Tenacity and technology take over at RoboBusiness’ first annual Pitchfire.
Soon Internet crowdfunding sites will let investors buy stock
Last year Congress passed Title III of the JOBS Act to allow smaller companies to get an exemption from the strict and costly rules controlling the sale of securities to individuals. The SEC has developed equity crowdfunding rules in response to that law – rules that help companies raise capital but also protect investors from…
46 robot photos you haven’t seen before
The Atlantic's online magazine has a photo piece called Robots at Work and Play. It has 32 pictures of robots in space, healthcare, public safety, entertainment, defense and more. Pictures can be seen at 1,025 or 1,280 pixels (very impressive at 1,280!). The NY Times Science section adds another 14 pictures: 5 from a slide…
Robo-Stox: A Dream Come True
By Frank Tobe, Editor and Publisher, The Robot Report Throughout my 35-year career in the computer business, I always read and thought about what disruptive technology was ahead. When I had an IBM mainframe, I was looking at the DEC mini-computers and even the stand-alone word-processors to see if they could do my work without…
Robots 2
What is it about making robots that captures our imagination? Is it the idea of having a servant to fetch beer? Pauly’s robot in Rocky IV makes it’s screen debut serving a birthday cake. I think I saw it in a Nieman Marcus catalog once for $50,000. Nice toy! Therein lies the problem. With enough […]
Selected Start-ups from Demo Fall 2013, Silicon Valley
By Frank Tobe, Editor and Publisher, The Robot Report DEMO describes itself as the launchpad for emerging technology and trends. The DEMO Fall 2013 Conference was produced by IDG, the publishing giant of Computerworld, PC World, MacWorld, etc. I went to see the 40 start-ups presenting their new products and apps, searching for anything robotic,…
5 Interesting Start-ups
Robotic startup Knightscope is attempting to augment manpower of local police and city authorities with a smart robot paired with onsight cameras, data analytics, sensors and communications to help those agencies become more productive with limited resources and automation. Read more. The following 4 startups were seen at the recent DEMO Fall 2013 Conference. Bounce…
Start-up Profile: Knightscope
By Frank Tobe, Editor and Publisher, The Robot Report What happens when you mix big data analytics, a policeman, homeland security, some funding from an insurance company and robotics? You get Knightscope, a Santa Clara, California start-up developing a mobile robot which is a part of a multi-part augmentation strategy created to meet the needs of…
Robots
Our modern word “robot” comes from the play “Rossum’s Universal Robots” by Karel Capek, from approximately 1920. The word appeared as “robota” from the Czech word loosely translated as “servant” or “forced labor, compulsory service, drudgery”. As a friend of mine from Eastern Europe put it, it could be rendered as “worky”. Our notion of the […]
Open vs. Closed Robot Systems
Industrial robots use proprietary software and control systems but whole industries have been set up to bridge those barriers so that multi-vendor solutions can happen. Bob Bauer, from Willow Garage and Colin Angle, CEO of iRobot, debated the open vs. closed debate in a spontaneous discussion last year in France and reported here on The…
Maps & Apps
Two events, from different parts of the world, on the same day and subject: geographic information systems (GIS) and global positioning systems (GPS) and the use of “layering” to map, analyze and design. Today is 4-H National Youth Science Day, and 4-H Maps & Apps will be introduced to millions of American youth to exhibit…
Open vs. Closed Robot Systems
By Frank Tobe, editor/publisher, The Robot Report To be able to choose between proprietary software packages is to be able to choose your master. Freedom means not having a master. Freedom means not using proprietary software. – Richard Stallman, open systems advocate Certainly robotics has its share of proprietary software and control systems. Each robot…
ABB, Nike and a Silicon Valley VC invest $3 million in Grabit
Grabit, a 2012 SRI International spin-off, secures $3 million in Series A funding from ABB Technology Ventures, Nike and Formation 8, a tech VC in Silicon Valley. Grabit's products include grippers and fixtures, case and box handling grippers, and smart conveyors for material handling. At the core is Grabit's patented electroadhesion-based material-handling technique – a…
Co-robots really ARE a BIG thing
UPDATE 10/06/13: CBS News highlights Baxter's $3/hr metrics in newscast showing Rethink Robotics' Baxter at work in plastics factory. 2 additional videos show how robotic startups are helping small and medium-sized shops and factories (SME's) compete in the global economy. Universal Robots' video shows a 72-person short-run metal products maker using their new UR robot…
Co-robots really ARE a BIG thing
By Frank Tobe, editor and publisher, The Robot Report UPDATED: October 6, 2013 CBS Evening News focuses on jobs aspect of deploying robots in American factories. Click to see. Small and medium shops and factories (SMEs) are an untapped marketplace for robotics and direly in need of automation to remain competitive in this global economy.…
Lost Motion – Part 2
The mechanical side of the “lost motion” problem has many complexities. To some extent mechanical systems have very defined properties which are easy to characterize. The performance of a gear box, for example, is well understood and it is usually very consistent over time. Because these systems have been around for a long time, we […]
Ship hull cleaning & inspection – ideal for robots
Harvest Automation targeted their business after reviewing the top 10 areas where low-cost and often hard-to-find labor was most needed. They chose the ag business. Boating and shipping are another market. There are close to 1,500,000 large ships in service (UNCTAD) – all of which need their hulls, tanks and ballasts cleaned and inspected regularly;…
Debates on Lost Motion
From time to time we get into discussions on accuracy in motion systems. These discussions usually end up in two general camps; higher accuracy based on the notion of zero backlash mechanisms or higher accuracy feedback devices to measure error and eliminate it electronically. These are interesting conversations because both trails are full of assumptions […]
SEDASYS robotic anesthesiologist approved by FDA
The FDA recently approved SEDASYS, a new robotic device which can automate the sedation of healthy patients having colonoscopies. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, created SEDASYS, a computer-assisted device that administers the prescription drug propofol into the bloodstream via intravenous IV infusion. The device can detect signs associated with oversedation and can automatically modify…
235 Robotic Start-ups Reviewed – from the whimsical to the amazing
235 robotic start-up companies reviewed in this reprint from article by The Robot Report published in World Robotics Service Robots 2013 by the IFR (Intl. Fed. of Robotics). From futuristic to practical, from robotic hubs and clusters to far-off places around the globe, from the whimsical to the amazing – everywhere that programmers program and…
3D Robotics gets $30 million to mainstream aerial robotics
3D Robotics, the open source unmanned aerial vehicle company headed by Chris Anderson, just got a $30 million infusion of venture funding to enable the company to “mainstream aerial robotics and surveying” by making advanced UAV technology affordable and easy to use. With a large and enthusiastic user base, 3D Robotics has begun manufacturing the…
There are mobile robots and then there’s KUKA’s MOBILE robot
At the recent Hannover Messe trade fair, KUKA displayed their concept mobile robot showing how it could work a huge turbine blade. The device consisted of a KUKA omnimove mobile platform, a KR Quantec shelf-mounted robot arm, a KR C4 controller, and an autonomous nav system. KUKA calls it E-mobility for extra large (XXL) workpieces;…