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Barry update (radar image)
International Robots & Vision Show in Chicago June 12-14, 2007.
http://www.robots-vision-show.info
CoroWare = featured sponsor of Intl. Robots & Vision Show in Chicago June 12-14, 2007.
http://www.robots-vision-show.info
CoroBot @ booth #2149
CoroBot from CoroWare is a capable, expandable and affordable base platform created to minimize the complexity of robot development. Equipped with a 1.2GHz PC-class CPU, CoroBot features expansive program storage space and CPU capacity to run additional software. CoroBot is delivered with Microsoft Robotics Studio services for all onboard devices as well as an application to tele-operate CoroBot right out of the box. Easy access to multiple inputs and outputs combined with substantial physical mounting space allows CoroBot to expand to meet the needs of software and applications developers.
http://www.robots-vision-show.info/Coroware_Corobot_text.htm
http://www.roboticsonline.com/buyers_guide/company.cfm?company_id=504
CoroWare
Cycogs, LLC
Cypress Computer Systems, Inc.
JETRO Chicago
Microsoft Corporation
OC Robotics
Segway
Xi'an Superman Sculpture Research Institute
but that's not what you posted.
"until he pocketed our 3 million bucks imo."
are you holding something back?
according to the 10Q: "Other income - litigation settlement 2,925,000."
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1156784/000114420407027737/v076125_10qsb.htm
did you recently switch comic book character personas and not tell anyone?
is that opinion based on anything?
"until he pocketed our 3 million bucks imo."
care to expand on that?
who is the old fat cat in your analogy?
btw, Barry could dampen SW Fla grill sales...
prolly the Remotec Andros F6A that Lee County bought in 2005
http://www.lee-county.com/purchasing/waivers_T7_R198.htm
http://www.lee-county.com/meetings/agendafiles/2005/05-31-05/053105/053105.htm
hmmmmmm, "Larry King said "had the appearance of something suspicious."
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070601/NEWS0115/70601032/1075
how's the weather there HO?
Barry to hit Fort Myers
Weather Alert - Updated @ 5:40 PM
Tropical storm warning issued for area
By Ed Johnson ejohnson@news-press.com
Originally posted on June 01, 2007
The National Weather Service has issued a tropical storm warning for the Fort Myers area as Tropical Storm Barry heads toward the state.
The storm should stay west of Lee County, but will bring wind gusts of near 40 miles per hour tonight and Saturday and as much as 4 to 6 inches of rain, said Ernie Jillson, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Tampa.
More >>> http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070601/WEATHER01/306010026/1075
http://www.stormtracker.noaa.gov/stormtracker-barry.htm
Two Promising Robotics Companies: iRobot and Braintech
Posted on Jun 1st, 2007 with stocks: BRHI.OB, IRBT
Kishore Jethanandani submits: Robots, until recently, had limited applications, largely confined to the automobile industry for materials handling and for welding; in all these cases robots perform fixed functions for repetitive tasks. A new generation of robots has vision capabilities and is more mobile which enables flexible automation. Industrial applications have expanded into packaging of food items, painting in automotive and non-automotive industries and for compliance with FDA regulations in pharmaceutical manufacturing.
The sales figures for fourth quarter of 2006, ending 31st December, revealed an increasing trend towards the growth of the non-automotive market for robotics. According to statistics published by the Robotics Industries Association, a total of 12,765 robots worth $904.2 million were sold in North America in 2006, a decline of 30% in unit sales and 22% in dollar value from 2005. The worldwide sales of North American robotics companies' were 13,791 robots worth $958.4 million, down 29% in units and 22% in revenue. Non-automotive orders accounted for 44% of total orders in 2006, compared with just 30% in 2005.
A pre-requisite for the mass deployment of robotics in industry is the availability of a broad range of software applications for robotics. In the past, this could not be done rapidly in the absence of a common platform, similar to the Windows operating systems available for PCs, as the bedrock for the development of new applications. Microsoft has launched Robotics Studio which provides programming tools to facilitate the development of new applications.
