Philips Healthcare invests in Corindus‘ vascular robotics start-up. New telepresence and hacked Kinect/Roomba platforms rolling out: Kickstarter enables MIT’s Garratt Galagher to get starter funding for his Bilibot. WillowGarage starts selling $500-$1,000 Turtlebot which, like the Bilibot, includes heavy-duty ROS. iRobot’s AVA adds an iPad to the arsenal. Interview with iRobot’s CEO talking about low-cost…
Competition in World Markets
As a follow up to “Made in America,” I would like to explore some of the dynamics of competition in manufacturing in a world market. We have all seen the effects of American manufacturing outsourcing to Mexico, Japan, India and China. Maybe this progression should take many years, maybe American political policy has contributed to […]
Pics of iRobot’s PackBots inside Fukashima
First really good video from Japan’s IDG of how robots are being used inside the Fukashima nuclear power plant and also outside for remote controlled cleanup and debris removal. Drone video and comments from Andrew Revkin at DotEarth.
Made in America
It used to be a by-word. The slogan “Made in America” was once the universal expression for quality products. It was so prevalent that in an obscure village in Italy 20 miles outside of Florence, a local Italian kid that I used to hang out with nicknamed me “Made In America”. Which he was able […]
DARPA ARM project launches public robot simulator and lab testing
DARPA’s Autonomous Robotic Manipulation (ARM) project to develop robot software and hardware to autonomously manipulate, grasp, and perform complicated tasks think unzip a duffle bag and rifle through the contents searching for drugs and weapons. DARPA is now offering public access to an identical simulated robot allowing anyone the opportunity to write software for the…
AP Reports Predator Drone May Have Killed Two US Troops
Roboticist’s worst nightmare: friendly fire mistake leading to deaths by Hellfire missles. “Currently, Air Force Predators and Reapers, the high-flying hunter-killer drones, are logging 48 24-hour air patrols a day, moving toward a goal of 65 in 2013. The aircraft are prized for their intelligence gathering proficiency and ability to pinpoint targets, reducing the risk…
Robots in the News:
HR 658, the bill to promote the safe integration of unmanned systems into the national airspace, has passed the House. Follow the results in the Senate. Passport screening by multi-lingual robots begins in May at Taipei airports. Festo once again creates the unimaginable: SmartBird, an ultralight bionic adaption from nature which can start, fly and…
Critical Systems
The recent post on the Japan earthquake prompted quite a bit of response. Some commentary focused on the technology of nuclear power and what the alternatives might be. Other comments were very insightful about the nature of engineering for critical applications. I found the comments very thought provoking and will take this week’s post to […]
Changing Landscape
Over the last few years there have been a number of changes in the cost of technology that are impacting the motion control marketplace. The first is the cost of microcontroller technology that is dedicated to electric motor applications. Up until recently, the Digital Signal Processor was the “de facto” standard for motor control. Not […]
Dissecting the Controversy About the Robotics Industry
From Automate 2011 in Chicago: Industrial robotic companies mostly recovered from 2009 lows. Japan is the exception and China accounts for 127% of the growth. Much of the recovery was due to the renewal of facilities for newer hybrid cars in the auto industry. From InnoRobo 2011 in Lyon, France: The service sector didn’t go…
Dissecting the Controversy About the Robotics Industry
Where are the robots? Where’s that $100 billion industry we’ve seen in the forecasts? Since the 1980’s we’ve seen robots outside of the factory – vacuums, drones, bomb disposal devices, embedded systems for cars, hazardous materials and location monitoring bots – but expected to see more. Our expectations are so much higher than what’s thus…