Pot smokers in California may soon be able to have weed delivered to them via drone.
Don’t Fly Drones Over Fires: You Could be Charged with Murder
Authorities in San Bernardino County issued a stern warning Wednesday for anyone caught flying a drone over wildfires.
Amazon Wants Dedicated Airspace for Delivery Drones
Amazon’s proposal carves out airspace from 200ft-400ft exclusively for delivery drones, with a further 100ft above it declared a no-fly zone. The plan might also make it harder for drone hobbyists to fly.
DJI Inspire 1 Drones Fighting Slave Labor in Brazil
Brazil defines slave labor as work carried out in degrading conditions or in conditions that pose a risk to the worker’s life.
Electric Motors in Context
It seems odd that after over 100 years of electric motor manufacturing, we have very few people in the industry that can really ‘boil it down’ to the basics of what is important in applying electric motors. An electric motor transforms electricity into mechanical work. That’s why most electric motor manufacturers employ mechanical engineers. And […]
6 Ways Drones Are Saving the Planet
A look at projects from around the world that show how drones can be tools to help save the planet.
June-July fundings, IPOs and acquisitions
Below are recaps of the fourteen June and July fundings, IPOs and acquisitions for robot and robotics related companies, followed by a thoughtful piece by Farhad Manjoo of the NY Times about why start-ups are staying private. Also 3 earlier fundings just discovered. UPDATED 7/29/15 to add Rethink Robotics April add-on to an earlier Series D funding, $3M…
Robotic flatbread maker gets $11.5M
Zimplistic, the Singapore and Silicon Valley startup behind the Rotimatic, a home flatbread maker, sold over $5 million at their launch last year. Today, they have a backlog of $72M in orders and over 5,000 distribution partnership requests. Also today, they received $11.5M in venture funding. The $11.5M funding came from a Southeast Asia private equity…
Gun-Firing Drone Spurs FAA Investigation
Federal authorities are looking to determine whether any aviation laws were violated after a teen reportedly posted a video of a drone firing a semiautomatic weapon in the woods.
Honda Walking Assist Device Going on Sale
Honda’s Walking Assist Device features two lightweight motors that help lift the leg at the thigh as it moves forward and backward. It measures the walking patterns and training status of each user on a tablet, creating visualizations to assist medical personnel.
Watch the First Legal Drone Delivery in US History
Flirtey, a drone-delivery startup, carried medical supplies from an airfield to a medical clinic in Wise County, Virginia in the first FAA-approved drone delivery in the United States.
Customize Your Buddy Companion Robot with this Software Development Kit
Developers can make the open-source Buddy companion robot smarter by giving him new skills, content, and features.
Buy or Build
When is it appropriate to build something custom or buy the next best thing that will get the job done? Manufacturers are constantly faced with this problem in one form or another. Some large manufacturing concerns have huge scale in numbers of units. Many beverage plants have to ship over 1,000,000 drinks a day. In […]
Service robots get multiple positive forecasts
Commercial drones will reach $4.8B by 2021. Agricultural robots will reach $16.8B by 2021 and $73.9B by 2024. And demand for healthcare robotics to show “tremendous growth” in the next 5 years. UPDATED 7/22/15 to include three additional research reports which affirm the growth figures forecast by the others. According to a recent Wintergreen Research…
Video: Google Self-Driving Car Accident Injures 4
Google’s SUV had slight damage to its rear bumper, while the vehicle that struck it lost its front bumper.
Robot Passes Self-Awareness Test
Uh-oh, a robot for the first time has passed a self-awareness test. The test might seem simple, but it’s extremely difficult for a robot.
Inside the Henn na Robot Hotel
The Henn na Hotel in Japan is set to open where guests check in with robots, which also deliver luggage to rooms, act as concierges and much more.
Watch: DIY Drone Fires a Semiautomatic Gun
A video claims to show a homemade multirotor with a semiautomatic handgun mounted on it fire four shots
“World’s Most Dangerous Rivalry” stoked by bowing robot at CIROS
The long-term rivalry between China and Japan, often characterised as the “World’s Most Dangerous Rivalry,” was exacerbated at the CIROS show held in Shanghai last week by a bowing Prime Minister Abe look-alike robot and an enterprising Chinese sales group. The robot, dressed in a suit and bowing to visitors, according to the International Business Times, “came…
Another robot acquisition: Vecna acquires VGo
Vecna, a growing robotic mobility provider for hospitals and warehouses, acquired VGo, a provider of mobile telepresence devices, for an undisclosed amount. VGo Communications has amassed $10.3 million in 4 funding rounds, the last in 2013. VGo received much media attention for the use of their VGo mobility devices for remote presence schooling. They also got attention…
Vortex Open-Source Robot Teaches Kids How to Code
Vortex comes pre-loaded with a number of games, but the hope is kids will want to learn how to make Vortex do more with custom programming.
ReWalk Personal 6.0 Exoskeleton Offers Fastest Walking Speed
The battery-powered Personal 6.0 Exoskeleton offers a walking speed up to 1.6 MPH, which ReWalk says is faster than any other exoskeleton.