Two companies, iRobot and Braintech, look promising as they have products that have been accepted in the market and are poised to scale up.
iRobot (Nasdaq: IRBT), a spin-off from MIT, manufactures consumers robots, Roomba is used for floor vacuuming and Scooba for floor washing, and military robots, PackBot, is for reconnaissance such as detecting lurking dangers in urban warfare and for bomb disposal. More advanced applications in the military market, unmanned ground vehicles for combating terrorism, are in advanced stages of development and are expected to be substantial contributors to its future growth. iRobot entered into a partnership with Boeing to accelerate the commercialization of its unmanned vehicle products which is expected to be reflected in higher profits in the coming quarters.
Revenues from military robots have grown faster than home robots over the last year. For the quarter ending 31st March, revenues from military robots increased by $5 million in 2007 as compared to 2006 or by 33.6% while they decreased $3.8 million or by 16% for home robots. Total revenues grew marginally to $39 million from $38 million in 2006 or by 3.3%. The decline in sales of home robots was due to decline in sales of Scooba floor washing robots which also have a higher unit sales price. Net loss increased from $3 million in 2006 to $6 million in 2007 as gross margins on military contracts are lower and research and development costs are higher.
For the year ending 31st December, net income increased to $3.5 million in 2006 from $1.5 million in 2005 and to $0.15 per share in 2006 from $0.13 in 2005. The stock price declined from a peak of $25 in October 2006 to its current level of $16 which has created a buying opportunity for long-term investors.
Briantech (BRHI.OB) specializes in the development of vision systems, the eyes of a robot, that help to guide the movement of robots. It has developed 3D digital cameras which correlate pixel data of images with physical location and help to drive the movement of robots. The data from images is processed by its eVisionFactory software system which determines the position of an object of interest and facilitates its manipulation by the robot. In addition, the eVisionFactory system will incorporate an Internet based technical service and support system that will connect wirelessly with factory workers and managers to help them communicate with the staff at Braintech. As part of its strategic alliance with ABB (NYSE:ABB), Braintech’s vision guidance systems are incorporated in ABB’s hardware, the TrueView robotic system, for sale in the automotive industry.
The agreement to exclusively use Braintech’s eVisionFactory for ABB’s TrueView in January 2005 was also the time when mass deployment of these systems after the tentative launch in 2002 which stretched till 2005. The revenues of the company jumped from $1.2 million in 2005 to $1.8 million in 2006 while gross profits increased from $1.1 million to $1.7 million in the same period. Net loss, on the other hand, increased from $2.7 million to $6 million.
In May 2006, Braintech signed a new global channel partner agreement with ABB which ensures minimum sales of $10.5 million ($1.5 million in 2006, $3.5 million in 2007 and $5.5 million in 2008) which has helped the company to earn operating profits in first quarter of 2007 and it expected to earn positive net profits for the year 2007 and 2008. ABB is also investing $300,000 for the development of a bin picking robots. The benefits of the expanded agreement with ABB is reflected in vastly improved financial performance in the first quarter of 2007 ending 31st March with revenues of $0.67 million compared to $0.23 million in the same quarter of 2006.
From an operating loss of $0.48 million in first quarter of 2006, Braintech was able to achieve an operating profit of $0.05 million. The loss per share declined from $0.03 per share in 2006 to $0.02 per share in 2007. The stock has moved from its one year low of $0.22 in August 2006 to a peak of $0.44 in May 2007. This is a high risk stock and is recommended for those who have the stomach for exceptional risk. The technology story of the company is compelling and it has a strong channel agreement with a guaranteed minimum level of revenues till 2008.
Disclosure: the author owns stock in Braintech
http://retail.seekingalpha.com/article/37073
thanks yclip. seems there's an epidemic of websites sorely needing updates in SW Fla...
Robobusiness 2007 was home to a fleet of fledgling and favorite robots. See who was kicking the tires.
William Wong | May 30, 2007
http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/Index.cfm?AD=1&AD=1&ArticleID=15723
Robobusiness 2007 looked like a used robomart on Tatooine. It was tough to walk around the show without bumping into a robot. There were clusters of CoroWare CoroBots and iRobot Creates but, with a few exceptions, everything was unique.
The increased sophistication of robots went hand-in-hand with the size of the show and the experience of the vendors. The show was larger and the vendors and attendees were more experienced than in years past.
There were plenty of old-time favorites like the human-mimicking robot from Hanson Robotics. The lifelike nature of the rocker’s face is courtesy of Hanson’s Frubber. Frubber is pliable enough to be easily moved using wires and servos.
