 Feb 2014
Within the defense sector, demand for unmanned air, ground and sea systems continues unabated. Drivers include combat operations, reduced military budgets, a changing national security environment and...
Agricultural robot market anticipated to reach $16.3 billion by 2020
Frank Tobe
01 Feb 2014
In a new $7,800 report by Wintergreen Research, significant growth is anticipated over the remainder of this decade in every aspect of farming, milking, food production and animal control....
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...
Doggone it, there are no exciting consumer robots
Andra Keay
21 Jan 2014
If CES shows us anything it’s that consumer robots aren’t exciting, they’re appliances. But it’s exciting that we have a growing field of consumer robots, smart devices and appliances. Accordi...
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...
7 consumer robots to look out for from CES 2014
Shima Rayej
11 Jan 2014
This year’s CES in Las Vegas showcased some of the latest technologies from both established and up-and-coming robotics companies. Drones, telepresence robots, automated cleaning devices and enter...
Snap 2014: Aerial drones and 3D mapping software for civil engineering surveying
Frank Tobe
06 Jan 2014
An Irish surveyor tested results (and had those results peer reviewed through the local university) of surveys done by drone and software vs. doing it by hand (which took days longer). The surveyor is...
