As someone who has been out of work in the past few years, I have first hand experience with the subject. Let me offer a couple of observations. Government is not the answer. Anytime government gets involved there is a very high risk that money will get spent and nothing will change. Remember stimulus 1? […]
911 Ten Years After
New York City is my home. I walked those streets when I was young. I will not forget what happened there. Nor will any American who lived during the worst attack on American soil. It was an act of war. How have we responded? The new towers are well along in construction. I didn’t expect […]
Yaskawa Porting ROS to Robot Line
Southwest Research Institute porting Willow Garage’s Open Source ROS Robotic Operating System to Yaskawa line of Motoman robots. Work to be done by Q1 2012. “The next step for industrial robotics is to be more sensor aware; to be able to accomodate the many new capabilities showing up in the service sector. It’s clear that…
“ROS Everywhere!” says Willow Garage’s Steve Cousins
Pieter Abbeel was one of this year’s MIT Technology Review 35 Innovators Under 35 (TR 35) award winners as was Brian Gerkey of Willow Garage. Pieter and his team at UC Berkeley programmed a robot to learn how to perform tasks such as folding laundry without detailed instructions. Brian oversees development of the Willow Garage open…
PerkinElmer acquires Caliper Life Sciences for $600 million
Both companies design, produce and market lab automation robots. Sale will be finalized in two months.
IFR Says Robots Did Well In 2010
Industrial robot sales almost doubled compared to 2009 – to $5.7 billion – with the auto and electronics industries as the main drivers.The IFR expects China to become the world’s largest market for robots by 2014. For the first time, global sales to the electronics sector surpassed those to the auto industry. An additional $3.6…
Energy Policy and Industry
Energy is the #2 cost in many companies. During a statistical analysis of energy use by plant location in the 10 county Houston metropolitan area I found incredible amounts of energy required by manufacturers. Stuff that you wouldn’t necessary think of until you start breaking down the details. Cooking raw sugar and turning it into […]
Win $25,000 for Healthcare Robotics Invention
Carnegie Melon University (CMU), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Robotics Technology Consortium (RTC) and the Innovation Accelerator (IA) are all working together to organize and host a contest to find new ventures with “big idea” robotic systems in healthcare and for quality of life. Top five winners each get $5,000 and the grand prize…
Robotic Technology for Treating Hair Loss Gets $41 Million
Restoration Robotics, Inc received clearance from the FDA in April for it's ARTAS® System for harvesting hair follicles from the scalp in men. It combines an image-guided robotic arm, special imaging technologies, small dermal punches, and a computer interface to identify and harvest individual follicular units – and it does it less painfully, with shorter…
Complete Control
Torque is equal to current when it comes to electric motors. When sizing the motor and drive circuit, the discussion usually revolves (pun intended) around the torque of acceleration. This is because the torque required to accelerate the load is generally the largest component of the load requirement. However, there are two aspects to the […]
Foxconn to deploy 1,000,000 robots by 2014
Foxconn is planning to up their factory robot count to 300,000 by 2012 and 1 million by 2014. A Taiwanese contract manufacturer with factories in Taiwan, China, Vietnam and Indonesia, Foxconn employs 1.2 million workers, 400,000 of which work on iPad, iPhone and other Apple products. Read story in Christian Science Monitor. Combining low-cost skilled…
Defense Robots for Land, Air and Sea
The just-ended AUVSI convention showcased military/defense technology – including a Chinese-made drone. Good pics from the Wall Street Journal.
Free Stanford online course in AI
Artificial Intelligence is the science of making software that reasons about the world around it. Humanoid robots, Google Goggles, self-driving cars, music you might like to hear suggesting software, are all examples of AI. The class will be taught by two of the leaders in the field, Peter Novig and Sebastian Thrun. Dr. Norvig is…
Torque and Motion
Torque isn’t just torque when we’re talking about motion control. It’s another one of those subtleties of the field of mechatronics that requires consideration when you are doing a new project. With retrofits there are different rules. It is possible to use the motor as a sensor by monitoring the current over time which […]
US Army Testing 4 Rugged UGVs in Afghanistan
Lockheed Martin’s rugged UGV has a range of 125 miles (201 km), carries up to half a ton of cargo, and has three control options: supervised autonomy, tele-operation or manual operation.
DoD Orders Just Keep Coming
AeroVironment receives $65 million for Puma unmanned aircraft systems. iRobot receives $14.1 million from US Navy and $7.4 million from US Army. ReconRobotics gets $5.8 million for Scout and pole-bots.
Willow Garage’s PR2 Robot Loses Arm and $80,000
To enable more scientists, educators and engineers to explore the capabilities of a personal service robot, Willow Garage launched a new one-armed PR2 for $200,000. It includes an open source operating system (ROS) and a Kinect device and new sensor suite.
Unmanned Agricultural Tractors Gaining Momentum
Row-crop equipment manufacturer Kinze hooked up a Jaybridge Robotics driverless kit to a John Deere tractor pulling a grain cart and integrated it so that the unmanned tractor and cart pull alongside a harvester, receive a load while moving, drive to a staging area to drop the cart and get a new one and then…
Timely Robotics-Related Research Reports Hit The Market
Expensive but comprehensive research reports covering most aspects of the robotics industry: components, healthcare and medical, defense, security, surveillance, industrial, personal and exoskeletons, prostheses and optical sensory devices. ABI Research offers cluster package of reports covering all aspects of the industry. Research and Markets just released their Global UAV Market Analysis for 2011-2021. Market Research…
Shopping tablet guides you thru store, discounts and alternatives
Korea’s largest telecom provider SK Telecom is funding a tablet-enabled grocery shopping cart trial. It matches a smartphone purchase list app to a tablet affixed to the cart and, while you move around the store, tells you where your items are, data about the product, discounts and alternatives.
China’s Mammoth Intro to Robotics
by Frank Tobe and Manoj Sahi According to Xinhua, the official press agency of the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Taiwanese technology giant Foxconn will deploy 1 million robots over the next three years to improve efficiency and reduce labor for tasks better suited to a robot. The robots will be used…
Progress? or What?
Where is the line between art and technology? Design is how we respond to a need. Part of that response is functional, technically oriented, part of that response is aesthetic and subjective. Great design comes from extraordinary solutions that embody the deep knowledge and understanding combined with great aesthetic aspects that make the solution appealing […]