It has been two years since OceanOne, “the robotic mermaid,” first discovered the seventeenth century shipwreck La Lune, the prized frigate of King Louis XIV’s navy. Professor Oussama Khatib of Stanford, the inventor of the swimming humanoid, heralded in then a new age of subsea exploration. After the 100 meter dive labeled too dangerous for humans, Khatib, clutching his […]
NASA
NASA Spinoffs: Bringing Space Down To Earth
In a time of “America First” the benefits of space travel are clouded by the smoke of hyperbole. In reality, there have been over 2,000 inventions courtesy of NASA that are making our lives better here on Earth.
Outsourcing Space to the Bots
“I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that,” rings as a warning to mankind when we yield too much power to machines. HAL, the tyrannical computer in Stanley Kubrick’s movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey, was cleverly a one-letter shift from IBM. Recently released letters from Kubrick reveal his fear of the computing giant… Fast-forward […]
Do Not Forget Grants if you Need Early Seed Money for your Startup
In the U.S., many entrepreneurs see grants as “free money,” since they are not loans and don’t have to be repaid. A grant is not an equity investment, so the entrepreneur doesn’t have to give up a stake in the company either. Typically grants can be used to fund product development and commercialization that would […]
cloudBits Lets You Create Your Own Smart Devices
Do you ever look your friends’ smart thermostat and other connected home appliances with envy? Have you ever looked at one of your “dumb” appliances and thought to yourself, “man, I wish there was a simple way to make that thing smarter?” Do you like rolling up your sleeves and working on craft projects? If […]
Will Robots Explore Mars Before Humans?
There is a lot of talk about robots replacing human jobs, but what happens when robots replace themselves? Meet Valkyrie, NASA’s new advanced humanoid “superhero” robot that may one day be used to explore Mars ahead of humans—we are way past chimps. Valkyrie was designed by NASA scientists to compete in the DARPA Robotics Challenge […]
5 Startup Lessons for Fast-Growing Companies
Within our first month of publicly launching Ministry of Supply in June 2012, we sold more than 6,000 shirts and gained 4,000 customers. Our company grew fast because it had to. We were an adolescent trapped in a baby’s body — we had to learn how to sprint before we could learn how to walk, and […]
Bennu: Gaming Society for the Good of Green
When it comes to environmentalism, we usually have the best of intentions. We turn out the lights when we leave a room, use public transit, buy environmentally-friendly products, and attempt, in numerous ways, to cut down our ecological footprint. But what about those late nights coming home from work when we need just a few […]