It’s been two years since the last time I judged the Automate Startup Competition. More than any other trade show contest, this event has been an oracle of future success. In following up with the last vintage of participants, all of the previous entries are still operating and many are completing multi-million dollar financing rounds. As an […]
Conquering The Home, One Shirt At A Time
Last week, attending the Our Crowd Summit, I felt engulfed by the breadth of innovation and minds gathered in Jerusalem’s International Convention Center. Jonathan Medved’s billion-dollar crowd-funding platform has launched some of Israel’s most promising mechatronic startups, including ReWalk, Intuition Robotics, Airobotics, and Argus Cyber Security. Medved’s success is his infectious positivity and confidence that fosters collaboration across the venture ecosystem. […]
Machines That Smell Trouble
Abruptly, I enter the cab escaping the arctic weather to confront something worse than freezing rain – body odor. Luckily, another taxi pulled to the curb and I continued my journey to last Tuesday’s RobotLab forum on Cybersecurity & Machines. Moderating a panel at the new Global Cyber Center, with John Frankel of ffVC and Guy Franklin of SOSA, I […]
Is the Green New Deal Sustainable?
Washington DC was abuzz with news that had nothing to do with the occupant of The White House. A group of progressive legislators, led by Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, in the House of Representatives, introduced “The Green New Deal.” The resolution by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was in response to the alarming Fourth National Climate Assessment by […]
What Happens When The Unmanned Awakens And Becomes Self-Aware?
The star of the Super Bowl wasn’t on the field, but the robot in Michelob ULTRA commercial. The metal beast was featured living and playing among humans, taking any opportunity to show off his brute strength. The bot smugly proves he do anything better than his organic citizens, except down a cold one. In the closing caption, […]
Executing Better By Listening To Public Discontent
In the wake of the closure of Apple’s autonomous car division (Project Titan) this week, one questions if Steve Jobs’ axiom still holds true. “Some people say, ‘Give the customers what they want.’ But that’s not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they’re going to want before they do,” declared Jobs and […]
Could Robots Solve The Mystery Of The Universe?
While vacationing and experiencing a major family milestone, a hidden news story about a local-born scientist caught my eye. Dr. Avi Loeb, chairman of Harvard University’s astronomy department, controversially proposed that Oumuamua (the mysterious elongated asteroid-like object that was discovered in 2017) could be an interstellar alien visitor. The scout from the Vega Galaxy “may be a fully operational […]
Cheer The Year Of Co-Bots By Correcting Human Blunders
The ball is just days away from dropping in Times Square with revelers anticipating 2019 by making resolutions to act better in the coming year. The most human of all traits is to make mistakes. Correcting our wrongs is often a long, arduous task; however, machines are far more capable at avoiding mistakes by isolating […]
The Viability of Toilet Cleaning Robots
The 1996 discovery of Allan Hills 84001 changed the world of science, and by extension robotics. I am referring to the meteorite that Dave McKay of NASA found on Earth, which hinted at life on Mars. Fast forward to the AI Summit two weeks ago, when I sat down with Stephen Gorevan of HoneyBee Robotics to discuss NASA’s Mars […]
The Metaphysical Impact Of Automation
Earlier this month, I crawled into Dr. Wendy Ju‘s autonomous car simulator to explore the future of human-machine interfaces. Dr. Ju recently moved to the Roosevelt Island campus from Stanford University. While in California, the roboticist was famous for making videos capturing people’s reactions to self-driving cars using students disguised as “ghost-drivers” in seat costumes. Professor […]