Floating and Following
The diversity of robots at the show has risen to include platforms like Bluefin Robotics' Bluefin-9 and Hyrdoid’s Remus 100. These autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) were not floating around the show floor but they were garnering quite a few looks. They complement the plethora of rolling and walking robots or the UAVs (unmanned air vehicles) like the GlobalHawk. Though these large flying objects were not at the show, they were definitely a point of discussion.
AUVs have been around for awhile. They are more challenging than ground- or air-based robots due to limitations like the variability of their drive systems. Still there was much interest, especially in scenarios like multiple robots cooperating to tackle problems in lakes and oceans.
There were a number of presentations about AUVs as well as other large unmanned vehicles, especially those related to the U.S. Defense Departments Future Combat System (FCS) platforms.
A number of smaller platforms like CoroWare’s Corobot were on display as well. The CoroBot is based on a 1.2GHz VIA Mini-ITX motherboard with 512Mbytes of RAM and a 20Gbyte hard disk suitable for software platforms like Microsoft’s Robotics Studio. The four wheel drive system supports 802.11 wireless and a 640x480 USB camera. The camera is usually mounted near the floor so it can track the gripper attached to the robotic arm. Of course, this only works when picking something up off the floor. It can lift up half a pound.
Infrared range detectors are aimed front and rear. The 10A battery can run the system four about 2.4 hours and is rechargeable. The connection, however, does not lend itself to to docking.
The CoroBot wheels and drive system are suitable for light outdoor operation, but the system is not water or dust proof. It can easily handle most indoor environments.
The CoroBot is part of a class of systems that are essentially a mobile PC. It has enough computing power to handle a range of peripherals including a camera. It is available with or without the arm.
Other vendors demonstrated a range of platforms and specialized drive systems. Ologic had many of their two-wheeled balancing robots. They also had the Follower, a cute little platform that can carry small items and follow a person. It can be used by someone with their hands full or someone who cannot easily carry an object.
There was no shortage of other robotic support products, like Boston Engineering’s Flexstack and Hagisonic’s StarGazer. The FlexStack incorporates an ARM9 microcontroller with xxxKbytes of RAM and xxxKbytes of flash memory.
Hagisonic’s StarGazer uses an infrared approach to calculate its location in a room via small infrared sensitive markers placed on the ceiling. This simplifies a robot’s task of determining its position within an area.
Taking Things In Hand
A Segway RMP200 was mapping its way around the show using a SICK laser range finder. It was moving at a leisurely pace and transmitting its map to a PC used in one of the presentations. Another RMP200 was showing off presentations and collecting business cards (though I’m not sure a robot would want anything to do with business cards).
There was also a four-wheeled Segway RMP400 equipped with a Barrett Technology Roboarm. The arm had a three-fingered robot hand and was interesting because it keeps all the motors in the base. The movement is accomplished via wire cables connected to the motors and the arms. Integration of the motor control on the motor reduced complexity and improved performance. The result is a system that also supports feedback, eliminating sensors and related support electronics while providing an arm that is safe to use around people.
The hand has three jointed fingers, allowing it to easily grasp objects. The approach eliminates the need to build tools specifically designed for the human hand.
Though I didn’t have time to write up all my observations from Robobusiness, Engineering captured much on camera. You’ll see robots not mentioned here like iRobot’s monster, capable of lifting hundred-pound gun shells. Luckily there were no live rounds on the show floor.
Related Links
Barrett Technology
Bluefin Robotics
Boston Engineering
CoroWare
Hagisonic
Hanson Robotics
Hydroid
iRobot
Microsoft
Ologic
Robobusiness
Segway
http://newsblaze.com/story/2007051806480700001.mwir/newsblaze/MACHINER/Machinery.html
3 page spread in Gulf Shore Business?
is this the issue?
there's no mention of weisel in the TOC, or even anything that hints about robotics.
Features - Current Issue (May 2007)
Make Your Business The Talk Of The Town
Spectacular parties and over-the-top entertainment draw the right kind of attention. When the influx of top-tier businesses along the Gulfshore meets an increasingly world-savvy, affluent clientele, what emerges is a level of marketing...
