The Yutong self-driving bus hit a top speed of 68 km/h, passed 26 traffic lights and was able to change lanes without any problem.
Meet Cannybots: 3D Printable Robot Cars Blowing Up on Kickstarter
Cannybots are 3D printable, open source Bluetooth-enabled cars that can be controlled using tablets, smartphones, and a Raspberry Pi.
Market for Medical Robotics Hits Growth Spurt
Auris Surgical Robotics and XACT Robotic raise millions, while TransEnterix and Omnicell make strategic buys.
Why 10 more robotics companies were acquired
At last week’s RoboBusiness Conference and Expo in San Jose, there was much gossip, discussion and head scratching regarding the two most recent acquisitions of robot companies: Adept Technologies by Omron and Universal Robots by Teradyne. Everyone asked why. Many questioned the business sense of the deals. And others asked why there were so many…
Magnetics
It is said that Einstein began his inquiry into relativity as a teenager working in his father’s electric motor shop because the Maxwell and Gauss equations did not adequately explain the difference between a motor and a generator. Whew! If it took Einstein to explain the difference, where does that put the rest of us? […]
Five Things We Learned at RoboBusiness 2015
This year’s RoboBusiness in San Jose was our eleventh gathering of robotics researchers, makers, investors, and users. See what one newbie found out from panelists and exhibitors.
Rethink Robotics finally gets their mojo
Rethink Robotics displayed their new single-armed Sawyer robot at the RoboBusiness Conference and Expo in San Jose. It was Sawyer’s first public showing and the crowd of over 1,600 was paying attention. Sawyer was running a machine tending application that required opening and closing a door and snapping pieces into place – tasks electronics manufacturers regularly…
10 Game-Changing Robots Honored at RoboBusiness
A look at the winners of the 2015 Game Changer Awards, honoring the robotics industry’s remarkable technical accomplishments and their makers.
16 Robotics Startups to Watch
Pitchfire, the “Shark Tank” of robotics, gives 16 startups two minutes to tell a live panel of judges and attendees how their product will be a disruptive technology. Here’s a sneak peek at each finalist.
Five Ways for Robotics to Save California
Disaster relief, agriculture, industrial automation, and traffic reduction are just some of the areas where robotics applications can help the Golden State thrive.
“Cognitive computing will be to computing what transaction processing is today”
In less than 10 years the volume of our business computing will change from transaction processing to cognition processing. So said IBM’s Robert High in his keynote talk at RoboBusiness. This is an important enough trend to stimulate IBM to put over $1 billion into their Watson group – a group working on healthcare, legal…
Robo Wunderkind Programmable Robot Kit Launches on Kickstarter
Robo Wunderkind is compatible with LEGO blocks and connects to Android and iOS devices via Bluetooth. Once children have mastered the basics of coding, they can move on to program their robot with Scratch, a programming language for kids developed at MIT.
Intel Invests $67M in China Tech Firms
Intel Corp.’s investment arm is spending $67 million in eight Chinese technology companies in the hope of building an ecosystem for its processors.
Design
We are surrounded by it. Most often we associate design with graphics or web design, but it’s much more inclusive. The spaces we live in are the result of architectural design. Our furniture and surrounds are interior design. How we move around is transportation and mobility design of everything from cars, boats, planes, down to bicycles, […]
1,407 FAA exemptions for UAS
In May, 2014, the FAA began accepting petitions for exemptions to operate UAS commercially in civilian airspace. As of Sept.1, 2015, 1,407 of 2,650 petitions have been approved. Congress mandated an August 2014 deadline for integration of small UAS into the National Airspace System and a September 2015 deadline for integration of all UAS — timeframes the…
This Rock-Paper-Scissors Robot Has Never Lost to a Human
Janken the rock-paper-scissors robot uses high-speed vision to, in one millisecond, recognize what its opponent will throw and counter with a winning move. Essentially, before you’ve even thrown rock, paper or scissors, the robot has already beaten you.
WiFi-Enabled Roomba 980 is iRobot’s Smartest Robot Vacuum Ever
iRobot’s new Roomba 980 robot vacuum is the first to combine adaptive navigation with visual localization, which allows the robot vacuum to map your floors and clean them on its own. The Roomba 980 also is iRobot’s first cloud-connected consumer robot, allowing users to connect, manage, and monitor it through iRobot’s new HOME App on Android and iOS devices.
Uber Gives CMU $5.5M to Rebuild Self-Driving Research
After hiring away 40 researchers from CMU, Uber is giving the school $5.5 million as it faces increasing competition and questions around self-driving cars.
Chris Anderson’s Plan to Save the Drone Industry
Chris Anderson, co-founder and CEO of 3D Robotics, says drones can be smarter, thanks to the cloud, and can self-regulate the skies.
OMRON to acquire U.S. based Adept Technology
OMRON Corporation, a manufacturer in the field of automation based on its core sensing and control technology, and Adept Technology, Inc., a provider of intelligent robots, autonomous mobile robot solutions and services, announced that the two companies have entered into an agreement whereby OMRON will acquire Adept. OMRON plans to acquire 100% of the outstanding […]
Omron to Acquire Adept Technology for $200M
Omron is buying Adept, the largest industrial automation provider in the U.S., for $200 million. Both companies stand to gain distribution, and Adept hopes for financial stability.
Adept succumbs and sells to OMRON
When Rob Cain replaced John Dulchinos as CEO of Adept Technology in February, 2013 he was charged with restructuring the company to either make it profitable to operate or valuable as a take-over. The latter happened today when Japanese OMRON announced plans to acquire Adept for $200 million. The $200M all cash offer represents a 63%…