The drone never crossed the north fence line of the White House. The Secret Service detained and questioned the man flying the drone.
How Robots, Octopuses Might Revolutionize Surgery
One part of the robotic arm would gently squeeze and move around organs, while the other would perform the operation via a miniature surgical tool-kit.
ReWalk’s Stock Stumbles, But It Expands to India
Exoskeleton maker ReWalk has had problems getting insurance coverage for individuals, but some investment advisors recommend taking a longer view.
April acquisitions, equity deals and Chinese funds
Money is flowing to robotics-related startup companies. Q1 saw 19 equity deals totaling $317 million, and 3 acquisitions of undetermined amounts, but money also flowed in April. Equity deals: Airware, already the most heavily venture-backed drone company in Silicon Valley, received an undisclosed investment from Intel Capital. Airware has developed an autopilot that enables drone…
Teradyne Buys Co-Robot Maker Universal Robots for $285M
Teradyne is acquiring Universal Robots, which makes manufacturing robots that can work alongside humans, to expand in the booming Asian robotics market.
Danish cobot maker Universal Robots sells for $285M
Privately held Danish company Universal Robots — the successful producer of the UR line of collaborative robots — has sold to Massachusetts-based Teradyne, a provider of electronic testing equipment. Universal Robots has had rapid growth since it started up in 2005. The company’s first products were sold in 2009. 2014 sales of $38 million were…
How Safe Are Google’s Self-Driving Cars?
A new report sheds light on the number of accidents Google’s self-driving cars have been involved in.
Humans Cruise to $732,713 Win Over Poker AI
Labor and the Next Generation
In the coming generation we may see the early expression of the science fiction novelist’s most popular premise; a world in which a significant amount of labor is performed by robots. From the first use of the work “robot” in the 1920’s, the notion of a working force with the dexterity of human beings and […]
Vecna Offers Testing Facilities to MassRobotics
Vecna’s CTO gave Robotics Business Review a tour of the company’s development facilities and a potential MassRobotics co-working space.
Airware launches new system and gets funded
Airware received an undisclosed investment from Intel Capital. Intel joins GE Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins and a host of other prominent VCs in funding this autopilot startup. Airware received $40.5 million prior to the Intel investment. It also just announced the launch of its new generic autopilot, control station, and operating system for unmanned fixed-wing and…
Money, money, money – flowing to robotic ventures
Besides the big money flowing to DJI and 3D Robotics mentioned in previous articles, smaller amounts recently went to Wonder Workshop for their Dot and Dash robot learning system and Gamma2 for their mobile security system.
How Amazon Drone Delivery Will Work
Amazon has been awarded a patent that outlines its plan for drone delivery. The drones will be able to communicate with each other, find the best flight path available, and update the delivery location as a customer changes location.
Consumer and B2B drone making is big business
Lobbying for drone special interests rose from $35 million in 2011 to more than $186 million in 2014. But that is dwarfed by investments in drone makers such as DJI and 3DR who just raised $75M and $64M. Originally all the lobbying was on behalf of companies providing drones to government defense and security agencies. Recently that…
CyPhy Works Kickstarts Tilt-Free LVL 1 Drone
The LVL 1 Drone from CyPhy Works has six rotors that are all slightly angled to help it maneuver without tilting forward or sideways and stabilize aerial photography and video.
Meet the Creepy Humanoid Robot That Resembles Sarah Palin
Yangyang features skin made from a special type of silica gel to replicate the texture of human skin. Yangyang can talk, move its head, shake hands and even give hugs.
Real Life Grand Theft Auto 2 Created Using Drones
A group of filmmakers and gamers recreated Grand Theft Auto 2 in real life using a drone, camera, “gang members” and a bunch of cars. Watch the recreation.
Two profitable uses for robots
Industrial robots keep humming along, doing the dull, dirty and dangerous work of factories around the world. Newer applications are less often known but are quickly emerging. Here are two novel ones. ECOPPIA Ecoppia, a 2013 Israeli startup, is providing a robotic solar panel cleaning system to power companies with solar farms in the desert.…
Energy & Storage
Energy continues to make the news this week as the barrel price for crude oil goes up and gasoline prices at the pump increase. Electricity, which has increased in cost substantially, will continue to become more expensive because of political choices about our sources of generated power. Write your State congressman if you don’t like […]
Robotic events gaining popularity
2014 set new records for robotics of all types, industrial, field and service. 2015 is also setting records for attendance and number of exhibitors at robotics-related trade shows, contests and events. CONTESTS More than 18,000 students from around the globe traveled to St. Louis, MO, to put their engineering skills to the test at the…
App-Controlled Robot Arm Gives Boy, 9, New Hope
Smartphone app allows users to choose from up to 14 automated grips and gestures to complete daily tasks, such as index point mode for typing or precision pinch mode for gripping small objects.