Mark Tilden on “What are the five must-read publications for budding...
Aside from the conventional introductory texts on BEAM Robotics, control systems, electronics, and multi-axis mechanics, I always recommend books to inspire thoughts on robotic history, possibilities,...
View ArticleAlex Zelinsky on “What are the five must-read publications for budding...
The field moves quickly. So much of the material dates quickly. Joining a professional association such as IEEE or IFR and regular reading of publications – magazines and journals – is essential. The...
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Frank Tobe on “If you had a EUR 100M investment fund, into which robotics...
As the robotics industry continues to grow, enters new industries, and provides new applications, strategic focus is necessary or the overall industry will develop haphazardly and spread out around...
View ArticleHenrik Christensen on “If you had a EUR 100M investment fund, into which...
Robots for manufacturing. Generating a new family of robots that have a fluent interaction with humans. It will be easily programmable. Some would argue that Baxter provides this functionality....
View ArticleMark Tilden on “If you had a EUR 100M investment fund, into which robotics...
Well if it was for fun, I’d invest in autonomous paving mothers (APMs). A self-driving solar-powered mobile furnace robot that eats sand and dirt and spits out interlocking solar-panel paving stones...
View ArticleHerman Bruyninckx on “If you had a EUR 100M investment fund, into which...
A project that would: represent human knowledge about manufacturing in an ontology server; focus on system integration software and hardware issues; develop affordance-driven system and component...
View ArticleMark Tilden on “What funding scheme is the most conducive to creating a...
Funding schemes aren’t viable until we can make more innovative roboticists, and over the years I’ve tried several methods of engendering the Divine Frankenstein Complex in others. Teaching at a...
View ArticleRaffaello D’Andrea on “What funding scheme is the most conducive to creating...
The best way to commercialize robotics research is to make better connections between academics and entrepreneurs. Academics venturing out into the business world tend to have a “hammer looking for a...
View ArticleHenrik Christensen on “What funding scheme is the most conducive to creating...
The public should in most cases not subsidize companies. Tax payers should not be venture capitalists. The new wave of Lean Startup going around the world is a great model to ensure that companies are...
View ArticleFrank Tobe on “What funding scheme is the most conducive to creating a...
Funding new robotic projects in America is mostly done two different ways: (1) strategic funding from NASA, DARPA, DoD, NSF and other government organizations to do the pure science involved in solving...
View ArticleNicola Tomatis on “What funding scheme is the most conducive to creating a...
I would like to start from the other side: “Why is robotics great in creating new technologies and poor in creating new businesses?”. Well, someone may disagree, but I really think that robotics is...
View ArticleRaffaello D’Andrea on “How will robots shape the future of warfare?”
How will robots shape the future of war? I don’t know. I think that the more important question, however, is: what role should robots have in warfare? In my answer I have tried (as much as is humanly...
View ArticleMark Tilden on “How will robots shape the future of warfare?”
Robot machines have been shaping the future of war since the first siege engines appeared in ancient times (I like to think the Trojan Horse was motorized). Now with technology significantly extending...
View ArticleDaniel H. Wilson on “How will robots shape the future of warfare?”
Robots have already changed the face of modern warfare, particularly through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly called “drones.” Currently, armed drone aircraft are in widespread use...
View ArticleMark Tilden on “Do robots kill jobs?”
Robots do kill jobs but they’re crappy jobs, so good riddance. If you’ve ever had a job you were desperate for the money, but immediately regretted after you got it, then you know what I mean. This...
View ArticleRaffaello D’Andrea on “Do robots kill jobs?”
There is no doubt that robots, and automation in general, replace humans in the work-force: all productivity-enhancing tools, by definition, result in a decrease in the number of man-hours required to...
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The great equalizer: How robotics frees manufacturers from consolidating in...
These days it is hard to read an article about the future of robots that does not include a reference to jobs. As a pure roboticist I object to the constant connection between the two, but as a...
View ArticleMark Tilden on “What is the single biggest obstacle preventing robotics from...
From experience, the single biggest obstacle to personal robotic markets is cost, both in money and time. Robots have the disadvantage of being over-promoted in fictional media while over-priced on the...
View ArticleBrian Gerkey on “What is the single biggest obstacle preventing robotics from...
The biggest obstacle to broader adoption of robotics is that only experienced roboticists can develop robotics applications. To make a robot reliably and robustly do something useful, you need a deep...
View ArticleAlan Winfield on “What is the single biggest obstacle preventing robotics...
Well it depends on what you mean by mainstream. For a number of major industry sectors robotics is already mainstream. In assembly-line automation, for instance; or undersea oil well maintenance and...
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