Category: Commentary
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Seeing the robots at ICRA 2022 through the eyes of a robot
Accessbility@ICRA2022 and OhmniLabs provided three OhmniBots for the conference, allowing students, faculty and interested industry members to attend the expo and poster sessions. The deployment of telepresence robots was greatly appreciated by everyone, from people with medical conditions or visa issues preventing them from attending, to people who were able to sample a little bit […]
Investors warn Deep Tech founders about these 12 pitfalls
Firstly, what is Deep Tech as opposed to Tech or technology enabled? Sometimes Deep Tech is regarded as a science based startup, sometimes it is regarded as disruptive to the status quo, sometimes it is regarded just as slow and hard, capital intensive, with a long ROI horizon. Or as something that investors aren’t ready […]
An Inventory of Robotics Roadmaps to Better Inform Policy and Investment
Much excellent work has been done, by many organizations, to develop ‘Roadmaps for Robotics’, in order to steer government policy, innovation investment, and the development of standards and commercialization. However, unless you took part in the roadmapping activity, it can be very hard to find these resources. Silicon Valley Robotics in partnership with the Industrial […]
Join the Women in Robotics Photo Challenge
How can women feel as if they belong in robotics if we can’t see any pictures of women building or programming robots? The Civil Rights Activist Marian Wright Edelson aptly said, “You can’t be what you can’t see.” We’d like you all to take photos of women building and coding robots and share them with […]
Should robots be gendered? comments on Alan Winfield’s opinion piece
The gendering of robots is something I’ve found fascinating since I first started building robots out of legos with my brother. We all ascribe character to robots, consciously or not, even when we understand exactly how robots work. Until recently we’ve been able to write this off as science fiction stuff, because real robots were […]
Why we need a robot registry | context
Robots are rolling out into the real world and we need to meet the emerging challenges in responsible fashion but one that doesn’t block innovation. At the recent ARM Developers Summit 2020 I shared my suggestions for five practical steps that we could undertake at a regional, national or global level as part of the […]
30 women in robotics you need to know about 2020 | Robohub
It’s Ada Lovelace Day and once again we’re delighted to introduce you to “30 women in robotics you need to know about”! From 13 year old Avye Couloute to Bala Krishnamurthy who worked alongside the ‘Father of Robotics’ Joseph Engelberger in the 1970s & 1980s, these women showcase a wide range of roles in robotics. We hope […]
AI Ethics: We Need to Walk the Walk, Not Just Talk
Join me at the ARM Dev Summit for an indepth presentation on ethics for robots and AI, and why that’s important, as I introduce in this post in ARM Blueprint. Plus, why we need license plates for robots! #goodrobots
Is it farewell to the Journal of Field Robotics?
UPDATED: Peter Corke has relaunched Field Robotics as an online open-access journal with the old editorial board. Field Robotics deals with the fundamentals of robotics in unstructured and dynamic environments. Papers are now being accepted at http://fieldrobotics.net. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/petercorke_fieldrobotics-openaccess-robotics-activity-6752027696991227904-uksE ORIGINAL POST: 2020 is proving to be a watershed year. First COVID-19 has forced the cancellation (eg. ROSCon 2020, […]
Robots in retail: From ROI to frictionless customer experience
Retail is the fastest growing industry sector for robotics, if we include the logistics associated with e-commerce, and the current pandemic is exacerbating the demand for and shortage of robotics. On July 7th Silicon Valley Robotics hosted a ‘Retail Robotics for Startups’ discussion with David Pakman, robotics investor at Venrock, Steven K. Platt, founder of […]
Why robotics startups fail!
What are the main reasons that robotics companies and startups fail? Is it the technology or is it the business? Fresh Consulting analyzed significant industry case studies from Rethink Robotics to iRobot for their whitepaper “Why Robotics Companies Fail,” and launched it on June 11 at a panel discussion moderated by James Dietrich, from Fresh […]
How does robotics research funding compare globally?
The Corona crisis highlights the important contribution that robots make to industry and to society. Research funding programs (R&D) are vital to enable and further support these developments. IFR summarized national funding programs in the new “World Robotics R&D Programs”. How Nations Invest in Robotics Research – report by International Federation of Robotics Tweet this […]
ICRA 2020 launches with plenary panel ‘COVID-19: How Roboticists Can Help’
ICRA is the largest robotics meeting in the world and is the flagship conference of the IEEE Robotics & Automation Society. It is thus our honor and pleasure to welcome you to this edition, although the current exceptional circumstances did not allow us to organize it in Paris as planned with the glimpse and splendor that our wonderful robotics […]
SLAM and Spatial AI
You can watch this seminar here at 1PM EST (10AM PST) on May 15th. Andrew Davison (Imperial College London) Abstract: To enable the next generation of smart robots and devices which can truly interact with their environments, Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) will progressively develop into a general real-time geometric and semantic `Spatial AI’ perception capability. I […]
Where are the robots when you need them!
That’s a question we’re trying to answer in our weekly discussions about ‘COVID-19, robots and us’, but it was repeated with urgency by Rachel ‘McCrafty’ Sadd. Rachel has been building systems and automation for COVID mask making, as the founder of Project Mask Making and #distillmyheart projects in the SF Bay Area, an artist and […]
Can robots make food service safer for workers?
Health care workers are not the only unwilling essential services frontline workers at increased risk of COVID-19. According to the Washington Post on April 12, “At least 41 grocery workers have died of the coronavirus and thousands more have tested positive in recent weeks”. At the same time, grocery stores are seeing a surge in […]
Robots providing social support while we’re social distancing
Wired Magazine recently called for us to, post pandemic, “ditch our tech enabled tools of social distancing”. But are our telepresence robots creating emotional distancing or are they actually improving our emotional lives. This week in our weekly “COVID-19, robots and us” discussion with experts, we’re looking at the topic of virtual presence and emotional […]
How can robots help?
Guest post by Florian Pestoni from InOrbit.ai As the COVID-19 epidemic continues to wreak havoc in countries around the world, there’s some reason for hope as the number of new cases in China drops to 0. This shows that with concerted effort by individuals, companies and government, it is possible to limit the exponential scale […]
COVID-19, robots and us March 31 special guests
Join us on Tuesday at 7pm Pacific for our next weekly discussion on COVID-19, robots and us. This week we’re focusing on disaster robotics, social robotics, telemedicine and human-robot interaction with special guests: Robin Murphy, Founder of the field of Disaster Robotics and Raytheon Professor at Texas A&M University Ross Mead, Founder of Semio and […]
Women in Tech Leadership Resources from IMTS 2022
There’ve been quite a few events recently focusing on Women in Robotics, Women in Manufacturing, Women in 3D Printing, in Engineering, and in Tech Leadership. One of the largest tradeshows in the US IMTS 2022 kicked off with a Women Make Manufacturing Move Reception, with Allison Grealis, President of Women in Manufacturing, Andra Keay, President of […]