The recent breaking news story on The Robot Report was, unfortunately, the demise of Helen Greiner’s company, CyPhy Works (d/b/a Aria Insights). The high-flying startup raised close to $40 million since its creation in 2008, making it the second business founded by an iRobot alum that has shuttered within five months. While it is not immediately clear why the tethered-drone […]
Cool Tech
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. […]
Amazon Bolts New York City To Keep Truckin’
My throat is sore from touting New York’s tech prowess, which I realize has been for naught. Almost as quickly as the balloons from the Mayor’s celebration lost their air did Amazon announce it was leaving the Big Apple. The blow to our local venture community is like a sucker punch to the gut. While […]
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 […]
Technology and Covert Operations
Covert Operations has long relied on a mix of the most current technology available, and the need for an “old-school,” hands-on approach. No covert operative worth his salt would rely entirely on technology, as opening up an operation to an easy hack is almost the first danger one is warned against in training. I ran […]
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 […]
Accessing The Power Of Quantum Computing, Today
Two weeks ago, I participated on a panel at the BCI Summit exploring the impact of quantum computing. As a neophyte to the subject, I marveled at the riddle posed by Grover’s Algorithm. Imagine you are assigned to find a contact in a phonebook with a billion names, but all you are given is a telephone number. A […]
Ezra Raises $4M To Bring Annual Memberships for Cancer Screenings
Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer in men and the current standard of testing, PSA blood tests are not optimal as PSA often fluctuate and do not provide an accurate gauge, which ultimately leads to unnecessary and avoidable biopsies. Launching today is Ezra, a startup that is simplifying cancer detection starting with prostate […]
VR Will Be Fun and Useful But it is Still Far, Far Away From Reality
I’ve been going to CES with my dad for the last 10 years, seeing almost every gadget, gizmo and widget before they came mainstream. Wearables, VR and AR really only started to garner traction and attention a few years back and while it’s come a long way since, it still has a long way to […]
This is Why Investing in Art is Providing Unparalleled Returns
If you’re thinking about investing in non-traditional asset classes, fine art should be high on your list of options to explore. Over a span of several decades, fine art’s favorable investment characteristics, such as its ability to act as a store of wealth to hedge against inflation and currency devaluation, have made it an increasingly […]
The Race For Robot Clairvoyance
This week a Harvard Business School student challenged me to name a startup capable of producing an intelligent robot – TODAY! At first, I did not understand the question, as artificial intelligence (AI) is an implement like any other in a roboticist’s toolbox. The student persisted, she demanded to know if I thought that the […]