By Rachel Greenberg**, AutomationGT Edited by Frank Tobe, The Robot Report Three humanoid robots (sitting) and their human counterparts. Photo: Gadgets & Gizmos Show At present, the development and creation of humanoid robots accounts for only a small part of the robotics industry, yet humanoid robots capture the imagination in a particular way and…
A pragmatic spin on the “uncanny valley” theory
One of the most talked about theories in robotics is Professor Masahiro Mori's uncanny valley – the graph he developed from his experiences with various types of arm/hand prosthetics and coverings. Rachel Greenberg, a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and a writer of technical and marketing content for Automation GT in Carlsbad, CA, contributed this commonsensical…
Make time for these informative (and cool) videos
This wide-ranging group of robotics-related videos are worth watching. Set aside some time, make sure you have a hi-speed connection, and watch them. They range from cool to informative to downright scary. Cool! KMel Robotics – the spinoff from the GRASP Labs of the U of Penn – and Kurtis Films, have a new video…
Manufacturing and IT
Information Technology (IT) gets a lot of respect. Historically most large businesses have an established annual budget for the IT Department. This is often because the business view of IT is really a catch-all for several activities. IT is responsible for internal communications within a company. Mid- to large size companies rely on the IT […]
Make it smart; make it here!
Make it smart and make it here! These are the rallying words heard around the world regarding keeping jobs in-country and manufacturing smarter, more efficiently, and less costly. In the EU, the EU-funded SMErobotics program and the Fraunhofer Institute have been developing, and aiding in commercializing, robotic technologies to augment the skills and productivity of…
Recent Robotics-related IPOs
Since late November, 2013 there have been three robotic companies that have gone public: Medtech, Ekso Bionics and Cyberdyne. Ekso Bionics Holdings (OTCBB:EKSO): In an alternative public offering in January, 2014, Ekso Bionics, a Delaware corporation headquartered in Richmond, California became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ekso Bionics Holdings, a Nevada corporation. The new holding company…
More Internet Things
The Internet of Things is “the Cloud”. The notion that every sensor imaginable will eventually be connected to processing and storage resources by an embedded Internet/micro-controller will require an expansion of Internet server farms by several orders of magnitude. Just as video-on-demand forced Internet bandwidth to increase by 100 times, the Internet-of-Things will force even […]
#Robots14 event “From Imagination to Market” is itself imaginative
An adage in tech funding is, “It's not what you know, it's who you know?” Aaron Horowitz (left) and Hannah Chung (in the bear suit on the right) boost that concept – and their visibility – by wearing bear suits resembling their teddy bear robot Jerry to conferences. It certainly raises their Klout score. Networking and follow-up are paramount…
Travel Planning: May/June Robotics Events Calendar
May and June are busy months for robotic events. Some take extra time to get visas, tickets and coordinate with friends and associates. Here are the main events: AUVSI's Unmanned Systems Conference and trade show, May 12-15, Orlando, FL More than 100 tech sessions, panels and workshops Cutting edge products and technology from more than…
Xconomy Robo Madness
From left: Devdutt Yellurkar, Partner, Charles River Ventures; Aydin Senkut, Managing Director, Felicis Ventures; Peter Hebert, Managing Partner, Lux Capital; Frank Tobe, Editor, The Robot Report and Co-founder, Robo-Stox LLC; and Rich Mahoney, Director, Robotics Program, SRI International and moderator of panel on “Who's Investing in Robotics, and Why?” The 2014 Xconomy Forum: Robo Madness,…
ECA Group acquires UAV copter maker Infotron for $10 million
Groupe Gorgé, via their subsidiary ECA S.A., has acquired French UAV copter provider Infotron for €2.5 million and 375,000 shares of ECA – a combined value of around $10 million. The acquisition supplements ECA's line of unmanned underwater and aerial devices and systems with a proven line of mini helicopter-type vertical takeoff drones. Infotron has patented…
Wrap-up of UAV news
Google acquires Titan Aerospace for $60 million; Facebook acquires Ascenta for $20 million; Groupe Gorgé, through ECA, acquires Infotron for $10 million and the Navy is building a new UAV center. Here’s a wrap-up of these and other UAV stories in the news: ALREADY REPORTED ON THE ROBOT REPORT: Titan Aerospace sells to Google for $60…
Titan Aerospace sells again — this time to Google
Early in March of this year TechCrunch reported that Facebook was in talks to acquire Titan Aerospace, a UAV start-up that makes solar-powered aerial robots that can fly for up to five years without needing to land. Forbes said that the sale price was likely to be $60 million. Later in March, Facebook announced that…
Internet of Things
The term “Internet of Things” was not unfamiliar to me, but I did not really comprehend the potential until a seminar at Advantech almost 3 years ago. Apparently Advantech senior management in Singapore had a great appreciation for the potential that IoT presents for suppliers of industrial control technology. Sometimes the future of manufacturing is […]
Filling in the puzzle pieces of Willow Garage and Savioke
People say the darndest things! And some of those statements add to the puzzle that is Willow Garage. PUZZLE PIECE #1: At last week's Xconomy Robo Madness event, we heard Willow Garage (WG) founder (and principal funder) Scott Hassan say that Willow Garage was alive and well and perhaps would focus on climate change and other…
Miki Pulley Introduces The BXR Spring Applied Brake To The US Market
Miki Pulley is introducing their BXR Spring Applied Brakes for direct sale to OEM’s in North America. The BXR safety brake may serve as an emergency brake, as well as a holding brake. Its unique, low profile design is 2/3 the thickness of other brakes in our lineup. In addition to saving space, weight is […]
Miki Pulley Introduces The BXR Spring Applied Brake To The US Market
Miki Pulley is introducing their BXR Spring Applied Brakes for direct sale to OEM’s in North America. The BXR safety brake may serve as an emergency brake, as well as a holding brake. Its unique, low profile design is 2/3 the thickness of other brakes in our lineup. In addition to saving space, weight is […]
Fixing Wind Power Gearboxes
Two new articles were published on gearbox and bearing failures in wind power turbines in the last couple of weeks. One in Power Transmission Magazine, March 2014 and one in Windpower Engineering & Development magazine, February 2014. Two completely different groups of people, both examining the same phenomenon. I find this to be an […]
Smart robot with a hot hand: Welding gets more profitable
Automated welding for small and medium-sized job shops.
Intuitive Surgical upgrades da Vinci surgical system and recalls tools used by them
Intuitive Surgical announced FDA clearance and US introduction of their new da Vinci Xi Surgical System which has a movable overhead architecture rather than the fixed floor-mounted existing systems. “The new overhead architecture means that multi-quadrant surgery can be performed without repositioning the system, an innovation long sought by surgeons,” said Gary Guthart, Intuitive CEO.…
Consumer AI devices entering the marketplace
Talking mobile personal robots in our homes such as the robot seen in the movie “Robot and Frank” may be in our future but they don’t presently exist except in research labs around the world. Recently however, many new artificial intelligence breakthroughs, hi-speed Cloud services, and software apps for speech recognition and processing are enabling new…
Apple buys UK speech recognition firm Novauris to help improve Siri
Voice recognition is a timely science not only because of all the human-automobile communication offered by the car companies, but also by smart devices and their growing use of voice interfaces. It won't be long until we operate many of our appliances by voice command. Most present-day offerings require you to follow a menu, a…