By Frank Tobe, Editor and Publisher, The Robot Report At the Xconomy Forum held in Palo Alto earlier this week, the focal topic was “Robots Remake the Workplace.” It was expected that the jobs issue would permeate the event… do robots take away jobs? Instead, what was evident to all in the room was that…
Stanford Robot Block Party – part of National Robotics Week
I’m always surprised when I come to Stanford. I find new companies setting up shop in the area. Ford’s new research lab wasn’t there the last time I drove by, for example. Later, when walking around Palo Alto and in a restaurant I could hear snippets of conversation that were different than most other college…
Do Industrial Robots Really Have A Positive Impact On Employment?
By Frank Tobe, Editor and Publisher, The Robot Report Source: KUKA, 1983 Do industrial robots really have a positive impact on employment? Of course they do and there are over 50 years of data proving that to be the case. There are at least 350,000 people directly employed by and in the industrial robotics industry. However, industrial…
Kickstarter, Indiegogo and Robotic Start-up Companies
By Frank Tobe, Editor and Publisher, The Robot Report Fort Mason, San Francisco. Host to the Engadget Expand event held last weekend. FormLabs’ Form 1 $3,300 hi-res 3D printer. At last weekend’s Engadget Expand event in Fort Mason, San Francisco, Kickstarter‘s co-founder Yancey Strickler started off the show with a presentation of many of Kickstarter’s…
Updated Robotics Roadmap Presented to US Congress
Henrik Christensen, the KUKA Chair of Robotics at GA Tech and Chairman of the Roadmap project, Rodney Brooks, CEO of Rethink Robotics, Pete Wurman, CTO of Kiva Systems, and Russ Angold, CTO of Ekso Bionics all presented the new Roadmap to a packed gallery of the Robotics Caucus of the US Congress. From left: Pete Wurman,…
Chris Anderson; Marc Raibert and Steven Cousins at Engadget Expand Event
“Moore’s Law has never moved faster than is moving inside the phone you’ve already got in your pocket. The pace of development and the price performance curve is moving faster in smartphones than it’s ever moved in history and we’re taking advantage by drafting off this momentum and by employing military-grade technologies at toy prices,” said Chris…
Which companies provide robotic systems to the military?
Elbit Systems’ unique VIPeR Robot My friends at Robohub.org are running a week-long series of focused stories about robotics for defense, security and surveillance purposes. In an attempt to add to the conversation, here is a list of some of the companies that produce these types of robotic devices. This list is composed of publicly-traded…
Disruptive Robotics
By Frank Tobe, Editor and Publisher, The Robot Report Catherine Mohr and her da Vinci Surgical System. On February 1st of this year, Catherine Mohr, Director of Medical Research and chief spokesperson for Intuitive Surgical (ISRG:NASDAQ), gave a talk on the campus of CMU. (Video of talk and Q&A). I watched the video wherein Mohr pointed out…
2013 Robotic Gimmicks, Gadgets and Toys
By Frank Tobe, Editor and Publisher, The Robot Report Toys often precede more serious inventions. So, putting judgement aside, and withholding laughs and other “tells”, here are some new robotic toys and gadgets hitting the market this year. Takara Tomy is introducing AutoMee, a $20 smartphone and tablet-cleaning robot, to the Japanese market in March.…
Willow Garage Changes Direction
By Frank Tobe, Editor and Publisher, The Robot Report For many years now Willow Garage has invested in open source and open platform robotics. Their goal has been a reflection of the vision of it’s founder (and chief funder) to advance the state of robotic technology in autonomous devices. And advance the state of robotics it…
Robots on TV
Verizon and GE have produced television advertisements that include robots. The ads are playing frequently and nationally. They are good, they’re being talked about and tweeted, audiences like them, and they are great promotional pieces for the robotics industry. The ads are indicative of PR and advertising agencies’ growing awareness that people are becoming at…
Automate and ProMat 2013: Crowds chose collaborative cage-free robots
Industrial Robots; Robot Arms; Cameras, Scanners and Vision Systems; Collaborative Cage-free Robots; Mobile Robots; Robot Operating Systems; Warehousing and Materials Handling; New Technologies, and Jobs By Frank Tobe, Editor and Publisher, The Robot Report There are fewer manufacturers of industrial robots than one might imagine: only a little more than 200 worldwide. Of these, less…
CBS News 60 Minutes Provides New Definition of Robots
by Frank Tobe, Editor and Publisher, The Robot Report CBS News Reporter Steve Kroft interviews Rodney Brooks at ReThink Robotics.Click on the image above to see the segment. UPDATE March 6: Many reacted to the 60 Minutes segment as it related to the subject of whether robotics takes away or adds jobs. Abstracts and links…
$100 million P-P-P suggestion for healthcare robotics
Hector, the eldercare robot, from the EU-funded Companionable Project. By Frank Tobe, Editor and Publisher, The Robot Report As the robotics industry continues to grow, enters new industries, and provides new applications, strategic focus is necessary or the overall industry will develop haphazardly and spread out around the world. It is important to remember that…
2012 Robo-Stox Wrap-up
If an enterprising firm set up a mutual fund reflecting the worldwide robotics industry, they might choose to separate their picks into three segments, which might look something like this: Industrial Robot Manufacturers Service Robot Makers of security, defense and space robots Service Robot Makers of robots for all other purposes Although I am neither…
Filling a need… or feeding a diversion
Today’s robotics industry could use some strategic guidance, particularly in the area of healthcare. By Frank Tobe, Editor and Publisher, The Robot Report It is clear to me that the next big markets for robotics are: SMEs (robot workers and co-workers in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) Medical and healthcare (nursing assistance, surgeon augmentation, operating room…
Why I’m Not Going to CES 2013
I’ve gone a few years in a row to Las Vegas CES and found it VERY interesting for trends in everything “smart,” digital and embedded, and not so interesting in terms of robotics. The auto companies have GINORMOUS displays of their in-car infotainment and embedded systems for the future and that is worth the time…
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…
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…
Eldercare Robots
Games, sensors and robots are among the tools beginning to come to market to help aging people live in their homes as long as possible. By Frank Tobe, Editor and Publisher, The Robot Report Source: BusinessWeek Magazine In December, 2003, BusinessWeek Magazine interviewed Joseph Engelberger, the robotics pioneer. The article was entitled “How Robots Lost Their…
FoxBots Being Deployed in China
Foxconn-built robot FoxBot. Source: TechWeb.com.cn Foxconn, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision (2317:TW), has begun deploying their own brand of industrial robots to their factory in Jincheng, Shanxi Province, China, according to various reports from China news sources. Shanxi Province is an area where Foxconn is partnering with local governments – spending $16…
eBee First Product From Parrot/senseFly Investment
In July, the Parrot Group partnered with senseFly, a Swiss start-up and spin-off from the Swiss EPFL, and invested $5.3 million to help senseFly grow. Their initial plan was to develop a high volume manufacturing capability and fund rapid growth and new product development. The eBee is the first such product from that venture. The…