Full Story
Go for the Experience
Tourists are bypassing leisure vacations for excitement and learning opportunities.Does the idea of sitting passively on a tour bus or eating your way through a cruise ship’s buffet five times a day leave you cold? You’re not alone. ...
Full Story
A Man of Fashion
This Fort Myers entrepreneur has designs on the formalwear industryBetween rows of white, pink and lavender gowns hanging from two-tier racks, Wen Wu pauses to straighten a shipping label. On a short tour of Formosa S...
Full Story
Rivals in the Skies
Companies home in on Naples’ affluent air-travelersPromises of pampering and delivering passengers to their destinations with ease. That’s what well-heeled travelers want, and that’s what businesses pr...
Full Story
New Tourism Challenges
Competing destinations lure visitors away from Florida.On the second Tuesday of this month, just before the subtropical summer settles in, the Germans will begin to arrive in droves.
LTU Airlines, whi...
Full Story
From the Editor
Vacation Plans
So many choices besides Florida.Season is over,summer’s just around the corner … time for a getaway.
But, oh, where to go? A trek into the jungles of Uganda to see gorillas or...
Full Story
The Buzz
My First Job
Stacey Deffenbaugh, ABC7 News anchorI really had two first jobs. One was working at a small mom-and-pop bookstore called The Book Exchange. The other was working as a lifeguard at the Fr...
Full Story
Book of the Month
A Biography of BrillianceTimeless. That’s the best word to describe the wisdom of Peter Drucker (1909-2005), widely considered the father of modern management. Born in Vienna,...
Full Story
Making Waves
Building New Networks
Most people might be hard-pressed to find any similarities between computer networking and running a construction company. Not Scott Her...
Full Story
Getaways
Back to the Big EasyThe birthplace of jazz, 40 museums, and home to the oldest opera house and the best eating in America, New Orleans has a singular blend of rich cultur...
Full Story
Problem Solver
Company Culture and Morale
A positive environment boosts productivity.Q: I consider myself pretty socially responsible at home, but in my workplace, it’s hard to develop that kind of culture. How can I encourage my te...
Full Story
Business Basics
System Backup
Protecting computer files can save your businessA direct hit by a major hurricane could cause as many as 40 percent of small businesses in the affected area to fold, the Small Business Development...
Full Story
Shop Talk
Who’s garnering applause, getting promoted and moving on
Kudos
James Nathan, president of Lee Memorial Health System, and Douglas R. Luckett, chief administrative officer of Southwe...
Full Story
After Hours
A Team Player
This court official has a ball with her soccer leagueSharon Suhar gets a real kick out of her after-hours hobby—and she gives her fair share of kicks, too. Suhar, 44, is a regular player in an all-women...
Full Story
Tech Tools
Great New Gadgets for Work and Play
Slice of time. Wallet kit. Top yachts. Right key.Tape it up
When you fish into your Coach purse for your wallet, why not shock onlookers with something you won’t find in many other design...
Full Story
Marketing Matters
The Allure of Women
Banks launch new programs to catch this growing marketThree years ago in Fort Lauderdale, Gibraltar Private Bank & Trust started its Wise Women program, a series of lectures specifically targeting women ...
Full Story
Front and Center
Lessons from Columbine
John Dunaway brings his public safety experience to Edison College.When Jefferson County, Colo., Undersheriff John Dunaway arrived at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, he had to quickly assess an unprecedented...
Full Story
Residential Real Estate
Condo Crunch
Buyers wait for prices to dropHow low will condo prices go?
Area real estate agents chant the mantra of “overpriced oversupply” to describe the market for condominiums priced ...
Full Story
http://www.gulfshorebusiness.com/toc.asp
so lemme see if i have this right newb...
1) quietly shutter the Pittsburgh operations (despite it becoming the robotics mecca and home to Carnegie Mellon).
2) terminate a bunch ("numerous") of the Coro boys in Redmond (who also happen to generate 95% of the revenues).
3) and then LOAD UP on Ft. Myers!
did you buy back the shares you dumped in late february?
don't you still have some grills to shill?
Connecting the Companies | UTEK Update | Main
http://sharesleuth.com/2007/05/connecting_the_companies.html
Two more companies that recently announced technology deals with UTEK Corp. have been identified as vehicles for securities fraud, this time in a federal criminal case in New Jersey.
