Last week Nestle announced that it will use Pepper to sell its Nescafe products. Pepper is designed to be engaging and friendly a companion able to communicate through an intuitive artificial intelligence interface that reads
and interprets voice touch and emotions. It has two arms and rolls around on wheels.
and weighs around 60 pounds. According to Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine the plan is to start slowly with 20 Peppers by the end of the year.
But Nestle has big hopes for the little robots and expects to deploy them in 1000 stores next year.
The Nestle deal is just the beginning of Softbank s Pepper ambitions. Softbank plans on selling the robots to Japanese consumers early next year
and it will make the Pepper available in the U s. at retail stores of Sprint the telecom carrier acquired last year by Softbank in a $22 billion deal.
I hope that this new consumer engagement model will expand across the world as an example of Japanese innovation said Kohzoh Takaoka President and CEO of Nestle Japan N
#Google news: Rubin leaves; Pichai promoted to#2; and Google invests in Magic Leap Andy Rubin leaves Google;
Sundar Pichai promoted to#2 man at Google; and Google invests in $542 million B funding for Magic Leap.
Andy Rubin the Google executive who was in charge of the company#s robotics group and spearheaded the Android operating system before that resigned fromâ Google
and will start a tech incubator focused on hardware. According to the NY Timesâ Mr. Rubin#s departure is part of a series of recent executive moves that seem to give Mr. Page more room to focus on the company#s longer-term bets#like robotics
#while handing almost allâ the responsibility for Google products to Sundar Pichai a rising star.
 The robotics group will now be led by James Kuffner who has been at the company since 2009 and has worked on self-driving cars a Google spokesman said.
Regarding James Kuffner who replaces Rubinâ The Wall street journal saidandy Rubin former leader of Google#s Android mobile businessâ oversaw a series of robotics acquisitions last year
so his departure comes at a poor time for the company. Â That puts pressure on Kuffner to bring together disparate Google properties like Boston Dynamics and Schaft.#
#Robotics is still a difficult technology to pull off well I think moreso than many or all tech fields#said Michael Wagner a senior commercialization specialist with the National Robotics Engineering Center at Carnegie mellon University.#
#James has the expertise to navigate traps others with less experience may not expect. So I don t think this is a setback at all.#
#Sundar Pichai becomes Google Product Chief. The NY Times said of the promotion: Sundar Pichai is to oversee every major Google product except Youtube.
The move arguably makes Mr. Pichai the second-most powerful person at the company and is intended to give Mr. Page more time to focus on more futuristic projects according to a person with knowledge of the situation.
In a memo on Friday Mr. Page said that Mr. Pichai#s empire#which already includes the Android
and Chrome products along with Google Apps like Google docs and Gmail#will now include Research Search Maps the social media network Google Plus along with Commerce.
He will also oversee technical infrastructure which is essentially the ever-growing racks of servers and switches that keep all those products working.
Much interest within the robotics community has been focused on Google acquisitions in the area of robotics
because Google hasn said anything about what they are doing. So many start-ups#Â So much talent#What their long-term goal?
What the common denominator? How where andâ when will those purchases and their activities combine into some moneymaking enterprise (s) and/or product (s)?
Magic Leapas artificial intelligence software and emerging learning chips fuse into more speedy and capable pursuits the line between things robotic (which has a specific definition)
and AI-driven robotic activities not yet defined (like software bots) is coming into question. Hence the interest in whereâ Google is focusing.
Some of that focus has been on acquiring learning system companies (and talent. Additional focus mayâ includeâ virtual reality 3d imaging and augmented reality systems.
Imagine that you were driving in China and didn speak or read Chinese. How would you understand exit signs on the freeway?
With augmented reality systems in your car signs you see could be translated automatically so that what you percieveâ is the sign in your language without distraction.
The opening scene on theâ Magic Leap websiteâ is of a virtual elephant inside the palm of your hand.
No Google glasses. No Oculus Rift headset and goggles. Scrolling down a bit one sees a classroom scene with colorful sea horses floating inbetween the kids.
Back in July NY Times technology writer John Markoff described Magic Leap grand goals. Thus it was no surprise that Google participated in the recent $542 million B funding round for the start-up Magic Leap a Florida start-up thatâ claims to merge the physical and digital worlds with hardware
and software that surpasses existing virtual and augmented reality solutions. Â Other participants in the B fundingâ included Qualcommâ KPCB Andreessen Horowitz Obvious Ventures and Legendary Entertainment m
#Antares orb-3 accident A very unfortunate incident for NASA and the commercial orbital transportation services program took place yesterday.
