Sometimes it takes a bit of jetlag and some interesting emails to spur on a post here at Pilot Presence. And once again, we have some doozies:
Robot Startup Companies – our friends at The Robot Report has done some excellent work in capturing around 130 robotics companies around the world – include some of our favorites like Suitable Technologies , Robodynamics, 5DRobotics and Robotex. Seems they missed out on our friends in Russia, r.bot.- Will Your Next Government Co-Worker Be a Robot? – from Government Computer News, John Breeden II posts an article that discusses the recent MIT/Technology Review article on The Avatar Economy by Matt Beane. Both the original and the GCN article are worth a read – but our favorite discovery is this:
According to the study, it’s not actually the robotic technology itself that was the stumbling block to implementing robots before now. It was the connection speeds.
- Botiful, social presence robot for Android – as seen on Techcrunch and Gizmag, Botiful is another mobile-base-with-smartphone play. We love how Claire, a French robotist (is there any other type?) spent a great deal of time building an elegant platform (and cute) to support her needs to communicate with family/friends from France to Palo Alto. Her video (shown below) is worth a look. And yes, we are backing the project as well!