The case involves a stock manipulation scheme that began in the 1990s and cost investors more than $15 million. Eight defendants have pleaded guilty and a ninth was found guilty by a jury.
A plea agreement signed by one of the defendants says that prosecutors would not initiate further charges regarding his admitted participation in securities and wire frauds involving the shares of some 30 additional companies.
The companies include Avalon Oil and Gas Inc., which last month completed its third technology transfer with UTEK, and ChampionLyte Holdings Inc., now called Cargo Connection Logistics Holdings Inc. It did a technology deal with UTEK in December.
The court filing did not allege any wrongdoing by Avalon (OTCBB: AOGN) or Cargo Connection (OTCBB: CRGO).
But Sharesleuth.com found the document in the course of its own investigation into Avalon, Cargo Connection and other companies with ties to a common network of executives, directors, consultants and promoters.
A closer look at that network revealed at least three people who did prison time in connection with previous fraud schemes and three others who either settled civil fraud charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission or were found guilty by a jury.
The network also included several more people who previously were suspended or barred by the National Association of Securities Dealers for violating brokerage industry rules.
Companies linked to the network have done numerous deals with Cornell Capital Partners LP, one of the top hedge funds providing PIPE (Private Investment in Public Equity) financing to penny stock companies.
UTEK (AMEX: UTK) is a Tampa company that licenses technology from government and university labs and transfers it to other companies, usually in exchange for shares of the recipients.
Sharesleuth published an investigative report on UTEK in October that raised questions about UTEK’s business model, the true value of its securities portfolio and some of the companies whose shares are in that portfolio.
Most of UTEK’s partners are companies whose shares trade on the over-the-counter market and Pink Sheets market. They pay UTEK in restricted stock, which is UTEK’s chief source of revenue.
UTEK valued its 2006 deals with Avalon and Cargo Connection at $3.02 million.
Sharesleuth’s original story disclosed that at least seven of the companies that had used UTEK’s services had executives or large shareholders who previously were charged with violations by the SEC, the NASD or other bodies.
The story said that insiders at seven other UTEK partners had been hit with SEC charges after their companies did deals with the company.
Sharesleuth is not suggesting that UTEK participated in the actual or alleged fraud schemes involving shares of Avalon, Cargo Connection or any of its other partners. We are simply pointing out that UTEK’s stock-for-technology business model makes it easy for people with ulterior motives to profit from the publicity surrounding those transfers.
(Disclosure: Mark Cuban, the majority member of Sharesleuth.com LLC, has a current short position in UTEK of 12,512 shares. He had sold short as many as 90,488 shares, but most of those were bought in over the past few months. He did not intentionally cover his position. Cuban also is short 10,000 shares of Xethanol Corp.,another company that is mentioned in this story. Christopher Carey, editor of Sharesleuth.com, does not invest in individual stocks and has no position in the shares of UTEK or Xethanol.)
THE CORNELL CONNECTION
While reporting the UTEK story, Sharesleuth noted that a disproportionate number of its partners also had done deals with Cornell Capital, a New Jersey-based hedge fund operator with more than $700 million under management.
Four of UTEK’s last 20 technology transfers have been with companies backed by Cornell. Two more were with Avalon, and two were with a company that got financing from a British partnership whose U.S. agent then became a Cornell fund manager.
All told, at least a dozen companies that completed technology transfers with UTEK or hired the company to search for new technology had previously received financing from Cornell or its affiliates. Cargo Connection is part of that group.
Cornell told Sharesleuth that it has no involvement with UTEK and has never introduced a company to UTEK.
Cargo Connection belongs to a second group of Cornell-backed companies that share a rotating cast of officers, directors and consultants. Four of the companies listed as fraud vehicles in the New Jersey case fall into that group.
Cornell said it had no knowledge of the fraud case and had no business relationship with Frank J. Manfredi, the stock promoter whose plea agreement in U.S. District Court in Camden, N.J., contained the list.
The shares of Cargo Connection and the other companies with a common set of players have never made the kind of upward moves that attract the attention of mainstream investors, or regulators. Most have traded below $1; some for pennies or less.
But the companies have remained alive long enough for insiders or their associates to unload shares.
