Rethink Robotics reported today that it has signed an exclusive partnership with Nihon Binary to distribute the Baxter Research Robot in Japan. The Baxter Research Robot, which launched in April, is a version of Rethink’s innovative Baxter platform designed specifically for corporate and academic robotics research. Previously it was only available in the U.S. and Europe.
By its nature, robotics is a discipline that crosses academic boundaries; it can involve engineering, computer science, aeronautics, biology and more. Recognizing this, Georgia Tech has created a new interdisciplinary organization called the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines, which is designed to coordinate the university’s various colleges, departments and labs to promote advancement in
Romotive Inc., the company behind the iPhone-powered Romo personal robot, has inked a deal to exclusively sell their robots at Brookstone stores through the end of 2013. This is the first major distribution deal for Romotive, which was founded back in 2011 and initially gained attention through a pair of highly successful Kickstarter campaigns. The
The commercial marketplace for unmanned aircraft systems remains relatively untapped in the U.S., and at this point the holdup is more regulatory than technological. However, as the Congressional deadline for integrating UAS into the National Airspace System approaches, companies are betting that will change very quickly. One such company — Modern Technology Solutions Inc., which
CyPhy Works today reported the close of a $7 million financing round, which it will use to expand its surveying- and situational awareness-focused unmanned aerial vehicles into various commercial sectors. The round was led by Lux Capital and featured participation from General Catalyst Partners, Felicis Ventures and several undisclosed angel investors. CyPhy (pronounced “Sci-Fi”) Works is
AeroVironment reported today that it has been awarded a $2.3 million contract to help develop a new type of unmanned aircraft system for DARPA. The company will work as the prime contractor with DARPA on the Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node (TERN) Program to develop a medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) UAS designed to operate from small ships
NASA’s Curiosity rover has to be very, very careful when driving around Mars because if it gets stuck in a ditch, no friendly drivers will be passing by to tow it out. That’s essentially what happened to Curiosity’s predecessor Spirit, which NASA was forced to give up on in 2011. So it’s interesting to hear
In a report released this week, the Robotic Industries Association said that for the first nine months of the year, North American robotics orders have declined while shipments have risen. A total of 15,731 robots valued at $978.5 million were ordered from North American companies in the first nine months of 2013, a decrease of
Bluefin Robotics and the Naval Research Laboratory recently sent a long-endurance unmanned underwater vehicle from Boston to New York, a trip that took more than 100 hours, the groups said today. The mission was completed by the Naval Research Lab’s Reliant “Heavyweight” UUV, an advanced version of the Bluefin-21 that, when loaded with a low-frequency broadband
Aldebaran Robotics and Nuance Communications reported this week that Aldebaran’s Nao robot will integrate new voice capabilities from Nuance that will allow it to have more natural conversations with humans. Massachusetts-based Nuance sells the popular Dragon speech recognition software and was recently revealed to be behind Apple’s Siri digital assistant. Nao has integrated voice recognition
