GrabCAD, a platform that helps engineers collaborate and quickly share CAD files, recently partnered with RoboSavvy, which hosts an online community for humanoid robot builders, to launch a new humanoid robot design challenge. It’s not exactly DARPA Robotics Challenge in terms of scope — these robots aren’t meant to revolutionize the future of search and
According to a post on its official blog, the next entry in the White House “We the Geeks” series of Google+ Hangouts will be all about robots. Phil Larson, the space and aeronautics policy adviser who posted the blog entry, said that as the Curiosity rover celebrates one year on Mars, the White House wanted
At least since George Jetson first came through his front door to be greeted by Rosie the robotic maid in 1962, the endlessly unpredictable wonders of the nebulous “Home of the Future” have held a unique status in our collective aspirations. Though Rosie herself may still be some way off, however, more and more American
The UPS Store reported today that it will become the first nationwide retailer to test in-store 3-D printing services. Select UPS Store locations will offer 3-D printing services beginning in the San Diego area with plans to expand more broadly within the U.S. in the near future. The company said it made the move based
Robotics Alley, the Minnesota-based robotics conference and expo founded in 2011 by ReconRobotics and the Minnesota High Tech Association, has been sold. The new owner is The Event Group, Incorporated, a Minnesota-based event management and marketing firm. The event was created to spur public-private partnerships and development within Minnesota’s robotics industry and the surrounding region.
We’re living in an era where low-cost computers, open-source software and crowdfunding have helped democratize the creation and production of robots. Now a new company that comes out of that ethos — its product runs off Arduino boards, it promotes open-source ideology and its origins were on Kickstarter — is trying to do the same for
One of the many advantages of robots is that they can go places humans physically cannot. We often think of that in terms of search-and-rescue situations or hazardous locales like nuclear power plants (where snake-like robots have shown potential), but it has less serious applications as well — like getting the perfect view of an
As debate about the proper role of humans in the cockpit swirls in the wake of Saturday’s Asiana Airlines plane crash, the Navy achieved an important milestone by completing its first-ever carrier-based arrested landing. The feat was accomplished on board the USS George H.W. Bush off the coast of Virginia earlier today. According to the
When Congress passed the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, it set the clock ticking toward the day when unmanned aircraft systems must be integrated into the national airspace. The target is Sept. 30, 2015, now just a little more than two years away. That fast-approaching deadline has created a new intensity in discussions
Recently, researchers at Sweden’s Örebro University released a video showcasing GiraffPlus, a “smart home” system designed to allow the elderly to live independently longer. The system consists of a network of home sensors that monitor residents’ health paired with a mobile telepresence robot, called Giraff, that allows caregivers to check in. The system has been
