The Japan Robot Association (JARA) and Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun host the 20th bi-ennial iREX International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo November 6-9. More than 100,000 people are expected to view over 1,100 booths from over 210 vendors. 3% of the visitors and 1/3 of the booths are expected to be from countries other than Japan. iREX…
VW launches robot that collaborates with workers
At a VW diesel engine production plant in Salzgitter, a Universal Robots UR5 robot carefully picks up delicate glow plugs and puts them into hard-to-reach drill holes. An employee is then responsible for insulating the cylinder head, which is required for the next step in production. The robot, which acts as an assistant, enables the…
iRobot’s single-pass floor-mopping robots vs O’Cedar’s cheap duster robot
iRobot recently announced their new Braava floor-mopping robot line of products. The $199 robots sweep and mop hard floors in a single pass while it navigates under and around furniture and other obstacles. The Braava is the rebranded Mint from Evolution, acquired last year by iRobot. The new Braava comes in two models: dry mop…
Time and Control
Salvador Dali had a unique perspective of time. Not sure if I understood his message, or if anyone else did for that matter. Nevertheless, time has an all-important meaning to the world of control. In particular, it is our recent ability to subdivide time to smaller and smaller intervals in modern control systems that is […]
Israeli study on robot adoption suggests new-tech solutions
A study of small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMEs) in Israel concluded that new tech robots, i.e., those which are easily trainable, relatively safe to work alongside humans, and where user-robot interaction and robot-to-robot collaboration are convenient and understandable to all, will be the easiest to incorporate for SMEs in Israel and the USA as well,…
Interesting conclusions from Israeli study on robot adoption
By Frank Tobe, editor/publisher, The Robot Report In a joint research study by Israel-based RoboLogics Ltd. and the Israeli Manufacturers Association, 72% of respondents considered that their processes were suitable for robotics automation. However, 66% cited complexity and lack of familiarity with the technology as one of the main reasons for NOT having implemented robots…
25 Russian Companies Added to The Robot Report’s Global Map of Robot Providers
Susan McFarland, of robotguide, a site providing a guide to personal robots, compiled a list of Russian robotics companies which we vetted and posted to our Global Map of Robot Providers. 25 new Russian robot companies were added to our existing database of Russian robotics companies: 38% startups (of which 2/3 are companies building robots…
Russian Robotics Companies
By Susan McFarlane, robotguide, the guide to personal robots Most Russian robotics companies are clustered in north-western Russia, i.e., in St. Petersburg and Moscow, which corresponds to the main business and financial centers of the federation. The Russian Federation has a traditional and strong history in science and engineering. These days that pool of learning…
Remaining Willow Garage employees move to Suitable Technologies
In a surprising move, Scott Hassan, CEO of Suitable Technologies, and previous CEO of Willow Garage, has hired most of the remaining employees of Willow Garage leaving only a support staff for their PR2 robots at Willow. Suitable Technologies’ Beam costs $16,000. The new employees will further product development, sales and customer support for the…
National Instruments – NI Week 2013
National Instruments annual get together is just recently over. It was awesome, as always. Lots of really cool demonstrations of the technology, lots of new technology to talk about. Generally, I think of large companies in terms of their market share and whether or not there is future growth potential. Before NI Week I might […]
Funding News:
Neato Robotics – the NJ-based competitor with iRobot’s Roomba vacuum cleaner – raised $14 million in new funding from two VC firms. In 2012, Neato raised $12.2 from two different VC companies. PrecisionHawk closed an undisclosed-amount of A-round equity funding led by Bob Young (co-founder of Red Hat) and Innovate Indiana, the VC fund of…
Electric Designs Go for a Win
by Steve Meyer, Contributing Editor Mechatronic challenges come in all shapes and sizes. In the field of motorcycle racing, electric superbikes represent a whole new set of challenges for motor and drive technology. In the industrial arena, electric motor and drive technology has dramatically advanced machinery performance in many applications. High speed assembly of printed […]
National Geographic uses AGVs and drones for photo story about lions
Once again National Geographic photographers have used innovative techniques to capture amazing images. Remember the polar bear cam in 2011 that got crushed by the curious bear as he examined and stepped on it? This time photo journalist Michael Nichols used camouflaged SuperDroid Robots‘ AGVs and quiet drones to capture the lives of lions on…
Electric Cars Part 2
Can electric cars break out of the niche product segment? The big question has been answered; “Can it be done?” Yes electric cars are feasible in the 21st century. Which only means that it’s been 100 year development cycle since the introduction of the electric car by Porsche and others at the turn of the […]
CSAIL demos two robots assembling IKEA furniture
At last week’s White House Google+ Hangout, Daniela Rus, the director of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), demonstrated two robots working together to assembly a piece of IKEA furniture. “All of this is done autonomously without any human intervention,” Rus explained. The bots work from the furniture product’s CAD file and then…
China’s 5-Year Plan targets robotics as a growth industry
China’s 12th 5-Year Plan targeted robotics as a growth industry necessary for China’s development. It expects a compound growth rate of 25%, said Wang Weiming, deputy director of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The ministry has set up incentives and 5 geographical areas for Chinese companies to develop (and improve the quality of)…
White House hosts Google+ Hangout; NASDAQ gets new ETF targeting robotics & automation
Leading roboticists talked about their recent projects and what inspired them to become involved with robotics at a White House hosted Google+ Hangout Friday. The event was covered by many media including the Washington Post. Participants in the mostly online chat included Vijay Kumar, Tom Kalil, John Green, Rodney Brooks, Daniela Rus, Matt Mason, Robin…
To achieve long-term success, you have to manage for the long term
“To achieve long-term success, you have to manage for the long term.” Samuel Palmisano, Chairman, President and CEO, IBM Long-term thinking is a process we should but don’t do for various reasons. Very few governments make long-term planning a priority. China is an exception. [The sciences of robotics need long-term planning and funding for their development,…
Volt versus Tesla
Lots of press about the amazing Tesla story, which is still emerging. Even General Motors is sitting up and taking notice. In the first quarter of 2013, Tesla received orders for 3500 of their Model S luxury sedans that are pure battery electrics. They start at a hefty $69,000, and at that price they […]
Talking robot sent into space
Kirobo, a 13″ humanoid robot, was launched today and is on its way to the International Space Station. A mashup of the Japanese word for hope, “Kibo”, and “robot”, Kirobo is designed to be a companion and communicator for Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata who is expected to arrive at the space station later this year.…