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Posts Tagged ‘Robotics’

Meet Genesis Angels, A New $100M Fund For AI And Robotics, Co-Founded By Investor Kenges Rakishev And Chaired By Israel’s Ex-PM

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For those startups in more recent locations like robotics, synthetic intelligence and augmented reality who grumble that VCs are too focused on customer internet companies, help is at hand: Genesis Angels is a brand-new VC that has raised a fund of around $ 100 million, with a big portion coming from co-founder and serial investor and Kazakh petrochemical magnate Kenges Rakishev, which it plans to use for early phase financial investments in emerging areas like these and others. Based in Israel, however trying to find startups worldwide, Genesis launched simply today, naming ex-Israeli head of state Ehud Olmert as its chairman.

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Moshe Hogeg, the other co-founder behind Genesis Angels (and creator and CEO of mobile video/photo startup Mobli, visualized right here with Rakishev, left, and Olmert, center), says that the concept for Genesis came out of his and Rakishev’s observation that while the market for consumer net services is filled with a great deal of me-too companies, there is a growing world of R&D in areas like robots and fabricated intelligence that is not getting sufficient attention. It’s mostly giant tech companies like Google and Microsoft and scholastic institutions that are putting money into the really cutting edge of modern technology.

(Certainly, it was just yesterday, throughout Google’s revenues call, that CEO Larry Page talked about the “huge bets” that Google wishes to make on new innovation. Google is not afraid to make huge investments, he stated, since the worry is that if it does not it could miss out on out on the following big thing.)

The problem with this is that it leaves little room for start-ups. And although more current advancements like Kickstarter and Indigogo are producing a brand-new groundswell of interest and financial backing for some of these projets, there are yet others that will not want that kind of public profile for what they’re working on.

Hogeg describes Genesis’ role as something between the idea phase and when a VC may usually become interested in a business working on innovative innovation. “You can send the most dazzling scientist to a VC, however commonly it might take that scientist and his startup five years to develop their products,” he described in a meeting. “VCs will say, ‘ No problem, return in 4 years.’ Genesis will buy those business in the meantime.” Common financial investments will be in the array of $ 200,000 and $ 2 million.

If you check out Genesis Angels’ website, you will see that it currently details a variety of business in its portfolio, consisting of Hogeg’s. These are listed, he says, due to the fact that they are a few of the investments Rakishev himself has actually made. Genesis, he keeps in mind, is still raising cash for its first fund, with the total amount in play currently near to $ 100 million. Amongst those adding to the fund are merchant bank Forbes & Manhattan, in addition to exclusive people who are well-known in the space of angel financial investments particularly around areas like hardware and new modern technology. The first 3 investments that are being constructed of the new fund, Hogeg states, will be coming out soon.

Ehud Olmert’s session as chairman is about laying the foundation for the kind of help that Genesis Angels will have the ability to offer its portfolio companies, Hogeg states.

“He is a huge believer in modern technology. Irasel invested one of the most in this area when he was still prime minister,” he notes. The relatively little country currently has some 3,000 tech companies, according to this report from the AP on the launch of the new VC.

Olmert took workplace in 2006 however left in 2009 under a corruption scandal cloud that he is still battling. However that, evidently, has not influenced his larger impact. “Mr Olmert is a really effective guy and he can utilize his contacts to assist us and our business, for instance in partnering and joint ventures. He can open any door worldwide.”

There have been various other VC funds concentrated on these arising locations. Dmitry Grishin, for instance, the CEO of Mail. ru and founder of Grishin Robotics, last year started a $ 25 million fund dedicated to buying various other robotics companies (examples of his financial investments below, here and below).

It might be that Genesis teams up with individuals like this to work together on financial investments. “He shares a vision with us about this area,” says Hogeg.

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NAO H25 Humanoid Robot – Dancing to ‘Thriller’ – By Aldebaran Robotics – The Gadget Show Live 2013

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Author: Randy Miller

Here is the rather amazing NAO H25 Humanoid Robot. It is primarily a R&D development tool for Universities, Collages and even Schools. But can also be purcha…
Video Rating: 5 / 5

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National Robotics Week is Here!

