Monday, September 20, 2004
Robonexus shaping up to be a 'tipping point' event
In just a few weeks Santa Clara, CA will be the host for RoboNexus - the first major robotics trade show in the US aimed at the personal and consumer mobile robotics market. While industrial robotics has had trade shows for decades, RoboNexus is something new. Instead of heavy, expensive pick and place arms destined for factory floors, RoboNexus will display the new era robots - everything from robo-vacs like the Roomba to robotic personal assistants like the RoboDynamics . There will also be 'starting point' robots consisting of hardware and expandable software. At the low end, White Box Robotics will roll out its 9/11 series, basically a PC on wheels. At the high end, General Roboticx, Inc. will be showing off their open-source HRP hardware/software humanoid system.
Looking at the RoboNexus site, it is clear we are beginning the see the various meanders of mobile robotics winding ever closer together into a unified movement. Compared to a year ago, there are now several vendors taking the "PC bot" approach - adapting existing personal computer hardware and software for robotics. Recent case in point: RoboDynamics, which is developing a PC bot using embedded Microsoft Windows. Whatever you think of Microsoft, this indicates that some serious players are getting interested in mobile robots. We're seeing robotic simulation software companies like Cyberbotics on the same sponsor page with publishers like McGraw-Hill, educational groups like First Robotics and industry promotion groups like The Robotics Foundry. Lots of famous robots will be present. There will even be some robot cars from the DARPA Grand Challenge, possibly Cyberrider. Interestingly, a few of the big Japanese players (Honda and Sony) will be absent.
RoboNexus has the potential to be a "breakout" show. Up until now, mobile robotics has always been tied to largely academic conferences in the US. This will be the first that will have more of a direct public appeal. People in the US have at last begun to notice the beginnings of the robot revolution. Even more important, there's something for the "rest of us" to buy/try. For the skilled hobbyists, companies like White Box provide the equivalent of the expandable PC which drove the 1980s microcomputer revolution. For the complete non-techie there are now real, affordable consumer robots to see at RoboNexus and produce compare websites like Everyday Robots. The robot revolution is feeling more real every day.
In just a few weeks Santa Clara, CA will be the host for RoboNexus - the first major robotics trade show in the US aimed at the personal and consumer mobile robotics market. While industrial robotics has had trade shows for decades, RoboNexus is something new. Instead of heavy, expensive pick and place arms destined for factory floors, RoboNexus will display the new era robots - everything from robo-vacs like the Roomba to robotic personal assistants like the RoboDynamics . There will also be 'starting point' robots consisting of hardware and expandable software. At the low end, White Box Robotics will roll out its 9/11 series, basically a PC on wheels. At the high end, General Roboticx, Inc. will be showing off their open-source HRP hardware/software humanoid system.
Looking at the RoboNexus site, it is clear we are beginning the see the various meanders of mobile robotics winding ever closer together into a unified movement. Compared to a year ago, there are now several vendors taking the "PC bot" approach - adapting existing personal computer hardware and software for robotics. Recent case in point: RoboDynamics, which is developing a PC bot using embedded Microsoft Windows. Whatever you think of Microsoft, this indicates that some serious players are getting interested in mobile robots. We're seeing robotic simulation software companies like Cyberbotics on the same sponsor page with publishers like McGraw-Hill, educational groups like First Robotics and industry promotion groups like The Robotics Foundry. Lots of famous robots will be present. There will even be some robot cars from the DARPA Grand Challenge, possibly Cyberrider. Interestingly, a few of the big Japanese players (Honda and Sony) will be absent.
RoboNexus has the potential to be a "breakout" show. Up until now, mobile robotics has always been tied to largely academic conferences in the US. This will be the first that will have more of a direct public appeal. People in the US have at last begun to notice the beginnings of the robot revolution. Even more important, there's something for the "rest of us" to buy/try. For the skilled hobbyists, companies like White Box provide the equivalent of the expandable PC which drove the 1980s microcomputer revolution. For the complete non-techie there are now real, affordable consumer robots to see at RoboNexus and produce compare websites like Everyday Robots. The robot revolution is feeling more real every day.
