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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...
Live coverage of #ERF2016
Robohub Editors
18 Mar 2016
The next edition of the European Robotics Forum is kicking off in Ljubljana.
This 3-day event, from March 21-23, is a meeting point for at least 600 scientists, companies and robotics officials fr...
5 innovation challenges in materials transport
Clearpath Robotics
18 Mar 2016
by: Meghan Hennessey
Walk into any manufacturing facility today. Forklifts and AGVs may be in operation serving specific parts of the manufacturing floor, but you’ll also see hundreds of people a...
Robotics has its first unicorn – small SF startup Cruise Automation
Andra Keay
18 Mar 2016
Forget about Google and Boston Dynamics. This week the real news is that GM acquired small San Francisco based startup Cruise Automation for the rumored sum of more than $1B US, according to Fortune....
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...
iRobot sells off defense & security division
Frank Tobe
04 Feb 2016
In a transaction valued at $45 million, iRobot has sold its Defense and Security division to Arlington Capital Partners. Sean Bielat, who takes over as the CEO, says the new company wil...
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
[clear]
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...
Toyota Research gets Kuffner, and Google gets Brondmo
Frank Tobe
18 Jan 2016
At a press conference last week at CES, Toyota, led by Gill Pratt of DARPA fame and now CEO of Toyota Research Institute (TRI), informed the world what Toyota intended to do with it's billion dollar...
IoT may be 2016’s hot new trend, but in industrial robotics it’s been around for a decade
Alex Owen-Hill and Robotiq Inc.
06 Jan 2016
As everyone starts to look for "the big technology trends of 2016", it seems that one technology is overshadowing all others - the Internet of Things. We take a look at why robotics is actually ahead ...
Foxconn shopping for robot manufacturer to keep pace with brisk Pepper sales
Frank Tobe
05 Jan 2016
In an article about the pace of sales for the SoftBank Pepper robot, the China Post reported that Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision (AKA Foxconn) has sent a team of 30 to survey the US market for futu...
Why co-bots will be a huge driver of innovation and growth for robotics
Frank Tobe
04 Jan 2016
This article was first published on IEEE Spectrum Automaton and is republished here with permission. For the IEEE version, click here; for the unabridged version, continue reading.
Collaborative ro...
2015 robotics fundings, IPOs, acquisitions and failures
Frank Tobe
04 Jan 2016
From the 2015 archives of The Robot Report: 54 fundings of $1.267 billion, 31 acquisitions totalling over $1.97 billion, and one IPO -- all adding up to some surprisingly large figures. ...
New Sino-Israeli Robotics Institute gets $20 million initial funding
Frank Tobe
30 Dec 2015
A consortium of Chinese companies, municipalities and investors -- including Siasun, the largest robotics firm in China and the city of Guangzhou -- have inked a deal to set up a $20 million R&...
Competing market research reports agree: Expect double-digit growth for most robotics segments
Frank Tobe
30 Dec 2015
The number of research reports covering the robotics industry has grown exponentially in the last few years. Eighty-one have been previewed on The Robot Report thus far in 2015. The latest batch of 2...
“Made in China” initiative is nurturing robotics according to plan
Frank Tobe
21 Dec 2015
The IFR (International Federation of Robotics) estimates that by 2018, one-third of all the industrial robots installed worldwide will be in China and said, "China is engaged on a historically unprec...
Blue River Technology, Jibo and others get holiday funding
Frank Tobe
18 Dec 2015
Jibo got $16 million from Asian VCs to enable Jibo to speak and sell in Japan and China, while Blue River Technology got $17 million from a group of agricultural VCs to expand product development to n...
Autonomous mobile additive manufacturing robot runs circles around traditional 3D printers
Harvard SEAS
18 Dec 2015
By Adam Zewe | SEAS
3D printing is revolutionizing the way objects are created, from plastic toys to ceramic dental crowns. But the seemingly boundless possibilities of 3D printing technology have ...
SVR Case Studies: Introduction to service robotics
Andra Keay and Silicon Valley Robotics
17 Dec 2015
Robotics is finally stepping out of science fiction and into service, if not in our homes, then at least in our hotels, hospitals, restaurants, warehouses, hardware stores and other retail outlets. Th...
BCG study finds that reshoring with robots works
Frank Tobe
10 Dec 2015
Two important findings from Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG) recent survey of US manufacturing executives: (1) Of those who plan to add capacity, most plan to do so in the US, and (2) a rising perc...
Free global list of robot-related business and edu/research facilities exceeds 4K entries
Frank Tobe
08 Dec 2015
The Robot Report has been compiling and vetting companies that manufacture robots or are directly involved in their making since 2008. Today that list has exceeded 4,000 manufacturers, integrators,...
Robotics fundings and acquisitions: October/November
Frank Tobe
30 Nov 2015
This October and November saw ten more fundings of robotic companies (47 so far in 2015), two more acquisitions (bringing the 2015 total to 27), and an important strategic partnership. Recaps below....
Robots at #ERW2015: From imagination to market
Adriana Hamacher
27 Nov 2015
[clear]
Bridging the gap between cutting-edge research in academia and the vibrant robotics startup ecosystem is no easy task. This Wednesday in the UK city of Bristol, a free public event titled ...
Case study shows new roles for robots in today’s economy
Andra Keay and Silicon Valley Robotics
18 Nov 2015
Robots are starting to move out of the factory and into more common use as a service industry, where they work alongside people in places that range from the warehouse to the supermarket. Along the w...
6 predictions, 9 stocks, a revolution, an apocalypse, and killer robots – oh my!
Frank Tobe
11 Nov 2015
A new 300-page research report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Robot Revolution – Global Robot & AI Primer, and to a lesser extent BSG's report: Man and Machine in Industry 4.0, make for in...
Robots in Depth: Andra Keay on opportunities and challenges for startups
Per Sjöborg and Robots in Depth
10 Nov 2015
Robots in Depth is a new video series featuring interviews with researchers, entrepreneurs, VC investors, and policy makers in robotics, hosted by Per Sjöborg. In this interview, Andra Keay, directo...