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Author: Gabe Hall

National Robotics Week is Here!
It's time once again for National Robotics Week in the United States. Hundreds of local events are planned by robot clubs, schools, libraries, museums, and other groups throughout the week of 6-14 April. Over 170 events have already been registered on …
Read more on Robots.net

Making Robots Mimic the Human Hand
… been major obstacles to advanced robotic systems. Robotic hands that mimic the capabilities of the human hand have cost $ 10,000 or more, and computer vision systems have worked only in highly structured environments on a very limited set of objects.
Read more on New York Times

Mix-and-Match Robots Animate Voltron's Corpse
“That's when I realized that we had never given robots their due at Yuri's Night…. The fact of the matter is, the United States' manned spaceflight program is kaput (mostly) and robots are going to take a larger and larger role in space exploration …
Read more on Wired

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Heathkit Hero 1 (ET-18) Robotics Manuals Robot

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vintage microbots by kenner

$125.00 (1 Bid)
End Date: Tuesday May-21-2013 17:42:17 PDT
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60'S VINTAGE ROTATE-O-MATIC SUPER ASTRONAUT TIN ROBOT in BOX -Japan Horikawa

$99.99 (2 Bids)
End Date: Tuesday May-21-2013 17:50:01 PDT
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Martian Invader Robot Windup Tin Toy Schylling Mint New!

$13.95
End Date: Friday Jun-7-2013 9:51:49 PDT
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FIRST Robotics Barbershop Quartet

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Author: Jon Mitchell

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1176278358/first-2013-season-dunlap-eagles-robotics-team-dert?ref=home_location Help us build a fully-functional, competi…
Video Rating: 4 / 5

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Lot 4 Stepper Motors, CNC Router, Lathe, Robotics 24 VDC Nema 17 42mm Square NEW

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Author: Buck Howard

GE FANUC A05B-2301-C305 TEACH PENDANT

$500.00 (0 Bids)
End Date: Tuesday May-21-2013 9:07:12 PDT
Buy It Now for only: $900.00
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NEW VEX Robotics Design System Transmitter and Receiver Kit - with torn box.

$39.99
End Date: Sunday Jun-2-2013 5:38:52 PDT
Buy It Now for only: $39.99
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Lego Mindstorms V2.0 Robotics Invention System (3804)

$125.50
End Date: Sunday Jun-9-2013 22:44:54 PDT
Buy It Now for only: $125.50
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Lego Mindstorms Robotics Ultimate Accessory Studios 1351 9731

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Author: Jon Mitchell

GE FANUC A05B-2301-C305 TEACH PENDANT

$500.00 (0 Bids)
End Date: Tuesday May-21-2013 9:07:12 PDT
Buy It Now for only: $900.00
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NEW VEX Robotics Design System Transmitter and Receiver Kit - with torn box.

$39.99
End Date: Sunday Jun-2-2013 5:38:52 PDT
Buy It Now for only: $39.99
Buy It Now | Add to watch list

Lego Mindstorms V2.0 Robotics Invention System (3804)

$125.50
End Date: Sunday Jun-9-2013 22:44:54 PDT
Buy It Now for only: $125.50
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Vex V.5 Robotics Kit

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Author: Jamie Colby

GE FANUC A05B-2301-C305 TEACH PENDANT

$500.00 (0 Bids)
End Date: Tuesday May-21-2013 9:07:12 PDT
Buy It Now for only: $900.00
Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list

NEW VEX Robotics Design System Transmitter and Receiver Kit - with torn box.

$39.99
End Date: Sunday Jun-2-2013 5:38:52 PDT
Buy It Now for only: $39.99
Buy It Now | Add to watch list

Lego Mindstorms V2.0 Robotics Invention System (3804)

$125.50
End Date: Sunday Jun-9-2013 22:44:54 PDT
Buy It Now for only: $125.50
Buy It Now | Add to watch list

RobotAppStore Raises $250K From Grishin Robotics To Take The App Distribution Model To The World Of Robots

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Author: Margo Tipton

The smartphone market, some argue, really took off after Apple introduced the first app store to make its iPhones more useful. Now a new startup hopes that the same might be the case for the fledgling world of robots: RobotAppStore, an online marketplace for apps for robots, has raised $ 250,000 from Grishin Robotics, the Robot-focused investment vehicle of Mail.ru CEO Dmitry Grishin, which earlier this year opened for business with a $ 25 million fund to drive the industry.

This is RobotAppStore’s first external investment, with the company bootstrapped to date. The company declines to call it a seed round just yet because Elad Inbar, ceo and founder of RobotAppStore, says that they are still talking to further investors.

Although app stores proved to be a game-changing part of the smartphone economy, mobile had already taken off as a business, with feature phones already approaching saturation in many markets.

