Year: 2013

Robots: the “ables” of the next technology trend

The report is out – there should be rejoicing up and down robot street! Why? Because one of the tech industry’s most respected analysts is being very bullish about robots as the next technology trend. These are the figures that you wave around on SandHill Rd. This is what VCs and angel investors read. But …

AWE2013: Hardware for an augmented world

Day One of AWE2013, the Augmented World Expo, finished with Sphero, the robot ball, taking out the first ‘Auggie Award’ for hardware. Sphero, by Orbotix, won the Auggie for their augmented reality game “Sharkey the Beaver”. They’ve also just released a new AR game with zombies “The Rolling Dead”. Using Sphero as a fireball-shooting warrior, you …

AWE2013: What is the augmented world?

Augmented reality and virtual reality have been overhyped and underdelivering for years but there are many indications that things are changing. It’s not just that Google Glass has been on the streets for a year now. Well, a select few have had Google Glass for a year already and the cut down consumer version is …

Maker Faire overview

It’s impossible to see everything at Maker Faire but I tried. I was exhibiting with my hackerspace Robot Garden and had the pleasure of being both a participant and a spectator. This was the 8th annual Maker Faire and it’s grown from 18,000 attendees to over 165,000, and that’s not counting hundreds of participants ranging from hobbyists …

Accelerators and opportunities for robotics startups

New accelerators are opening and existing programs are expanding. It’s an exciting time to be a robotics or hardware startup. In my next post I’ll talk about some of the sorts of startups that investors are showing interest in, but briefly, unless you are in the industrial space: Don’t call it a robot. Call it …

Jobs isn’t the issue for robotics

Well, that’s not quite true. According to Rodney Brooks, robotics has too much Steve Wozniak and not enough Steve Jobs. And perhaps that’s where the jobs part of a very full afternoon forum should have ended. Xconomy’s forum “Robots Remake the Workplace” featured a stellar line up of robotics companies, startups and investors who covered …