robots
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Cafe X opens in San Francisco, bringing robots to the coffee shop
The world’s first coffee shop opened in Constantinople in 1555. Four hundred and some years later, Cafe X is putting a twist on that old barista model. Opening in San Francisco today, the startup is opting instead to have a large robotic arm craft your caffeinated potions. Founder Henry Hu noticed that baristas spent a majority of their time moving cups around while making… Read More
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Hanson Robotics built a Professor Einstein toy to teach kids science with a familiar face
Hanson Robotics is making its first foray into the consumer electronics market with an educational toy called Professor Einstein. The device is a pint-sized, shuffling Albert Einstein that uses natural language processing, and other artificial intelligence capabilities, to comprehend and answer kids’ questions about science. The Einstein toy robot works as a standalone or in conjunction… Read More
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Crunch Network
Robots, jobs and the human fear of change
When it comes to technology’s impact on the economy, there continues to be concern that robots and other advances will lead to unemployment. But what does history really tell us about the impact of new technologies on jobs and the economy? And more importantly, what happens to America’s ability to compete in a global economy if we reject automation and stifle technological innovation? Read More
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Welcome to the future of work
With advances in information technology, robotics, and artificial intelligence developing at a rapid rate, workforce dislocations are happening now and are here to stay. As existing trends accelerate and irreversibly change the workforce as we know it, the question to be answered is–what will we do to broadly share the gains and alleviate the challenges? Cities often lead trend cycles… Read More
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Crunch Report | Tesla and SolarCity-powered Island
Tesla and SolarCity power an island in American Samoa, after skipping last year Apple holds its Black Friday sale, robots will be helping with shopping at Westfield malls in San Francisco, Michigan doubles down on autonomous cars and Munchery gets a new CEO. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
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Oh, the humanoid! Don’t worry, this blimp-bodied robot can’t crash
Generally one thinks of robots as powerful, rigid things packed with motors and actuators. But they don’t have to be like that, and in fact it may be freeing for engineers to work outside those constraints. What if, for example, your robot was almost lighter than air? That’s the concept tested in this highly buoyant prototype created by roboticists at UCLA. Read More
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Come see Boston Dynamics and its robots stomp on the Disrupt London stage
If artificial intelligence will inevitably be a central part of how we will interact with machines and services in the future, then learning more about who is developing these new AI systems — and what they are making — is essential to us understanding and helping shape that world. And you, dear reader, will have a chance to do exactly that next month, when Marc Raibert… Read More
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Crunch Network
How combined human and computer intelligence will redefine jobs
The man versus machine dichotomy has been a staple of pop culture for decades. From 2001: A Space Odyssey to Blade Runner to Terminator to The Matrix and beyond, film makers have envisioned what the world would look like if artificial intelligence took over. However, a new mindset is taking shape — the era of AI-human hybrid intelligence. Read More
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Piccolissimo joins the ranks of ultra-tiny flying robots
Big robots like Spot may be great for carrying things or trotting out onto stages, but just as much sophisticated engineering goes into creating tiny ones as well — and this little flyer from the University of Pennsylvania is one the tiniest yet. Read More
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Swarms of tiny, cute robots will one day bring you your phone, like this
Robots are taking over factories and warehouses, but their next stop might be your desktop or kitchen counter. These tiny “Zooids” work together at high speed to act as tools, display information or move things around like little ants. Read More
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Disney builds a jolly, one-legged hopping robot
Researchers at Disney Research in Pittsburgh have built a single-legged hopping robot that can currently bounce around 19 times without falling over. The project by Zachary Batts, Joohyung Kim, and Katsu Yamane began as a computer simulation and finally a hardware product. The researchers based their system on Marc Raibert’s hopping controller and it’s controlled by a linear… Read More
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Crunch Network
Industrial robots will replace manufacturing jobs — and that’s a good thing
There is no denying that the U.S. and Canada have been losing jobs to offshore competition for almost half a century. From 2000-2010 alone, 5.6 million jobs disappeared. Interestingly, though, only 13 percent of those jobs were lost due to international trade; 85 percent of job losses stemmed from “productivity growth” — another way of saying machines replacing human workers. Read More
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This ‘ballbot’ is like a real-life BB-8
It isn’t quite as lovable as the spherical droid from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but this robot from Carnegie Mellon University has the benefit of being more than a special effect (however cool). And believe it or not, it basically has no moving parts. Read More
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Crunch Network
Will the coming robot nanny era turn us into technophiles?
In as little time as a decade, affordable robots that can bottle-feed babies, change diapers and put a child to sleep might be here. The human-machine bond that a new generation of kids grows up with may be unbreakable. We may end up literally loving our machines almost like we do our mothers and fathers. Read More
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HBO’s new show Westworld explores the hedonism and horror of VR
What if you could shoot or screw whoever you wanted without consequences? Would you feel bad about your decisions? Would you pity your victims, even if their digital memories were wiped clean? HBO dives into the heady, murky depths of virtual reality ethics with its new show Westworld, premiering October 2nd. Based on Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton’s 1973 book, Westworld… Read More
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The vivacious, acrobatic Minitaur robot will definitely improve your day
Mondays, as we all know, are the worst. That’s why it’s important to keep an eye out for heart-warming videos like puppies sliding on hardwood floors, otters holding hands, or energetic robots doing flips and climbing fences. It helps if, as in this case, the background music is a jam. Read More
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Crunch Network
Robots pave the way for our sci-fi future now
As robotics begins to leave controlled environments and navigate the real world alongside humans, the question remains: How will this affect the way we interact, work and talk to not only robots, but one another? Read More
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Crunch Network
Hard questions about bot ethics
Bots are becoming a part of our life. I wake up in the morning and tell Alexa to play my Brazilian samba, I let Amy set my meetings and I check stats and reports in Slack. Bot builders and users alike are starting to understand that bots are an integral part of our life. But what are the rules that govern these new tech friends? Read More
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