Learn how to innovate the next wave of applications and even create new markets by attending Sensors Expo this June in San Jose. Even though no one can say so with absolute certainty he was the first to speak it, we commonly attribute the oft-used phrase “knowledge is power” to…

  The 2017 Silicon Valley Robot Block Party set a new high for attendance with over 1000 robot fans plus investors, exhibitors and media. 45 different companies, organizations and groups were represented on the day, April 12 2017, and the Jabil Blue Sky Innovation Center proved to be the perfect host…

Congratulations to Apellix, the winner of Automate 2017 Startup Launch Pad competition. Also honorable mention goes to Kinema Systems and Sake Robotics. The Apellix received a $10,000 check sponsored by GE Ventures. The judging panel consisted of Steve Taub, GE Ventures, Oliver Mitchell, Autonomy Ventures, Chris Moehle, Robotics Hub and Melonee Wise,…

SILICON VALLEY ROBOTICS ROBOT BLOCK PARTY MEDIA ADVISORY 04.04.17 The robots are having a block party to celebrate the 8th annual National Robotics Week. The festival is organized by Silicon Valley Robotics, in conjunction with Jabil and Radius Innovation & Development. The Robot Block Party will run from 12 to…

A new white paper by the Robotics Industries Association (RIA) says that as many as 2 million US manufacturing jobs will go unfilled in the next ten years due to a lack of skilled workers. According to the paper: “80% of manufacturers report a shortage of qualified applicants for skilled…

A3 ANNOUNCES FINALISTS IN AUTOMATE LAUNCH PAD STARTUP COMPETITION Emerging Companies with Range of Offerings from Platform-as-a-Service to Actuators to 3D Vision Technology ANN ARBOR, MI – Today the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), the leading global advocate for the benefits of automating and producers of Automate 2017, announced the…

Japan is holding a huge robot celebration in 2018 in Tokyo and 2020 in Aichi, Fukushima, hosted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and industry (METI) and the New Energy Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). This is a commercial robotics Expo and a series of robotics Challenges with the goal…

International Women’s Day is raising discussion about the lack of diversity and role models in STEM and the potential negative outcomes of bias and stereotyping in robotics and AI. Let’s balance the words with positive actions. Here’s what we can all do to support women in robotics and AI, and thus improve diversity,…

Cobalt Robotics launched their stylish security robot today, March 1st 2017. The robot was designed by Yves Behar, and as a fabric covered robot, it’s putting a new spin on soft robotics! Behar’s goal was to create a robot that didn’t conform to Hollywood stereo types, but was an augmentation of…

Shakey the Robot, the world’s first mobile, intelligent robot, developed at SRI International between 1966-1972, was the first robot to be honored with a prestigious IEEE Milestone in Electrical Engineering and Computing. The IEEE Milestone program honors significant inventions, locations or events related to electrical engineering and computing that have benefitted…

The largest markets for robots is for when there aren’t any people around. We often call those jobs the dirty, dull and dangerous ones, but then there are devices like CleverPet which play with your dog when you aren’t home. What’s not to love about playing with dogs? And yet there…

On Jan 26 the Doomsday Clock was brought forward to 2 1/2 minutes to midnight. Worried? I’m glad to report that the robotics and AI industry is responding. IEEE seeks input into Guidelines for Ethically Aligned Design for AI and Autonomous Systems, the $27 million Ethics and Governance of AI fund was announced,…

Catalia Health is leading the surge in social robotics, with Mabu, their patient care management system. Catalia Health likes to be seen primarily as a health company that utilizes robots, rather than a robotics company. This focus on solving real world problems while shipping a product has seen Catalia attract both customers and…

If you’re at CES2017 then you will be seeing more than 70 HAX powered startups in Eureka Park, the ‘playground of innovation’. As service robotics steals the spotlight, we wanted to showcase some of the ways that accelerators and programs like HAX help grow hardware and robotics startups, including taking them to…

Sophisticated household robots are only just starting to show up in our lives, but all the building blocks for a veritable “Cambrian explosion” of robotics are there, as Gill Pratt described it when he was running the recent DARPA Robotics Challenge. The service robotics industry IS emerging, and we will…

Let’s stop talking about bad robots and start talking about what makes a robot good. A good or ethical robot must be carefully designed. Good robot design is about much more than just the physical robot, and at the same time good robot design is about ‘less’. Less means no extra…

It’s time to showcase the Robot Launch semifinalists, or ‘The Shortlist’. Every week over the next month you will meet 9-10 very interesting robotics and AI startups from all over the world and you will have a chance to vote each week on their pitch video. The most popular startup overall…