Week long conference on intelligent robots and systems had presentations, exhibitions, demonstrations and interactive sessions. Read one observer’s picks for most interesting, crowd pleasing and unusual presentations and demonstrations at the show. See 15 photos taken at the conference by the Denver Post.
Motion, Measurement and Control
Motion control is all about control. But you cannot control what you cannot measure. So there is an important measurement component to the control of moving systems. The difficulty lies in knowing what to measure, how to measure and what to do about things you can’t measure. The obvious thing to measure is motor speed. […]
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
As someone who has been out of work in the past few years, I have first hand experience with the subject. Let me offer a couple of observations. Government is not the answer. Anytime government gets involved there is a very high risk that money will get spent and nothing will change. Remember stimulus 1? […]
911 Ten Years After
New York City is my home. I walked those streets when I was young. I will not forget what happened there. Nor will any American who lived during the worst attack on American soil. It was an act of war. How have we responded? The new towers are well along in construction. I didn’t expect […]
Yaskawa Porting ROS to Robot Line
Southwest Research Institute porting Willow Garage’s Open Source ROS Robotic Operating System to Yaskawa line of Motoman robots. Work to be done by Q1 2012. “The next step for industrial robotics is to be more sensor aware; to be able to accomodate the many new capabilities showing up in the service sector. It’s clear that…
“ROS Everywhere!” says Willow Garage’s Steve Cousins
Pieter Abbeel was one of this year’s MIT Technology Review 35 Innovators Under 35 (TR 35) award winners as was Brian Gerkey of Willow Garage. Pieter and his team at UC Berkeley programmed a robot to learn how to perform tasks such as folding laundry without detailed instructions. Brian oversees development of the Willow Garage open…
PerkinElmer acquires Caliper Life Sciences for $600 million
Both companies design, produce and market lab automation robots. Sale will be finalized in two months.
IFR Says Robots Did Well In 2010
Industrial robot sales almost doubled compared to 2009 – to $5.7 billion – with the auto and electronics industries as the main drivers.The IFR expects China to become the world’s largest market for robots by 2014. For the first time, global sales to the electronics sector surpassed those to the auto industry. An additional $3.6…
Energy Policy and Industry
Energy is the #2 cost in many companies. During a statistical analysis of energy use by plant location in the 10 county Houston metropolitan area I found incredible amounts of energy required by manufacturers. Stuff that you wouldn’t necessary think of until you start breaking down the details. Cooking raw sugar and turning it into […]
Win $25,000 for Healthcare Robotics Invention
Carnegie Melon University (CMU), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Robotics Technology Consortium (RTC) and the Innovation Accelerator (IA) are all working together to organize and host a contest to find new ventures with “big idea” robotic systems in healthcare and for quality of life. Top five winners each get $5,000 and the grand prize…
Robotic Technology for Treating Hair Loss Gets $41 Million
Restoration Robotics, Inc received clearance from the FDA in April for it's ARTAS® System for harvesting hair follicles from the scalp in men. It combines an image-guided robotic arm, special imaging technologies, small dermal punches, and a computer interface to identify and harvest individual follicular units – and it does it less painfully, with shorter…