CHRONICLING THE ROBOT INDUSTRY
SINCE 2011 © ROBOT RABBI
As my colleague Steve Crowe reported last October, one of the biggest automation stories of the year was the stalling of Cruise after California’s Department of Motor Vehicles suspended its driverless testing license. While Cruise has had many mishaps since the launch of its robotaxi service on the streets of … Read More
As we prepare for the busiest travel days of the year, it is time to reflect on how far transportation has progressed since the horse & buggy. This past week the number of cities testing autonomous taxis grew to include Boston, with MIT upstart nuTonomy. Equally important to the driverless ecosystem is … Read More
Pundits are already speculating that the fatal crash by Uber’s autonomous taxi will set the driverless car industry back decades. As the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) deconstructs the accident to report on the technological breakdown, it is clear that the redundant systems failed – from the safety driver’s ability … Read More
The internet hummed last week with reports that “Humans Still Make Better Surgeons Than Robots.” Stanford University Medical Center set off the tweetstorm with its seemingly scathing report on robotic surgery. When reading the research of 24,000 patients with kidney cancer, I concluded that the problem lied with the humans overcharging patients … Read More
My throat is sore from touting New York’s tech prowess, which I realize has been for naught. Almost as quickly as the balloons from the Mayor’s celebration lost their air did Amazon announce it was leaving the Big Apple. The blow to our local venture community is like a sucker … Read More
The device named “Spark” flew high above the man on stage with his hands waving in the direction of the flying object. In a demonstration of DJI’s newest drone, the audience marveled at the the Coke can-sized device’s most compelling feature – gesture controls. Instead of a traditional remote control, this flying … Read More
In a time of “America First” the benefits of space travel are clouded by the smoke of hyperbole. In reality, there have been over 2,000 inventions courtesy of NASA that are making our lives better here on Earth. Everyday we benefit as much from the journey as from the destination. These innovations include … Read More
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 … Read More
The Financial Times this week wrote a four-part series on “Robots: Friend or Foe?” The editors agree that the Robolution is now a matter of time, as we stand on a precipices of an automated world. While the cynics, and possibly Donald Trump as well, cry in panic at the loss of … Read More
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. … Read More
