The following article by Frank Tobe, editor and publisher of The Robot Report, first appeared on Robohub.org in their special focus series: High-risk / High-reward. Often funding sources – the groups taking the risk – are not the beneficiaries of the rewards of the venture. Intuitive Surgical and Rethink Robotics are two examples. NSF, DARPA and…

By Frank Tobe, Editor and Publisher, The Robot Report UPDATED: 5-24-13 Jury finds Intuitive NOT GUILTY. Scroll to end to see details. One of robotics’ biggest stars, Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG), and their da Vinci robotic surgical systems, is receiving a lot of unfavorable media attention – including a 4-part “exposé” by MSNBC – because: A…

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…

By Frank Tobe, Editor and Publisher The Robot ReportA copy of this article also appeared on RoboticsTomorrow.com,IT Business Net, A New Domain Net and ECN Magazine.  “Pure play” is an investment term that refers to a company which is exclusively focused on a particular product or service. An investor buys stock in pure play companies…