What Is a Robot?

The year is 2016. Robots have infiltrated the human world. We built them, one by one, and now they are all around us. Soon there will be many more of them, working alone and in swarms. One is no larger than a single grain of rice, while another is larger than a prairie barn. These machines can be angular, flat, tubby, spindly, bulbous, and gangly. Not all of them have faces. Not all of them have bodies.

And yet they can do things once thought impossible for machine. They vacuum carpets, zip up winter coats, paint cars, organize warehouses, mix drinks, play beer pong, waltz across a school gymnasium, limp like wounded animals, write and publish stories, replicate abstract expressionist art, clean up nuclear waste, even dream.

Robots That Teach Each Other

Many of the jobs humans would like robots to perform, such as packing items in warehouses, assisting bedridden patients, or aiding soldiers on the front lines, aren’t yet possible because robots still don’t recognize and easily handle common objects. People generally have no trouble folding socks or picking up water glasses, because we’ve gone through “a big data collection process” called childhood, says Stefanie Tellex, a computer science professor at Brown University. For robots to do the same types of routine tasks, they also need access to reams of data on how to grasp and manipulate objects. Where does that data come from? Typically it has come from painstaking programming. But ideally, robots could get some information from each other.

The Multi-Billion Dollar Robotics Market Is About to Boom

Here’s another sign that the robotics industry is poised to see big gains in the future.

On Wednesday, a report by International Data Corporation said worldwide spending on robotics and related services will hit $135.4 billion in 2019. The research firm said that global robotics spending in 2015 was $71 billion, and is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 17%.

Lumping together everything from robot software to hardware components to robot services (like robotic hotel receptionists) in its tally of robotic spending, the report’s authors explain that the total spend on robot services, business consulting, education, and training will eventually eclipse sales of the robots themselves by 2019.

“Robotics as a technology has really reached its tipping point,” said IDC Manufacturing Insights research manager John Santagate in a statement. “Robotic capabilities continue to expand while increasing investment in robot development is driving competition and helping to bring down the costs associated with robots.”

The authors said that the two fastest growing industries for robotics are healthcare and process manufacturing, which is a branch of manufacturing that involves developing products based on recipes or formulas, like sodas or drugs.

Currently, the manufacturing sector is purchasing the most robots and related services. But the report explained that the healthcare sector is expected to see a bump in robotics purchases, with spending expected to double by 2019.

Read More: http://fortune.com/2016/02/24/robotics-market-multi-billion-boom/

The rise of robots, virtual reality coming soon

Virtual reality and robots could soon become more commonplace in U.S. homes if recent predictions for 2016 play out.

Technology improvements, new gear rollouts and lower costs are expected to spark greater interest in virtual reality technology from Facebook's Oculus, Google as well as Sony, HTC and others, according to Juniper Research.

Two consumer devices are already available: A VR headset made by Oculus for Samsung Galaxy smartphones, and Google Cardboard, which works with any smartphone. Juniper expects those devices and competing gear to get even more popular over the next five years.
"The technology is now poised to transform the entertainment industry, including games and video, in the next few years, whilst offering the potential to quickly expand into other markets such as industrial and healthcare," according to a recent Juniper report.

"We might get to a point where there's enough ubiquity of virtual reality where you can really build a company in this market today," Box CEO Aaron Levie said in an interview with CNBC. Levie's firm sells enterprise software for content management and file sharing.

There are already more than 200 companies developing virtual reality technology including hardware and software, and they're worth a combined $13 billion, according to research from VB Profiles.

Read More: http://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/11/the-rise-of-robots-virtual-reality-coming-soon.html

China Wants to Replace Millions of Workers with Robots

China is laying the groundwork for a robot revolution by planning to automate the work currently done by millions of low-paid workers.

The government’s plan will be crucial to a broader effort to reform China’s economy while also meeting the ambitious production goals laid out in its latest economic blueprint, which aims to double per capita income by 2020 from 2016 levels with at least 6.5 percent annual growth. The success of this effort could, in turn, affect the vitality of the global economy.

The scale and importance of China’s robot ambitions were made clear when the vice president of the People’s Republic of China, Li Yuanchao, appeared at the country’s first major robotics conference, held recently in Beijing. Standing onstage between two humanoid entertainment robots with outsized heads, Li delivered a message from China’s leader, Xi Jinping, congratulating the organizers of the effort. He also made it clear that robotics would be a major priority for the country’s economic future.

Many of the robots on show at the conference’s exhibition hall were service or entertainment robots such as automated vacuum cleaners, cheap drones, or quirky looking machines designed to serve as personal companions. But there were also many industrial robots that signaled the real impetus for China’s robot push: its manufacturing sector.

China is already the world’s largest producer of everything from clothes to electronics, but much of it depends on low-cost, low-skill labor. And even as economic growth has slowed, wages continue to rise across the country as the economy evolves. The Chinese government is also eager to see its workforce diversify and its manufacturing industries become more technologically advanced.

Read More: http://www.technologyreview.com/news/544201/china-wants-to-replace-millions-of-workers-with-robots/

Robotics teams compete in first ever league play

Learning a new language between the start of term and Dec. 12 can be daunting, but the Midland High School’s robotics teams are confident it’s not out of their league. Teams from both Midland High and Lee High are competing today in the First Tech Challenge with robots programmed using Java, a change-up from last year.

“The competition changed platforms for both electronics hardware and software this year requiring teams to use Java as a new language as they build apps (applications),” said Cory Callaway, Midland High’s robotics adviser. “Midland High’s teams have been working furiously to design, build, test, redesign, and modify our robots to meet the challenges of this year’s competition.”

Teams compete from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. today at the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum.

Java is considered mainstream in the tech and programming world because of its user-friendly language. The apps act as software pieces for Android phones, which are the “"brains” of the students’ robots, according to Callaway.

“We’re an engineering community, and ... engineering is continuing to incorporate more robotics technology,” he said. “College students are learning programming and coding when they’re not exposed in high school, so those exposed in high school are ahead. It’s a competition that fits the academic side of the growth in the industry right now.”

It marks the first time for the Panhandle and Plains Region to incorporate “league play,” which lets teams compete in events and accumulate points that determine the seeding for invitational qualifier matches. It also marks a first for the Petroleum Museum hosting a robotics event.

“While working with the Petroleum Museum over the past couple of years, our conversation took a natural turn toward working together to help provide more opportunities to the students of Midland,” Callaway said.

Stacie Hanna, the museum’s director of education, said it was a step toward the museum’s desire to incorporate more science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) into its education curriculum.

Read More: http://www.mrt.com/news/education/article_8eabd836-a08e-11e5-9fe3-df1e4eb1ee2e.html