The Antares rocket that was about to send the Cygnus spacecraft on the ISS exploded a few seconds after its launch from NASA's Wallops flight facilities.
No casualties or even small injuries were reported although the area is being contained and treated with caution.
It is a major incident for US spaceflight that breaks a trouble-free period and could have important implications for the private spaceflight sector.
The Antares launcher and the Cygnus spacecraft it was carrying were developed both and operated by Orbital Sciences corporation one of the two private companies
when the vehicle's attitude is beyond recovery or control in order to contain the damage from any explosion or debris in the launch area.
but they are refurbished from US Company Aerojet (and renamed AJ26). It is too early to attribute the accident to these engines
Meanwhile the competition from Spacex and established companies like Lockheed and Boeing is very strong.
Both usually have room and payload to spare so they're used extensively for transporting experiments.
The Cygnus cargo vehicle destroyed on this accident was carrying a lot of small satellites owned by schools universities and startups.
The rocket and general hardware is also at least partially covered and as stated on the press conference NASA
Insurance prices could also increase and the total cost for a school research team or startup may be bigger for future missions.
#Opensource 3d printed oppyhumanoid enables experimentation in robot design Funded by the European Research Council (ERC) Â Poppy is a 3d printed open source humanoid designed by the Inria Flowers lab a French research facility
that creates computer and robotic models as tools for understanding developmental processes in humans. Â Inria Research director Pierre-Yves Oudeyer (who developed Poppy as a tool for studying the science of learning
and development) hopes that the open source and 3d printable aspects of the project will enable researchers to quickly print custom body parts and experiment with different robot morphologies in order to study their impact on behaviour and learning.
Our hypothesis is that the body is an essential variable in the acquisition of motor and social skills in humans.
To study this theory we needed to create a platform allowing fast experimentation of new robot morphologies.
and can interface with other electronic devices including smart clothing lights sensors and musical instruments making it an affordable humanoid platform for research experimentation and education.
To test the platform Oudeyer and his fellow researchers Matthieu Lapeyre and Pierre Rouanetâ used Poppy to study the impact of leg shapes in biped locomotion.
while other humanoid projects such asâ icubâ are also open source the 3d-printable aspect of Poppy is significant
 With 3d printing changing the body shape is easier. nother platform that is similar to Poppy in that it is both open source and 3d printed isâ Jimmy the Robot.
but important questions have to be well thought to be realistic. he Poppy communitypoppy developers hope that the robot will also be used in schools for learning about robotics and as an experimental platform in the arts;
the 3d printing and open source aspects of the project are part of that vision. To facilitate collaboration
and experimentation they have created an open source dedicated webâ platformâ that combines hardware software and webtools.
However only very little has been done to explore the benefits of 3d printing and its interaction with computer science in classrooms.
and teachers an adequate tool to cultivate the creativity of students studying in fields such as mechanics computer sciences electronics and 3d printing.
Both hardware and software are open source. There is not one single Poppy humanoid robot but as many as there are users.
This makes it very attractive as it has grown from a purely technological tool to a real social platform a
#Google adds to Deepmind, acquiring 2 UK startups and partnering with Oxford U In January 2014 Google acquired London-based Deepmind Technologies for $643 million.
Now it is adding to that purchase with two more companies ten new hires and a substantial contribution to Oxford university.
Google Deepmind was a British AI start-up with some high-profile investors and a whiz kid founder (Demis Hassabis) and theirâ forte was smart recommendations for online commerce.
and university research resources. The two acquisitions are Dark blue Labsâ (whichâ is creating systems to understand natural languageâ that would allow computers to comprehend the meaning of sentences
and how people react to them) Â and Vision Factoryâ (whichâ is developing systems capable of the visual recognition of objects in the real world;
Both are based UK deep learning startups and both wereâ spun off from Oxford university. According to the Financial times the two acquisitions are estimated to have cost Google Deepmind $50 million.
The Google-Oxford partnership will cost more. A substantial contribution to Oxford university is forthcoming to expand Google AI and deep learning capabilities.#
#Google Deepmind has hired all seven founders of these startups with the three professors holding joint appointments at Oxford university where they will continue to spend part of their time#Hassabis notes in his blog post.#
#These exciting partnerships underline how committed Google Deepmind is to supporting the development of UK academia
and the growth of strong scientific research labs.#f you liked this article you may also be interested in:
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#Japan holds first#robotics revolutioncouncil meeting This fall the Japanese government held its first meeting of a new panel focused on its goal of aâ#robotics revolution#a key item in the government#s
economic growth strategy adopted in June. The panel is tasked with promotingâ measures to increaseâ the use of robots
and related technologies in various fields extending out ofâ the manufacturing sector andâ into hotel distribution medical and elderly nursing-care services.
