CHRONICLING THE ROBOT INDUSTRY

Articles

  • Robots Lending A Hand

    On Monday, Uber launched its fleet of autonomous cars (Ford Fusions) in Pittsburgh, PA. The test represents Uber Chief Executive Travis Kalanick’s audacious vision to one day roll out an entire fleet of autonomous vehicles to replace the company’s roughly 1.5 million drivers and to ferry commuters, packages and food around urban… Listen ⇢

  • Robotic Mind Meld

    The brain is an electric organ, and its 86 billion neurons communicate via pulses of electricity. When a voltage change causes one neuron to “fire,” it releases chemicals that trigger voltage changes in connected neurons. The brain’s every operation, from automatic functions like maintaining a heartbeat to cognitive processes such as… Listen ⇢

  • Bot Brains Inside

    In honor of my lunch this afternoon, I wanted to share a snapshot of the sushi chef (see video below). While these parlor trick robots do make tasty rice patties, they remind us of how early we are in the cycle of robotics. Windows 95 was the moment when personal computing became ubiquitous;… Listen ⇢

  • Sailing The High Seas, Autonomously

    Before discussing the wonders of marine robotics, I must comment on what is happening in Rio. More than any other Olympics, robots are playing a critical roll in capturing and reporting on athletes. Getty Images recently opened up a free part of its photo collection to consumers with the launch of an… Listen ⇢

  • The Dull, The Dangerous and The Dirty

    This past week, I watched one of my favorite movies “The Good, the Bad and The Ugly.” Inspired by the highly anticipated premier of HBO’s remake of “West World,” (trailer below), I thought about recasting Albert Grimaldi’s 1966 classic in robotic terms – ‘the dull, the dangerous, and the dirty.’ This… Listen ⇢

    The Dull, The Dangerous and The Dirty

  • Protecting Mankind from Menacing Robots

    This past Tuesday, Suki Bagel, a 12 week old Border Collie arrived in our house. Suki was so excited to be united with her new family that she peed on our kitchen floor. Seeing my disappointment, my wife retorted, “what do you expect, she’s not a robot?” I replied that AIBO never peed.… Listen ⇢

    Protecting Mankind from Menacing Robots

  • From Death to Life: The Robot Week In Review

    So much happened this week, I do not know where to begin. We are still reeling in America from the Dallas ambush. I am reminded that it could have been much worse if it was not for the local police department’s robot that delivered Micah Johnson (the shooter) an explosive… Listen ⇢

  • Are Autonomous Cars Accelerating Too Quickly?

    This past Monday, I accompanied my 18-year-old daughter to her road test. While there, I began reflecting on the amount of emphasis we put on developing good judgement. It struck me that, as we transition into an autonomous driving future, we need to question what we are doing to prepare our machines, and ourselves,… Listen ⇢

  • Drone Update: Flying Overseas For Flights

    On March 28, 1931, a small subsidiary of Boeing, United Air Lines, announced that it completed the first transcontinental passenger flight in 27 hours. This ushered in the golden age of commercial American aviation, which lasted over 40 years. Autonomous aviation was birthed in 1849 by an Austrian attack on Italy with unmanned… Listen ⇢

Order Today!

My goal for this book is to help you at a pivotal point in your ideation process and, at the same, introduce you to a cadre of potential mentors. Through interviews with some of the most respected luminaries in this field, I aim to help fortify your resolve to follow your passions and build a billion-dollar company. The chapters of this book have been organized like field guide, as if you are setting out on a trip in the wild. Just like it’s essential to satiate yourself before scaling mountains, fast-tracking your innovation into the hands of early adopters is vital for achieving success on Main Street.

“Oliver Mitchell is among the world’s leading thinkers about robots and robotics. He is also one of the world’s leading visionaries about how humans think about robots, invest in robotics, and build robotics companies. …. The reader gets to be the beneficiary of Oliver’s creation of a new knowledge ecosystem.” – Dan Burstein, New York Times bestselling author of 15 nonfiction books, and Managing Partner and Co-Founder, Millennium Technology Value Partners.

“This book … [draws] from interviews with industry experts who share firsthand experiences from real-world ventures, the author distils invaluable lessons from both their successes and failures. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to my students and colleagues involved in robotics research and education as an exceptional resource for guiding their entrepreneurial pursuits.” Katsuo Kurabayashi, Professor and Chair, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, NYU Tandon School of Engineering, USA.