My New Year’s resolution for 2013: Make Better Motion. It’s always been part of my makeup when doing motion control projects. Come up with the most cost effective, highest performing and, whenever possible, most innovative solution possible. Not innovation for it’s own sake, but innovation that adds value to the customer’s business. Reduce scrap parts […]
Christmas Mechatronics
Santa, I want an Arduino experimenter’s kit, a power board module and some stepping motors under the tree for Christmas. Clearly there is something wrong with me. But how else are we going to learn this stuff? Experimenter’s boards, development boards or sometimes known as “design kits”, are how manufacturers help designers sample and evaluate […]
Lots of robots at CES, January 10-13 in Las Vegas
Many new vendors selling robotic consumer products at this year’s show. Robstep showing off their Segway-like devices; iRobot with their floor and pool cleaner bots and AVA platform; lots of toys; even IEEE and their new iPad app about robots have a booth. ECOVACS‘ Winbot window cleaning robot (shown above) is getting a lot of…
More $$ for surgical snake
Medrobotics, previously CardioRobotics, just completed a $32 million series D round of financing to help finalize commercializing the first surgical snake robot, co-invented by Howie Choset, a CMU professor. The Flex Robotic System will enable hospitals and surgeons to expand their offering of single-site access, visualization and treatment options. With this round of funding, Medrobotics…
InformationWeek’s Top 10 robots that could change healthcare
Mobile remote-presence robots by Giraff, Anybots and InTouch Health for critical and remote care consultations and communication. Mobile platforms by Aethon, iRobot and Swisslog for various hospital applications from hauling laundry to distributing pills. Therapy bots by AnthroTronix and others to help with autistic children, stroke victims and other disabled people that need interactive therapy.…
Optimizing Motion Control
Decades of effort have gone into methods of improving servomotor control. There are many contributing factors that result in better products. Better feedback devices give the controller chips that manage the voltage and current to the motor winding a higher resolution basis for the management of power between the amplifier and motor. These are critical […]
Unmanned Vehicle University Accredited To Grant Doctorate and Masters Degrees
Unmanned Vehicle University just received an Arizona state license to grant Graduate Doctorate and Masters Degrees in Unmanned (Air / Ground / Sea / Space) Systems Engineering. The Arizona school also offers UAV pilot training, online courses, and Project Management Certificates for undergraduates.
2012 Holiday Selection of Robotic Gifts and Books
For gifts and toys, click here. For robotics-related books, click here.
The patent grip loosens
VGo Communications wins infringement lawsuit brought on by InTouch Health and also initiated a patent reexamination of four other InTouch patents. The court’s decision is a bigger subject than just InTouch vs. VGo. At a recent conference on remote presence telemedicine the most enlightening thing I saw was four hours of tightly-packed presentations by critical…
Critical Actuator Technology
In the emerging economy there is a critical dependency on linear actuator technology. Not just linear actuators, but linear actuators that give high performance at low cost. I am intentionally vague on the performance. Performance can mean many things. For heavy machinery and forestry industry machinery, hydraulic actuators with high force and high power density […]
Robots and reshoring in the US
In an opinion piece in the NY Times, Paul Krugman cites a report about the growing evidence of “reshoring” of manufacturing. The principle reasons are rising wages in Asia; lower energy costs in the US; higher transportation costs; and robots. The report concludes that since labor costs don’t matter that much since most of the…
The patent grip loosens
by Frank Tobe, Editor and Publisher, The Robot Report VGo Communications wins infringement lawsuit brought on by InTouch Health and also initiates a patent reexamination of four other InTouch patents. InTouch Health’s newest robot, RP-VITA and VGo Communications VGo. InTouch Health, a company that has been providing remote presence services to the medical…
SwRI and ROS-Industrial making progress on 5th anniversary of ROS
In 2011, Motoman USA partnered with SwRI (Southwest Research Institute) to enable ROS software to be available to Motoman users. “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 is able to handle…
More on Motors
Motor requirements fall into two general categories; 1) the load requirement and 2) the environmental requirements. Frequently it is the latter, the environmental requirements, that create problems. Load requirements can usually be dealt with based on a few primary parameters; speed, torque and duty cycle. Speed and torque are pretty obvious. he duty cycle […]
Progress report on eldercare robots
Nine years ago robotics pioneer Joseph Engelberger described an eldercare assistive robot that would work in a home at a cost of $1.25 per hour. It would fetch things, remind and provide medications, provide security and communication and many other services and tasks. Nine years later there is no such robot. Why is that? And…
Researching Robotics Is Getting Easier
New app “IEEE Spectrum ROBOTS,” not only provides news but has an extensive detailed section for current-day robots of all types: from exoskeletons to remote presence; from military transport to Google self-driving car; from Keepon and Paro to Asimo. For each there are specs, factoids, builder name and cost and interesting graphics and videos. There…
1,000 Robot Makers!
By Frank Tobe, Editor and Publisher, The Robot Report Click to explore the map. Well… actually 1,070. Presented on this map are 1,050 robot manufacturers and the top 20 robotics universities and research facilities. Every type of company; every facet of the industry; most industrialized countries of the world are represented. From big companies like…
Interactive Map of Global Robot Providers
200+ industrial robot makers (red markers); 600+ service robot providers (blue markers) and 170+ start-up companies (green markers) covering 37 countries around the world. Clusters can be seen surrounding the top 20 robotics universities and research labs (shown in yellow). Details here. Map here.
Electric Motors
Electric motors are central to the industrial age. They are literally the replacement technology for the “work horse” of the 19th century. Which is probably where the term “work horse” came from in the first place. And when it comes to units of measure, we think about the electric motor in terms of horsepower. […]
Recent funding for robotics companies
MAKO Surgical gets $43 million from the sale of common stock. MAKO produces a robotic orthopedic surgical platform for implant placement. MAKO’s stock (NASDAQ:MAKO) has had a dramatic downward ride from a high of $45 to it’s present $14 because of missed revenue and earnings projections. Revolve Robotics, a San Francisco start-up with a remote…
VGo Gets Funding to Scale Up for Healthcare
VGo Communications received $900,000 debt financing to help the company scale up and focus on providing remote presence for the healthcare industry. They’ve changed their website to present the various ways that VGo robots can be useful in hospitals, with visiting nurses, as a post-op communication device and for medically home-bound students. VGo has taken…
Furby translator now available with an iPhone application
Hasbro has enhanced their successful Furby toy from years past with a combination of interactive programming and robotic engineering. The updated Furby includes a free Furby app to virtually feed Furby and translate Furbish into English. Watch the video.