According toâ Prime minister Shinzo Abe who instigated the robot panel determiningâ the appropriate use of robots will be a key to solving these problems.
Despite Japan being a leader in the field of industrial robots companies still rely heavily on human labor making it difficult to secure enough workers
and blocking efforts to improve productivity. Prime minister Shinzo Abe instructed the obot revolutioncouncil to: work out a strategy for using robots as the key means to solve labor shortages amid the declining birthrate
and aging population low productivity of the services sector and other challenges plaguing Japan and for developing the robot industry into a growth sector to explore global markets.
He added that his hope is that the government will seek to make Japan a showcase for robots in service for various areas ahead of other countries by 2020.
The Government will seek to improve (factory) Â productivity through the utilization of robot technology thereby improving the profitability of companies and helping to raise wages.
The panel chaired by Mitsubishi electric Corp. consultant Tamotsu Nomakuchi will work out a five-year plan to be presented by the end of 2014 with details on how they willâ achieve the numerical targets.
In our laboratory we develop various types of high-speed vision hardware and algorithms that can implement high-speed image processing with a sampling time from 10ms up to 1ms.
High-speed vision can provide control data at the same sampling rate as that of the servo controller used for the robot actuators.
This means that vision can control actuators just like other sensors e g. an encoder. Although at present the camera is located off board the robot it will be attached to the body in future iterations.
The running algorithm used in the ACHIRESÂ robot is different from those typically used in other running robots.
While most running robots use a method based on ZMP-criteria for maintaining stable and balanced posture we introduced a very simple algorithm using high-speed performance of a sensory-motor system without ZMP criteria.
and actuation could be applied to various types of high-speed intelligent systems including high-speed robots manufacturing systems aircraft microscope image control for bio/medical applications and human-machine
#British National Oceanographic Centre launches major unmanned exploration mission Collecting oceanographic data is accomplished usually by a combination of satellites buoys
One solution to overcomeâ these constraints is the use of marine drones autonomous surfaceâ orâ underwater vehicles capable of traversing great distances and operatingâ independently for prolonged periods of time.
The latest project to take advantage of the benefits of marine drones theâ Robotic Exploration of Ocean Fronts by The british National Oceanographic Centreâ (NOC) is one of largest and most ambitious unmanned
At the beginning of October a fleet of seven marine drones were launched from the Isles of Scilly for a three-week journey across the ocean.
The vehicles carry a range of instruments for observing these animals. As well as measuring the temperature of the water
This data will help scientists map the distribution of the fronts and their associated fauna.
Autonaut is a solar-and methanol fuel cell-poweredâ autonomous surface vessel. It was developed by MOST (Autonomous Vessels) Ltd
and is designed to gather oceanographic data over long periods of time. C-Enduroc-Enduro is an innovative long-endurance autonomous surface vehicle built by Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASV.
The vehicle was launched officially in March 2014. Built to operate in all marine environments C-Enduro uses solar panels a wind generator a lightweight diesel generator
and a self-righting hull to enable it to remain at sea for long periods. Wave Gliderthe Wave Glider is an autonomous environmentally-friendly oceangoing vehicle developed by Liquid Robotics.
It is fitted with surface and subsurface sensors to gather information such as water temperature and the atmospheric conditions above.
It is roughly the size of a surf board and is equipped with computers for navigation and a satellite communication system.
Three Wave Gliders have been deployed for this project. Slocum Gliderthe Slocum Glider built by Teledyne Webb Research is a high-endurance vehicle equipped with a variety of sensors.
It can operate at depths of 1000 metres and can remain at sea for months at a time while transmitting data back to shore.
Two gliders are used in the NOC project and have been customized in order to cope with the demanding marine environment and to record different type of data.
The Robotic Exploration of Ocean Frontsâ project is divided into two phases. Phase one sees a fleet of seven marine drones being launched from a beach on the Isles of Scilly to travel up to 300 miles to the shelf edge and back.
During this time they will be taking measurements including chlorophyll temperature and salinity and also monitoring wildlife activity at the front.
Phase two of the project sees further monitoring plus the tagging and release of 100 fish
which will be tracked using a new seabed and USV receiver. Further information about the project available at the project#s official page.
