robot News of 12/10/19

Watch Experts Discuss The Future Of Construction At TC: Sessions Robotics+AI

The next big thing in robotics and automation just might be construction. Technology has already revolutionized manufacturing and logistics, and now a number of well-funded startups are looking to do the same to the construction industry. This March ...

Waymo Robotaxi App Arrives On The App Store

Hailing one of Waymo’s self-driving minivans is about to get a little easier. One year after launching its Waymo One self-driving car service in the Phoenix area, the company is launching an app on iOS, the latest signal that the company is ...

AI-Enabled Assistant Robot Returning To The Space Station With Improved Emotional Intelligence

The Crew Interactive Mobile Companion (or CIMON, for short) recorded a number of firsts on its initial mission to the International Space Station, which took place last November, including becoming the first-ever autonomous free-floating robot to ...

Einride To Launch Commercial Pilot Of Driverless Electric Pods With Coca-Cola European Partners

Autonomous robotic road-riding cargo pod startup Einride has signed a new partner for a commercial pilot on Sweden’s roads, which should be a great test of the company’s electric driverless transportation pods. Einride will be providing ...

NASA Will Launch A ‘Robot Hotel’ To The Space Station On Its Next SpaceX Resupply Mission

NASA is going to be sending something it calls a ‘robot hotel’ to the International Space Station aboard the next commercial resupply mission, which is set to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket this week. The robot hotel is more ...

Amazon Robotics Head Tye Brady Will Be Speaking At TC Sessions Robotics+AI 2020 At UC Berkeley

We’re gearing up for another great TC Sessions Robotics+AI March 3 at UC Berkeley, and we’ve got some big names to announce. Last week, it was AI expert Stuart Russell and today we’re pleased to note that we’ll be joined by Amazon ...

Score Cyber Monday Savings On TechCrunch Sessions 2020 Passes

Have we got a Cyber Monday deal for you. TC Sessions: Robotics+AI (March 3) and TC Sessions: Mobility (May 14) are coming back to California in 2020 with early bird tickets starting at $275 and $250 respectively. But if you buy your pass ...

Top Mobility VCs Discuss Their Current Investment Strategies

The mobility industry is rapidly shifting to readjust for an electric and autonomous future. Automotive companies are increasingly looking outside the manufacturing sector to fuel growth, and companies that used to bank on selling vehicles are now ...

This Robot Scientist Has Conducted 100,000 Experiments In A Year

Science is exciting in theory, but it can also be dreadfully dull. Some experiments require hundreds or thousands of repetitions or trials — an excellent opportunity to automate. That’s just what MIT scientists have done, creating a robot that ...

FedEx Robot Sent Packing By NYC

FedEx’s autonomous delivery bot got a cold reception from New York City officials. After the company’s SameDay Bots — named Roxo — popped up on New York City streets last week, Mayor Bill de Blasio and transportation officials ...

Leading Robotics VCs Talk About Where They’Re Investing

The Valley’s affinity for robotics shows no signs of cooling. Technical enhancements through innovations like AI/ML, compute power and big data utilization continue to drive new performance milestones, efficiencies and use cases. Despite the ...

NASA’S Second Free-Flying Assistant Robot Gets To Work

The International Space Station is crewed by more than astronauts these days – NASA activated a free-floating autonomous robot called ‘Bumble’ earlier this year, and now Bumble has a new companion called Honey . Both are Astrobee ...

The ACLU Wants Details About Videos Of Boston Dynamics Robot In Police Exercises

Back in April at our robotics event at UC Berkeley, Boston Dynamics head Marc Raibert showed off video of the company’s Spot robot in a number of different real world scenarios. Some, like construction and first responders, were familiar to anyone ...

NASA’S Space Pallet Concept Could Land Rovers On The Moon Cheaply And Simply

NASA’s space pallet concept could land rovers on the moon cheaply and simply image Establishing an enduring presence on the Moon will mean making a lot of landings — and NASA researchers want to make those landings as reliable and cheap as possible. This robotic “pallet lander” concept would be a dead simple (as ...

Hyundai And Seoul Set To Test Self-Driving Cars On City Roads Starting Next Month

Hyundai has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the city of Seoul to begin testing six autonomous vehicles on roads in the Gangnam district beginning next month, BusinessKorea reports. The arrangement specifics that six vehicles will ...

Alphabet’S X Details A Garbage-Sorting Bot That’S Part Of Its Plan To Make Robots An Everyday Thing

Alphabet subsidiary X, which is the former Google X and which focuses exclusively on ambitious ‘moonshots,’ or applications of tech you might expect are science fiction, not a real product in development. Like a robot that can sort ...

MIT Researchers Develop A Much Better Way To Optimize The Control Of Soft Robots

MIT researchers have developed a new way to optimize how soft robots perform specific tasks – a huge challenge when it comes to soft robotics in particular, because robots with flexible bodies can basically move in an infinite number of ways at ...

Reserve Your Demo Table At TC Sessions: Robotics & AI 2020

Robotics and AI is the hottest scientific mashup since The Big Bang Theory ’s Sheldon Cooper met Amy Farrah Fowler. If you play a role in these world-changing technologies, join us at TC Sessions: Robotics & AI on March 3, 2020 at UC ...

Antarctic Tests Will Prepare This Rover For A Possible Trip To An Icy Ocean Moon

Antarctic tests will prepare this rover for a possible trip to an icy ocean moon image Exploring a distant moon usually means trundling around its uniquely inhospitable surface, but on icy ocean moons like Saturn’s Enceladus, it might be better to come at things from the bottom up. This rover soon to be tested in Antarctica could ...

Brava, A Smart Oven Maker With Big Names Attached, Just Sold To An Industrial Equipment Company

Brava had a lot of things working in its favor as startups go. It was founded in 2015 by serial executive John Pleasants, whose past stints have included as co-president of Disney Interactive Media Group, COO of Electronic Arts, and CEO of ...