It Takes A Village To Deploy A Tactile Telerobot

Observing MLK Day, I followed in the footsteps of Katherine Johnson at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Her memory still looms large over the Mission Control room that launched Apollo 11’s successful lunar landing fifty years ago. This historic milestone could not have been achieved without the mathematical genius … Read More

The PropTech Report: An Open Frontier For Hardware Entrepreneurs

Two constants have guided my professional life: venture capital and real estate. Every year, I eagerly await to see which portfolio will produce greater returns. Today, in the  words of the great (fictional) New Yorker George Louis Costanza, “Worlds are colliding!”  Enertiv, a New York Angels investment, keeps growing with … Read More

Privacy Data Guidelines For Mechatronic Innovators

A harem of scantily-dressed women blazed across Tuesday’s New York Post cover proudly modeling the latest in affordable cell phone technology courtesy of Pablo Escobar’s brother, Roberto. The tabloid quipped that mobile apps today are more addicting than cocciaine. China (among other data junkies) is counting on this dependency to … Read More

The 5G Report Card, Building Today’s Smart IoT Ecosystem

The elephant in the room loomed large two weeks ago at the inaugural Internet of Things Consortium (IoTC) Summit in New York City. Almost every presentation began apologetically with the refrain, “In a 5G world…” practically challenging the industry’s rollout goals. At one point Brigitte Daniel-Corbin, IoT Strategist with Wilco … Read More

A 360 Degree View Of Incubating Mechatronics

Last month, private equity giant Blackstone Group announced the acquisition of Colony Capital for $5.9 billion, a deal that encompasses 60 million square feet of warehouse space across 465 facilities. Blackstone is reported to manage now over $250 billion worth of property worldwide, and the Colony purchase comes on the … Read More

Is China An AI Security Concern?

This past week, the Interior Department ordered the grounding of its drone fleet that was made in China or contained Chinese parts. This comes on the heels of similar actions taken by the Department of Homeland Security in May and the United States Army in 2017. While political pundits credit the … Read More

Implementing Pro Active Cyber Policies For SmartCity Infrastructure

Every 39 seconds a cyber attack hits companies and government offices in the United States. Last week, after moderating a discussion with Chuck Brooks of General Dynamics on the vulnerabilities of ransomware, a non-profit that I support became the latest victim. This all too close event, that threatened millions of … Read More

The DARPA SubT Challenge: A Robot Triathlon

One of the biggest urban legends growing up in New York City were rumors about alligators living in the sewers. This myth even inspired a popular children’s book called “The Great Escape: Or, The Sewer Story,” with illustrations of reptiles crawling out of apartment toilets. To this day, city dwellers … Read More

CivDrone: Breaking Through The Hype By Staking Out A New Workflow Paradigm

Watching the news today is reminiscent of the sound of fingernails screeching down a chalkboard. Few reporters take the time to truly analyze the context of their stories from superstorms to mass shootings to the widespread adoption of autonomous systems. Even trade publications are guilty of hyping pole-dancing robots over articles … Read More

Summer Travel Diary: Reopening Cold Cases With Robotic Data Discoveries

Traveling to six countries in eighteen days, I journeyed with the goal delving deeper into the roots of my family before World War II. As a child of refugees, my parents’ narrative is missing huge gaps of information. Still, more than seventy-eight years since the disappearance of my Grandmother and … Read More