The New York Times, which confirmed earlier this month that Google has been quietly buying up robotics companies, reports that the search giant has added an eighth acquisition to the mix: Boston Dynamics. Within the robotics community, that’s probably the biggest name to be bought up yet. The previous companies acquired during Google’s recent spending
The next round of the DARPA Robotics Challenge is just a week away, and we’ve started to see a lot more of the robots that will be competing. NASA finally gave a glimpse of its entry earlier this week, and Carnegie Mellon University just released a variety a photos and videos of its robot, known
Mazor Robotics reported today that, effective Dec. 15, it will be included in both the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) Top 75 and Top 100 indexes. The Top 75 index, or TA-75, is a share index of the 75 most highly capitalized companies on the TASE not included in the TA-25 index. The TA-100 index, known as the Tel Aviv 100, is a stock
As of the end of November, following its first full month of operation, the Robo-Stox Global Robotics and Automation Index ETF has amassed more than $25 million in assets under management, its founders reported today. The exchange-traded fund became available to NASDAQ investors on Oct. 22. “The rapid accumulation of assets in our exchange-traded fund provides
MakerBot yesterday announced a new a 3D print service at its retail stores, which it is making available immediately. Customers can now bring a .STL, .OBJ, or Thing file into the stores on USB drive, and items will be 3D printed on a MakerBot Replicator 2 Desktop 3D Printer. Pricing is based on print time,
The International Space Station’s robotic crewmember Robonaut 2 is currently legless, which is less of a problem in space than it would be on Earth but still poses certain limitations. NASA engineers evidently weren’t satisfied with that arrangement, however, because they went ahead and built a set of legs that are scheduled to arrive at
Facebook has formed a new artificial intelligence group and hired Yann LeCun, director of the Center for Data Science at New York University, to run it, according to a post on LeCun’s Facebook page that was later shared by Facebook Academics. “Facebook has created a new research laboratory with the ambitious, long-term goal of bringing
MRIGlobal reported yesterday that it has completed work on a robotic mannequin and containment chamber to test protective equipment for the U.S. Department of Defense. When fully implemented, the system will make it possible test the effectiveness of protective military clothing when exposed to dangerous chemicals. The five-year “Individual Protection Ensemble Mannequin System” (IPEMS) project
As a follow up to the 25th annual National Robot Safety Conference in mid-October, the Robotic Industries Association is looking for ways to deliver safety information that are less dry than the typical safety presentation. For example, yesterday the group posted a graphic that details both the history of workplace safety regulations as well as
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory reported today that it launched an all-electric, fuel cell-powered unmanned aerial system from a submerged submarine. The “eXperimental Fuel Cell Unmanned Aerial System,” or XFC UAS, was fired from the torpedo tube of the USS Providence using a “Sea Robin” launch vehicle system. The Sea Robin launch system was designed to fit