Images and video courtesy ofâ MOST Autonomous Vessels Ltdâ Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASV) andâ National Oceanographic Centre t
#Stepping motor with battery-free absolute sensor enables accurate positioning Oriental Motor has developed the Î STEP AZ Series of closed-loop stepping motor & Driver packages
which contain its patented mechanical absolute sensor the ABZO Sensor. he ABZO Sensor in the motor is able to record the current position of the motor in the sensor itself.
and homing without a home sensor or a limit sensor. ith the majority of stepping motors a backup battery is needed to store position data
and because batteries have limited a life data can't be stored for a long time. But the AZ Series doesn't need a battery
so storing data isn't a concern even if the production equipment is stopped for a long time or the unit is shipped overseas. hat is so special about this new product?
Firstly it enables you to set up an absolute system without the need for a battery.
This feature eliminates the battery replacement cycle for the customer making it possible to achieve a maintenance-free absolute system. y eliminating batteries
and external sensors in this way the AZ Series can reduce setup costs electrical connections and footprint. n addition to the current lineup Oriental Motor is planning to release a model with a gearhead.
It also intends to develop variations by attaching mechanisms to the motor similar to motorized actuators using the current AZ Series.
Ultimately Oriental Motor plans to release these products overseas as well. s
#Hellospoon: A fun, affordable mealtime assistant for people with upper limb disabilities Shaped like a baby elephant Hellospoon is intended a robot to help children
and elderly with upper limb difficulties and special needs to have a fun and happy mealtime.
because Hellospoon is a smartphone app: This relegates the processor speaker and microphone to the user smartphone drastically cutting the cost of production.
If a robot is intended to improve people lives it shouldn be expensive right? Also unlike other mealtime assistants Hellospoon is meant to be a companion and not just a feeding machine.
Users can talk to Hellospoon using voice commands and Hellospoon can answer back and play songs
while scooping food and does a little dance when the user decides to stop eating.
It interactions like these that make mealtime more entertaining andâ help to establish a bond between the user and the robot.
We know that every user is different and so Hellospoon behaviours can be customized to suit the user individual needs and preferences.
For example we are developing a profile system where Hellospoon will behave playfully when interacting with kids
and respectfully when interacting with elderly users. My name is Luis Garcia and I#m a recently graduated 23-year-old Mechatronics Engineer from Sinaloa Mexico;
I also the developer designer programmer and crazy guy behind the Hellospoon robot. I have been developing Hellospoon for the past year
and a half from my bedroom proving that sometimes you don need a big robotics laboratory to start something great!
 But now it time to show Hellospoon to the world and so I am asking for your support to help me bring mealtime independence to those in need.
Your support will be reflected in the improvement of Hellospoon motions and robustness for the robotic trunk.
Hellospoon Youtube channelhellospoon bloghellospoon Twitterplease support the Hellospoon robot campaignâ-Â inviting other people to support this development will be amazing to t
#Open Brain-Computer Interface: An Interview with Conor Russomanno Brain-computer interfacing (BCI) is a rapidly growing field that offers huge potential for many applications such as medical grade BCIS to help people with sensory-motor disabilities.
Currently a number of researchers are developing more affordable BCI systems designed to address a wider range of neurotherapeutic applications.
and research developer of Openbci a low-cost open-source hardware platform that records the brain#s electrical signals and uses devices and software languages to make the data easily accessible.
Russomanno and cofounder Joel Murphy aim to accelerate the advancement of BCI through collaborative hardware and software development.
I think the one thing that we#re hoping to achieve with open BCI is to really lower the barrier of entry both in terms of educational materials
A number of consumer-grade EEG devices that have a relatively low channel capacity are available
but higher quality medical and research grade EEG systems are much more expensive than a standard Openbci kit
whereas previously one medical grade system was used in a classroom or research laboratory now the same amount of money can be used to acquire  enough Openbci systems to provide every student with their own device.#
#This is reflected in our consumer base. A huge proportion of our customers are students graduate-level researchers
and professors who want to use Openbci as a learning tool explains Russomanno. Another of Openbci#s exciting potentials is the fact that it is fully open source. Russomanno
and Murphy are using a lot of their resources to create an infrastructure in which people are not just able to use the technology
but can also share their experiences and connect with other people using the technology. This enables users to share tutorials getting started guides and also their own individual projects.
In this sense the creators have not only provided a tool they are also establishing a level of enthusiasm for an unprecedented unicentric development.
When you see the catchphrase#mind controlled robot#you think of someone sitting in a chair with electrodes plugged into their head having ultimate control over many many dimensions of a robot#s functionality.#
In reality however in the current state mind controlled robots at least using Openbci translates to looking at a flashing screen
#We#re are many steps away from wearing a device that knows what turning your car on
and share their experiences and this will work toward pushing BCI forward into the future.
