It’s no secret that robots have been big business in the consumer-facing market over the last several years. Robotic stars have led films like the “Transformers” series or “Pacific Rim” to major success at the box office, while a robotic crew played a huge role in filming current hit “Gravity.” On the other end of
3-D printing manufacturer Stratasys recently appointed one of China’s largest electronics and office supply retailers as master distributor for its entry-level “Idea Series” of 3-D printers in China. Stratasys Asia Pacific reported the news today, saying, “Stratasys 3-D printing technologies have gone mainstream and entered the office automation solution offerings in China.” The partnership is
Robot Turtles, a board game designed to teach 3- to 8-year-olds the basics of programming, has surpassed $500,000 on Kickstarter with two days left in its funding period. In the process, it has become the most-backed tabletop game ever on the service, according to its creator Dan Shapiro. Shapiro is a digital entrepreneur who sold
The past few years have seen an explosion of interest in the idea of the autonomous car, with traditional automotive manufacturers, university-based research teams and more broadly tech-oriented firms all announcing projects aimed at progressively shifting the responsibility of actually operating a vehicle from the human driver to a variety of “smart” systems embedded into
Double Robotics, which makes a $2,500 “wheels for your iPad” telepresence solution called the Double, recently reported via its blog that it has added a new control option for the device: The iPhone. Previously, users were able to drive the Double using an iPad or the Chrome Web browser, remotely steering the device, adjusting its
Bill Gates famously had access to a computer at a time when most others didn’t, allowing him to master programming at a young age and eventually build one of the most successful software companies of all time. While most young programmers won’t go on to top the Forbes Billionaire’s List, they will be better prepared
Earlier today at the IFA consumer electronics trade show in Berlin, robots were seized from Chinese companies Shenzhen Silver Star Intelligent Technology Co. Ltd. and Shenzhen Silver Star Intelligent Electronic Ltd. based on preliminary injunctions obtained by iRobot. iRobot said the requests were granted by the District Court of Düsseldorf based on the German parts
The new Lego Mindstorms EV3 robotics kit won’t be released until this weekend, but in preparation Lego today launched a robotics-focused social community and three free Mindstorms apps. The social community, which can be accessed at lego.com/mindstorms, lets users post robot creations and like and follow other builders. There’s also a game to introduce new users
Yesterday we reported that ABI Research predicts driverless vehicles will start to appear in North America by the beginning of the next decade. That position is supported by a recent announcement from Nissan Motor Company, which says it will be ready with multiple, commercially-viable “Autonomous Drive” vehicles by 2020. That’s the same year being targeted by Audi,
Fully driverless vehicles may be as little as 10 years away — at least according to a new study by ABI Research. According to the study, driverless vehicles will start to appear in North America at the beginning of the next decade, culminating in more than 10 million robotic vehicles shipping in 2032. In other
