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Submission + - "Made in China" initiative is nuturing robotics according to plan (robohub.org)

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: China is poised to emerge as a global technological heavyweight in the not-too-distant future as the Chinese government simultaneously pushes to improve the quality of manufactured goods, the lives of factory workers, and perhaps most importantly, the in-country control of their manufacturing industry.

Submission + - Autonomous mobile additive manufacturing robot runs circles around traditional 3

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: 3D printing is revolutionizing the way objects are created, from plastic toys to ceramic dental crowns. But the seemingly boundless possibilities of 3D printing technology have one major limitation—the printers themselves, which are large, bulky, and stationary. Addibots is startup developing wheeled additive manufacturing machines that are literally driving circles around traditional 3D printers.

Submission + - California's new DMV regulations may kill the state's robocar lead

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: California's new state driving laws effectively make it illegal to operate a vehicle without a licensed driver, making Google's plans for unmanned robocars (at least for now) impossible to pursue in the state, and giving an advantage to traditional car manufacturers, which are mostly pursuing co-pilot or auto-pilot versions of autonomous driving technology. Will this push robocar development to more autonomous-friendly states? Interesting article by robocar expert Brad Templeton.

Submission + - Introduction to Service Robotics – a new case study series by SVR (robohub.org)

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: The cost of service robots are dropping, allowing these devices entry into new markets, such as hotels, retail stories and airports. But just as important as cost are the continual improvements in the safety and compliance of these systems, as well as the development of more intuitive user interfaces.

"What is also clear is that none of these robots replace workers, but instead supplement work at critical bottleneck times/tasks or improve health outcomes making jobs more attractive, especially in areas where there is a chronic shortage or high turnover of staff ... these new robot assistants offer a tantalizing glimpse of a reshaped work paradigm, where humans gravitate to managerial jobs, leaving more of the menial and repetitive jobs to robots."

New report series by Silicon Valley Robotics Director Andra Keay.

Submission + - A brief history of MIT's legendary MechE 2.007 design and build class (robohub.org)

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: Coming to life in the 1970s with then-instructor Professor Emeritus Woodie Flowers at the lead, 2.007 was at the forefront of a revolution in engineering education, becoming one of the first hands-on classes to teach students not only how to design an object but also how to build it. Today, it’s a fun celebration of making that ends in an annual head-to-head robot competition on MechE’s Innovation Day in May.

Submission + - Configuring multiple USB devices: An alternative to udev (robohub.org)

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: If you have several devices that are all using USB, it can be difficult to know which one is which. The traditional answer to telling your various USB devices apart is to use udev rules, but there are alternatives for times when udev isn't working as expected. Handy tutorial from robot practitioner David Kohanbash.

Submission + - 2016 will be a pivotal year for social robots (robohub.org)

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: Robotics investor Frank Tobe argues that today's social robots are 'transition devices' for early adopters, and that 2016 will be the year that companies will sell enough units (or not) to determine whether this generation of social robots — like Pepper, Jibo, BUDDY and Sota — will provide real value to consumers, or whether they are 'just a passing fad'. It may be that it depends on the market, as Tobe points out Japan has heavily invested in social robots and the market there is especially fascinated with them.

Submission + - Drones for modesty (video) (robohub.org)

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: At Robohub we cover a lot of news about drones, and have encountered lots of uses for it. We’ve heard of drones for good, and drones for journalists, but this is the cheekiest use of drones we’ve seen yet.

Submission + - New comprehensive report on the risks drones pose to aircraft (robohub.org)

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: Based on FAA reports of 921 drone incidents in the US national airspace in the past two years, The Center for the Study of the Drone (Bard College) has conducted a detailed study of the risks drones post to aircraft. The 20-page report offers a detailed characterizing the incidents into category types to help add context and understanding of the kinds of risks drones pose. This article summarizes the report.

Submission + - Multi-agent systems and human-swarm interaction, with Magnus Egerstedt (robohub.org)

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: Another great episode by the team at Robots Podcast. "In this episode, Andrew Vaziri interviews Magnus Egerstedt, Professor at Georiga Tech, about his research in swarm robotics and multi-agent systems. They discuss privacy and security concerns, as well as research into interfaces designed to enable a single operator to control large swarms of robots."

Submission + - New study by BCG finds that reshoring with robots works (robohub.org)

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: Robotics investor Frank Tobe points out two important findings from Boston Consulting Group's recent survey of manufacturing executives: namely that those who are planning to add capacity are doing so in the US, and also that many are already in the process of reshoring from China. An interesting footnote to the robot-jobs debate.

Submission + - How many axes does my robot need? (robohub.org)

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: This is a nice overview of degrees of freedom and axes in a robot, and gives a list of the different types of robots you are likely to find, categorized by their degrees of freedom, and where you are most likely to see them in use.

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