VC Funding For Robotics Grew 36 per cent in 2014. Like everyone else today, robots are following the VC dollars. And while many funding rounds are aimed at the usual industrial automation, money is also flowing to startups developing more human-friendly robots.
Editor's note: Traction Watch is a new column focused obsessively on growth, and is a companion to the DEMO Traction conference series, which brings together high-growth startups with high-potential customers. Companies can apply here to showcase, or those similarly obsessed can register here to attend.
As NASA sends robotic spacecraft and rovers to the moon and Mars, the space agency has been using artificial intelligence to get the most science out of its missions.
Robots are essentially a self-contained tribute to the wonders of technology. The most advanced models use fast computer processing, high-definition cameras, artificial intelligence and long-range sensors, all of which give you a pretty good idea where technology is heading. In some ways, a robot even provides a glimmer of the future car and future IT advances.
If you're looking for signs of our collective robotic future, it's either terrifyingly near or forever just around the corner.
Take a drive on Highway 101 between Silicon Valley and San Francisco these days and you might see one of Google's driverless cars in the lane next to you. The vehicles are one of the most visible signs of the increasing amount of research going on in the area related to automated driving technology.
What do you get when you combine the brains of Android with the body of Lego? If you're UK-based chip designer and Lego enthusiast David Gilday, you get a DIY robot capable of solving a Rubik's Cube.