Remote Telepresence Yields Benefits in the Pet Market
The vast majority of companies that have introduced remote telepresence robot solutions over the past few years have focused on business applications rather than targeting personal use. It may well be that they're missing a huge market opportunity.
Hanrob Pet Hotels in Australia has launched a new "PetSkype" service allowing owners to talk to and interact with their pets while traveling. It's a big comfort, and relief, to caring pet owners to see first hand how their pets are bearing up under the strain and dislocation of being away from home.
Hanrob had already been emailing photos and status updates to owners, but found that there was significant interest in providing them with more interaction.
In an age where it's easy and relatively inexpensive to have a video chat with associates, friends, and relatives across the globe, enabling pet owners to reap the same benefits, and comfort, was a natural next step.
Via: Hanrob Pet Hotels launch PetSkype and Robert at RoboDance
National Polytechnic Institute – Mexico City – Wins 21 Medals at RoboGames
The National Polytechnic Institute, Mexico City, took home a total of 21 medals at RoboGames 2012 last month giving Mexico the second highest number of medals, just behind the U.S.
Their outstanding performance included capturing gold and bronze medals in the 1 lb Autonomous Combat classification; dominating the Autonomous Sumo classifications with gold, silver, and bronze medals in several different categories; sweeping all medals in the Autonomous Line Follower classification; and more.
Via: National Polytechic Institute - Mexico (PDF in Spanish)
Canon Building New Robotic Factories in Japan
According to a report in Monday's Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Canon, the world's leader in digital cameras with a 20% marketshare, is building two automated plants in Oita Prefecture that are expected to be fully online by 2015.
The first plant, in Utsunomiya City, will fully automate the camera assembly process using robotics eliminating the need for human workers as much as possible. The second plant, in Kunisaki is expected to implement similar advances in Canon interchangeable lens production.
Canon has placed a priority on increasing efficiency and decreasing the human assembly component since 1990. Recent market and environmental changes, including the impact of the March 2010 earthquake and tsunami, difficult foreign currency exchange rates, flooding in Thailand, and the expected challenges with manufacturing in China going forward, seem to have accelerated Canon's initiative to strengthen its manufacturing base in Japan.
Moving production back from overseas factories to domestic doesn't directly correlate to job creation or transfer. Canon has been silent on the exact job impact of their new facilities, however it appears that manufacturing employees associated with Canon camera and accessory production in Oita Prefecture have decreased by half over the past three years.
Via: Nihon Keizai Shinbun
What Evolving Robots Can Teach Us About the History of Life and the Future of Technology (Video)
I just added John Long's new book, "Darwin's Devices" to my reading list. Long serves as the director of Vassar College's Interdisciplinary Robotics Research Laboratory and is also a professor at the same institution focusing on cognitive science and biology.
Surfing the web, I ran across some recommendations and reviews of Long's book, and the subtitle, "What Evolving Robots Can Teach Us About the History of Life and the Future of Technology", immediately caught my attention.
Long's unique approach has been described as:
… he creates robots that look and behave like extinct animals, subjects them to evolutionary pressures, lets them compete for mates and resources, and mutates their ‘genes’. In short, he lets robots play the game of life.
Here's the author being interviewed about his new book:
’What Evolving Robots Can Teach Us About the History of Life and the Future of Technology (Video)’ continues
Celebrating 20 Years of Wolfenstein 3D
It's really hard to believe, but it's been 20 years since the first version of Wolfenstein 3D was introduced, the game that devoured untold hours of my free time, plus countless hours when I should have been working or sleeping.
To celebrate the anniversary, there's a free online version of Wolfenstein 3D that you can play to your heart's content, plus a 25 minute interview with John Carmack, the id Software co-founder, Technical Director and lead programer for the popular game.
Via: Celebrating 20 Years of Wolfenstein 3D - The Game That Started It All
Micromouse Robot Developers Increase Consistently For Two Decades
In reading through the new Introduction to Micromouse Robots for Embedded Developers article on MONOist, authored by The March Hare, I was struck by the fact that participation in the annual All Japan Micromouse Competition has increased consistently over the past two decades, to the point that there were 3 times as many competitors for the 2011 event compared to when the same event took place in 1991.
The participation chart, based in part on 2009 RoboCon magazine article data, illustrates the trend quite clearly, with the post 1990 trends plotted with Expert Class in blue, Freshman Class in red, and the total in yellow. The Half Size micromouse classification started in 2009 and is shown in light green. Keep in mind that the chart numbers only represent participants in the All Japan competition. There are quite a few regional competitions held throughout Japan from the summer through late fall leading up to the All Japan event, and only the top developers make it all the way to the national competition.
While interest in engineering and design careers waned in many First World countries over the same time period, and was severely depressed during tough economic times, it appears that the Japanese not only remained dedicated to the initiative, they actually increased in number quite dramatically.
I'm not sure what conclusions can be drawn from this trend, especially since micromouse development represents a very unique sector of robotics where participants are highly motivated to compete against themselves - to beat their own best times and improve their skills and know-how - rather than attempting to defeat each other.
Nevertheless, it's a stark contrast to what took place in robotics in other countries, like the U.S., during the same period of time.
Via: ＠IT MONOist
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