Robots is a different ballgame altogether: there is a lot of potential — and a lot of imagination fuelled by visions of robots from sci-fi movies, TV shows, comics and books — but in reality there are only about 30 million domestic robots in circulation today, according to estimates from RobotAppStore itself.

Another hurdle is that while smartphones are largely coalescing around a couple of dominant platforms — iOS and Android — robots not only are developed with totally different purposes in mind — housekeeping, weightwatching, etc. — but also on different platforms. The state of affairs at the moment, frankly, makes Android fragmentation seem pale in comparison.

In effect, what that means is that RobotAppStore is pushing the egg in the classic chicken/egg scenario. The funding, according to Inbar, will be used to further build out the app store platform and to staff up, but it will also include outreach both to the makers of robots themselves, as well as to app developers to build up the ecosystem. As with smartphone app stores, developers on the RobotAppStore will receive 70% of earnings from the apps. The store currently has some 500 apps in it today.

As new investor Dmitry Grishin described it to me, the challenge with hardware makers will be about encouraging more of them to open up their machines with the APIs that can be usable by the marketplace. The developer challenge will be about getting engineers — drawing largely from the community that make apps for smartphones — to turn their attention to robots.

There will be a third ecosystem hurdle, too: getting some platforms in place as standards. There has been some movement on that already, with the establishment of something called the ROS (for Robot Operating System). Google’s Android, despite the name, does not look like it is making a move into becoming a platform for robots at the moment.

The challenge does not deter Inbar, whose past experience has included founding a robotics lab, and the CTO of mobile advertising company Massive Impact, running Yahoo’s R&D operation in Israel, and working for mobile operator Orange. Through those roles, he has seen the challenges of fragmentation but also feels like he knows how to navigate them, too.

“If you look at the mobile world ten years ago, it was pretty much like the robotics world today,” he says. “I feel the same trends are happening. If you wanted to develop a ringtone in the past, you had to do this for two Nokia platforms, Sony, Ericsson, Samsung, Motorola and so on. That’s what the robotics world looks like today.” The implication there is that if the smartphone revolution could coalesce around standards, the same will happen with robots, and possibly in less time (a version of Moore’s law, as it were).

The target market is promising. ABI Research estimates that the robotics market will bring in $ 18 billion of revenue by 2015.

Still, it may be some time before our robots, even with a world of apps open to them, will be the all-seeing, all-knowing devices seen in science fiction scenarios (and some live already). “I don’t expect my room vacuum to make me a cup of coffee, but if I’m a developer doing a navigation app I can run that on multiple devices,” says Inbar. “There are a number of functions that can be shared on a number of differen platforms, even if they do not run on all robots everywhere.” He notes how one app turns the Roomba robot vacuum cleaner has been transformed by one developer into a gaming device — turning housekeeping into something a little more fun. “It’s about being super creative.”

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Revolve Robotics Announces Kubi, A Telepresence Rig That Works Like Your Neck

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Kubi means “neck” in Japanese and that’s just what this new telepresence product is supposed to reproduce. This rig, designed to work with any tablet, essentially creates a user-controlled pivoting system that allows the person you are video-calling to control the position, angle, and rotation of the tablet camera.

It’s not amazingly complex nor is it completely mobile, facts that make Kubi far more interesting for, say, a small office or conference room. Controlling Kubi’s neck, the caller can look around the room, tilt the camera up and down, and keep the camera and tablet a safe distance from the proceedings. As a parent, I’d see Kubi being useful when talking with the family. Rather than one kid hogging the iPad, I could control my position remotely and see everyone in the room from a slight distance.

I talked with Kubi’s creators, Marcus Rosenthal and Ilya Polyakov, both of whom have extensive experience in robotics. They said that they didn’t want Kubi to be mobile “because motors are expensive” and the batteries used to power an upright robot would be prohibitively costly. In short, it was far simpler to create a cool telepresence system than a sub-par roaming robot.

As we tested the Kubi it became clear that this pair was onto something. By giving each party control over their view, the Kubi becomes a sort of surrogate head rather than a stationary webcam. Being able to move from person to person and look each participant in the eye is a cool feeling.

They’re selling pre-orders on the device for $ 200 on Indiegogo and are looking for funding of $ 200,000. I doubt it will be difficult.

Posts Tagged ‘Robotics’

Meet Genesis Angels, A New $100M Fund For AI And Robotics, Co-Founded By Investor Kenges Rakishev And Chaired By Israel’s Ex-PM

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Vex V.5 Robotics Kit

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