The robot in Carl’s Jr’s new ad is a symbol for the evil, alien machines that bread other chicken patties before they’re frozen. Stephen Colbert does a schtick about Robo-Slackers” — skip forward to 3:26 to see the bit. Humor aside, robots ARE involved in food processing and packaging. It’s a rising area of robotics.…
Units of Measure
My first semester of physics was a disaster. I really didn’t get it. The basic forces of motion made sense, but I always had difficulty solving the problems. I was interpreting all sorts of other issues that weren’t really solving the problem in question. A major lesson that I came away with was imparted during […]
Pres. Obama Approves $70 million for Robotics; STEM Problem Not Addressed
NSF, NASA, NIH and the Dept of Agriculture to provide $70 million to support research in next generation robots that will work closely with human operators, allowing new ability for factory workers, healthcare providers, soldiers, surgeons and astronauts to carry out key hard-to-do tasks. The overall goal is to foster “co-robots” that work closely with people.…
Priorities Continued
Its tough enough getting a new piece of machinery built and working. Turning out the same product reliably can be a challenge. Even something as simple as a V belt becomes a lot more complicated when you have to turn parts out by the thousands or tens of thousands. Getting it done on time and […]
Tough Transition from Industrial to Consumer/Service Robotics
Will big industrial robot makers such as ABB, Fanuc and Kuka, transition and begin making products for the consumer and service markets? I’m beginning to think not. And here are a few of my reasons: I’ve been impressed by the possibilities for power companies to reduce costs and expand safety and efficiency by adapting robots…
News from various blogs:
Google and Android team up with iRobot and their AVA platform to add tablet and apps to AVA. [Robotland] U.S. Senator calls robot projects wasteful. Robots call Senator wasteful. [IEEE Spectrum Automaton] Great video about a new Japanese ball-copter — better than Parrot’s AR.Drone. [Everything-Robotic] The Datron Scout UAV is a military version of the…
U.S. research dollars keep flowing
U.S. DoD to spend $41.7 billion on unmanned aerial vehicles and systems in 2012-2014 (that’s $13.9 billion per year!) says research firm focused on the aerospace/defense sector. Defense spending towers over venture capital investments, eg: – Aldebaran Robotics (of Nao fame) raised $13 million from Intel Capital, CDC Innovation, iSource and Crédit Agricole Private Equity…
Kiva Systems starts rental program
Good idea justs keeps getting better. Kiva Systems launches rental program to help businesses with high peak or seasonal demand.
Coolest of the Cool – New Japanese Ball Drone
Just when we mastered our AR.Drone – playing games and taking pictures and videos of our flights – along comes a new Japanese entry: a spherical reconnaissance scout – with a single engine and eight movable “wings.” The drone can do 40 mph and is a lot of fun to boot. Over 1 million people…
The Critical Next Step In Robotics: AI
Thus far, the biggest hitch in the development of commercially feasible and consumer-friendly robots is not the robotic devices themselves, but the artificial intelligence that manages their activities and communicates with their users and managers. Andrew Ng, an Associate Professor at Stanford U’s AI Lab, made a wonderfully illuminating 16-minute video about the problems and…
Priorities and Projects
Getting one’s priorities in order is a big subject. It’s the big subject that we try to wrestle through in the political arena. What will we choose, as a nation, to spend money on? What do we, as individuals, choose to spend money on? Judging from the consumer electronics show, we still like our electronic […]
New robo thriller book – movie coming
New scifi thriller Robopocalypse receiving rave reviews and comments by Stephen King, Clive Cussler and Lincoln Child. Wired Magazine review. Movie rights sold to Stephen Spielberg and big-budget movie is scheduled for 2013.
3D Printing Going Mainstream
Recent examples of 3D printing include intricate meshed titanium gloves and plastic bikinis. Apple had to use prototyping 3D printers from Japan because it couldn’t manufacture a critical iPad part in time. All sorts of apps – in the UK they’re remaking wing parts in lighter titanium because every pound lightened saves $2,000 in annual…
UC Berkeley Student Team Solving Laundry Problem With Robots
The difficulties of loading a hamper of dirty clothes into a washer, transferring it to a dryer, removing and then folding all the different types of clothing and undergarments is a desired app for a home robot – and one being attempted by a whole class of robotic students at UC Berkeley using a WillowGarage…
Got $3,000 and a lot of trust?
RoboDynamics launches Luna – an as-yet not-described telepresence and personal robot. The first 1,000-unit production run, due in Q4, will sell for $3,000 apiece. Wonderful design and pictures but an awful video. At recent Google Developer Conference, iRobot’s AVA was displayed using ROSJava on an Android tablet and compared to Luna, BiliBot and others. Interesting…
Motion Control Teaching and Language
I was recently asked to help provide teaching resources on motors and motor control. There is a lot of material floating around due to the increased interest in Mechatronics at a number of universities around the country. However, there seems to be no consistency in what is taught and how it is taught. This […]
Smaller bomb-carrying drones being readied for combat
Citing one of the few growing areas of the DoD’s budget, drones – excluding robotic weapons development spending – represents $4.6 billion, and is focusing on cheaper, smaller UAVs “to wage war in the 21st Century” says a recent article in the LA Times. Raytheon, one of many vendors in this field (including AeroVironment) is…