What went seriously wrong with Lily Robotics
Kayla Matthews for VentureBeat: Lying in general is a bad idea, but lying to your would-be customers is an especially awful thing to do. That’s the lesson allegedly being learned by Lily Robotics, which, at the end of January, was raided by San Francisco police as part of a potential criminal investigation.
Let’s back up. Why is the SFPD raiding the headquarters of a robotics company? It’s been a long, strange road, but let’s go back to the beginning.
In 2016, Lily Robotics took more than 60,000 preorders for an upcoming product — preorders valued at more than $34 million. Naturally, these customers expected the product to be delivered within the specified time frame and to work as depicted in the company’s promotional videos. Cont'd...
Crowdfunding Projects For October
The Hobby Hand, Hobby Hand and two other wacky crowdfunding projects. Sit back and watch the videos.
Crowdfunding Projects For April
Here are a few projects we think are worth looking into. Be careful... it is crowdfunding.
Crowdfunding Projects For November
Here are a few projects we think are worth looking into. Be careful... it is crowdfunding.
Kickstarter - Chinese 3D Printer Maker Zhuhai CTC Electronic Cancels Formaker Project on Kickstarter
The company hits a bump in its overseas crowdfunding journey
Kickstarter - Steady Shot Bot Launches Kickstarter Campaign to Empower New Generation of Photographer Superheroes
The Steady Shot Bot launched a Kickstarter campaign, and it may be the last tool needed for Time lapse and Steadicam work... but only if photographers support it.
Indiegogo - Contribute and Grab the World's First Portable 3D Printer: Freaks3D
Now anyone can fulfill the dream of printing their desired 3D objects with the help of world's first portable 3D printer by ElecFreaks Tech, called Freaks3D.
Makeblock mBot: Introducing kids to robotics and programming
By Hitesh Raj Bhagat, ET Bureau: This cute little fella is the mBot — a do-it-yourself educational robot kit from robotics experts Makeblock. Built around the Arduino open-source platform, it's designed to induct kids into the fields of robotics and programming. The company chose to build around the concept of STEM education: science, technology, engineering & mathematics. Specifically, it helps children get an early start into these disciplines. There are two versions of the mBot: a Bluetooth version for home use 2.4Ghz WiFi version, which is designed for classroom use.
The company took to Kickstarter to generate funds for mBot and promised one unit for $49 (plus shipping). From a modest $20,000 goal, a staggering $285,463 was raised during the campaign. Now, you can buy a kit from Makeblock's website. Coming back to the mBot, everything that you need to build it is in the box — in a nutshell, you need to assemble it using the precise instructions provided and add batteries. There are 45 pieces and it's easy to put them together in about 15 minutes. It's neatly packaged and consists of very high quality materials — including some attractive anodised aluminium parts in your choice of pink or blue. Every little part that you need — from the main Arduino board, DC motors, to each screw, cable and even a set of tools — is in the box. It comes pre-programmed but it's also designed to be tinkered with. Parent of pre-teens might be familiar with Scratch — a free, graphicalbased programming language developed by MIT Media Lab. Well, Makeblock has built their own version for this and called it mBlock (it's based on Scratch 2.0 and free to download from their website). The idea behind mBlock is that younger children can start out with graphical programming and move on to text-based programming as they become more advanced. Cont'd...
Plug and Play to Host Internet of Things Accelerator Pitch Competition
Twenty Startups Showcase Their Innovations to Investors and Corporations, Second Batch of Entrepreneurs Graduate from IoT Accelerator
Drone Startups Grab Record Cash
By Thomas Black for Bloomberg Business: Startup drone makers are finding record amounts of funding as venture capitalists prowl for early winners in what may become an $82 billion industry.
From Silicon Valley to New York, firms including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Lightspeed Venture Partners and ff Venture Capital are lining up behind unmanned aerial vehicle companies. Google Inc., General Electric Co. and Qualcomm Inc. also are jumping in with cash.
“Everybody wants to invest in drones because they’re seeing not only the potential but actual results right now,” said Jon Ollwerther, vice president of marketing and operations at drone builder AeroCine, which operates from a waterfront Brooklyn warehouse with a view of the Statue of Liberty. “We have said no to money.”
There’s more than ever to go around. Investors have pumped $210 million into businesses like SZ DJI Technology Co. and DroneDeploy so far in 2015, almost double the total for all of last year, according to data compiler CrunchBase. The pace has quickened as U.S. regulators grant more exemptions for limited commercial operations, reassuring financial backers that they’ll see a payoff from their support. Cont'd...
Siemens Expands Frontier Partner Program for Manufacturing-focused Startups to Accelerate Innovations to Market
Siemens and Silicon Valley combine engineering and entrepreneurship to forge breakthrough technologies, harness the power of data and make 'real things.
---Frontier Partner program grants 3D printing and robotics-focused startups access to Siemens software and technology to accelerate product development.
---Announcements made at The Atlantic Silicon Valley event discussing software innovation and the next generation of manufacturing and 3D printing.
RoboticsTomorrow Related Kickstarter Projects - June 2015
Here are some crowd funding projects of interest.
Japan's Robot Revolution Is Attracting Venture Capitalists
by Shigeru Sato and Monami Yui for Bloomberg Business: Venture capitalists who have long avoided investing in Japan may think again as startups in the country develop a new generation of robot technology, according to consultant Koichi Hori.
While Japan has little chance of catching up to the U.S. in digital media, the next phase of technological innovation will be in robotics with artificial intelligence, said Hori, who headed Boston Consulting Group Inc.’s Japan office before founding Dream Incubator Inc. in 2000. That plays to Japan’s strengths in engineering, he said.
“Digital media will only be in the mainstream for about three years, or five years at most,” Hori, 70, said in an interview in Tokyo on May 27. “From that time on, robots and robotics will be the eye-catchy industries. Japan has a good chance, particularly in the area of hardware for robots.”
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing for a “robot revolution” to help reclaim the dominance of Japanese technology after companies such as Sony Corp. lost ground to Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. With venture investment less than 3 percent that of the U.S., Japan has struggled to replicate Silicon Valley’s success as a hub of innovation. Cont'd...
Qualcomm Announces 10 Companies Selected to Participate in the Qualcomm Robotics Accelerator, Powered by Techstars
Qualcomm is Jumpstarting the Next Wave of Innovation in Robotics with its Accelerator program
Kickstarter - Start Your Rotors - C-mi is a Drone for Everyone
C-mis Kickstarter Success has been supported with advance purchases of this superior quality drone at well below market pricing.
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Featured Product
ATI Industrial Automation - MC-50 Manual Tool Changer
With intuitive and ergonomic lever operation, the patent-pending MC-50 Manual Robot Tool Changer provides a simple solution for quickly changing robotic end-of-arm tooling by hand. This compact and robust Tool Changer is designed for applications on collaborative robots that support payloads up to 25 kg and small industrial robots supporting payloads up to 10 kg. Featuring an ISO 50 mm mounting interface on the Master-side and Tool-side, the low-profile MC-50 mounts directly to most cobots and seamlessly integrates with many common cobot marketplace grippers and end-effectors.