Image credit: 4bpblogspot. co n
#Jerry the Bear: A robotic learning coach for kids with type 1 diabetes Less than three campaign days left!
Back Sproutel#sâ crowdfunding campaignâ to help get robotic healthcare coach Jerry the Bear into the hands of kids with type 1 diabetes.
Jerry the Bear is a robotic learning coach for children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1d) that helps them master their medical procedures all through play!
Children are tasked with taking care of Jerry and helping him train for the All Star Games through a sequence of animated storybooks that play on a screen in his belly.
Last Christmas we at Sproutel were thrilled to have shipped our first production run of bears reaching 2%of kids newly diagnosed with T1d in the US.
and even become empowered to practice their own disease care. We were ecstatic to learn that over 5 months after this first shipment families are still playing with Jerry for over an hour each week.
The first bears distributed from our campaign will fulfill a queue of families that have submitted already hardship applications to the Type 1 Diabetes Network.
Jerry is built off of the android platform and has sewn 19 sensors throughout his fur. These sensors let children check Jerry glucose levels feed him foods give him insulin
and even tickle him. This level of interaction creates a hands on learning environment that enables kids to gain experience responding to real world scenarios.
As children care for Jerry they develop empathy which wee seen as a large driver of engagement.
The ultimate goal? Transforming the scariest aspects of healthcare into an empowering experience for kids.
Builder and all-around maker of mechanical and electrical systems with a passion for user interaction. Wire-framer of ideas and framer of ideas out of sculpture wire.
Andrew Berkowitz Software engineer: Android developer hacker hustler and resident diabetes expert if our bears ever become sentient you#ll know whom to blame.
Joel Schwartz Hardware Engineer: Previouslyâ building rehabilitative toys for kids with cerebral palsy. Happiest in a machine shop with a well-made spreadsheet or fly fishing.
Brian Oley Software engineer: An acrobatic unicycling photographer and developer of mobile games and medical software.
A well balanced member of the team. If you liked this article you may also be interested in:
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#Has Dyson#s robotic dream become a reality? has cracked Dyson finally its 16-year mission to create a robot vacuum cleaner?
The company#s  teaser video hints at a new release which looks a lot like a rival for the best-selling Roomba
and perfectly illustrates how fast the conditions necessary to create viable robotic products are evolving.
 Dyson#s mysterious video posted on Youtube (below) heralds a 4 september release. The only piece of information to accompany it reads:#
#16 years. 200 engineers. £28 million investment. The result? Tell us what you think it is.#
#The device moves around a bit and zooms in and out#interesting but not as interesting as the glimpse of
Earlier this year the company invested £5m in a lab at Imperial College London designed to help robots#understand
and would use computer vision to navigate a room. Imperial#s Professor Davison has spoken also about the importance of  location tracking:
e will research and develop systems that allow machines to both understand and perceive their surroundings using vision to achieve it#he said.#
#A truly intelligent domestic robot needs to complete complex everyday tasks while adapting to a constantly changing environment.#
#Dyson is also planning a £250m expansion of one of its UK sites at Malmesbury
which could provide up to 3000 new jobs. Prime time for consumer roboticsmore than anything Dyson#s upcoming launch proves that consumer robotics is finally ready for prime time.
In a great up-sum of why  published on Techcrunch computer scientists Rudina Seseri and Wan Li Zhu who both work for VC#s Fairhaven Capital explain why the conditions now are perfect.#
#In recent years#they say#we have seen accelerated levels of innovation in both software and hardware that are now driving new possibilities for consumer readiness and adoption of personal robotics.#
#This as happened on a number of levels: Proliferation of devices compute and bandwidth. Instead of requiring expensive custom onboard computing robots are now able to leverage hardware smartphones and cloud computing for processing and storage.
This has implications on both cost and availability of data for machine perception and learning.
Progress in natural language processing speech vision and machine learning a self-reinforcing loop: As machines can better understand the real world they learn at a faster rate.
API-fication of online services. The ability for machines to tap into multiple online data sources and services allows them to quickly stitch together value reducing time
and cost to go to market. Location-based data financial and weather and increasingly healthcare data are all examples.
They and many others active in the field also believe that the robotics future won t look much like the current mass-visage of the technology
and that instead#artificially intelligent devices will take on a multitude of forms where the form factor will more closely match its functions and use case.#
#Many more will be in the form of embedded intelligence within everyday systems we are already familiar with.
 Cars are in the front line with incremental modifications such as the sensory-enabled brakes already in the market.
With a product launch that has many in the industry on the edge of their seats Dyson is positioning for a leading part in the coming automation of the home and a major slice of the ripening consumer robotics market.
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