Sharesleuth’s investigation uncovered a daisy-chain of dealmaking that has provided millions in hedge fund money to small, struggling companies and has generated millions in stock and cash for consultants, promoters and other financial middlemen
Sharesleuth will outline those connections in a series of articles over the next few weeks.
At the center of the deal making is Robert D. Press, who a decade ago was president of a company that ran a boiler-room brokerage called PCM Securities Ltd. He was in his early 30s at the time.
Federal prosecutors charged in 1999 that PCM and several related brokerages were infiltrated by organized crime and became part of a vast “pump and dump’ scheme that cheated investors out of more than $150 million.
More than 50 people connected to PCM and three other firms – Hanover Sterling & Co., Norfolk Securities Corp. and Capital Planning Associates Inc. -- either pleaded guilty or were found guilty of racketeering or fraud charges.
Press was not among those indicted.
Press more recently has been a presence at several firms that provided money or consulting services to small public companies, including Cargo Connection and others listed in the New Jersey court documents.
From November 2004 until late 2006, Press also was co-portfolio manager for one of Cornell’s affiliated funds, Montgomery Equity Partners Ltd.
Yorkville Advisors LLC is the general partner of Cornell Capital, and also was general partner of two other funds, Montgomery Equity Partners and Highgate House Funds Ltd. The latter two funds have been consolidated into Cornell.
Mark A. Angelo, the managing member of Yorkville Advisors and president of Cornell, was the co-portfolio manager of all three funds.
Cornell said it no longer has any association with Press, noting that “it didn’t work out, so we parted ways.’’ However, Press still has an active telephone extension that is reachable through the hedge fund’s main switchboard.
Sharesleuth’s investigation shows that Press and the Cornell family of funds participated in at least two financing deals alongside Robert H. Pozner, who was one of the original defendants indicted in the New Jersey fraud case in 2005.
Pozner, a former stock broker and trader, has signed a plea agreement that calls for a maximum of five years in prison. He previously pleaded guilty to securities fraud and perjury charges in another stock manipulation case and served three months in prison.
Pozner also settled civil fraud charges with the SEC in the prior manipulation case. He neither admitted nor denied the allegations but agreed to disgorge profits and accept sanctions. That case was public information at the time Pozner was included in the deals with Knightsbridge and Cornell.
The hedge fund said it was unaware of Pozner’s past.
Cornell also has provided financing to companies that have direct ties to Press and whose officers, major shareholders or consultants included:
* Rafael D. “Ray” Bloom, a onetime stockbroker who went to prison after being convicted of securities and wire fraud in 1989. Bloom had a long disciplinary record even before that scheme, involving a company called European Auto Classics.
* Leonard M. Tucker, former chairman and part-owner of F. D. Roberts Securities Inc., a boiler room brokerage that cheated investors out of $67 million. He pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge in 1990 and served 15 months in prison.
* Donna M. Silverman, an oft-disciplined broker and manager for Investors Associates Inc. Investors Associates shut down its brokerage business under regulatory pressure in 1997. Its top executives later pleaded guilty to criminal charges involving the manipulating of share in five companies that the firm took public, and also settled civil charges.
* William A. Calvo III, a disbarred lawyer who was found guilty in 2002 in a civil fraud case involving the manipulation of shares in Systems of Excellence Inc.
Rafael Bloom and Donna Silverman have been partners in Stedman Walker Ltd., a New York company that has received stock under consulting agreements with Cargo Connection and other companies on the list of fraud vehicles.
Silverman has been president and chief executive of two of those companies, and has been on the board of directors of three. All received financing from Cornell.
Cornell said it had no idea that Stedman Walker was affiliated with those companies.
Cornell disclosed to its own investors in 2005 that the SEC was investigating some of its financing transactions. The hedge fund told Sharesleuth that it believes the investigation to be closed, and that none of the deals involved Knighsrbridge clients.
Press did not respond personally to questions submitted by Sharesleuth. An attorney who spoke on his behalf told Sharesleuth last week that Press was not involved in any illicit activity and objected to the tenor of the questions.
“Mr. Press is not the subject of any type of criminal or civil investigation,” said Carl F. Schoeppl, of Schoeppl & Burke in Boca Raton, Fla.
Any suggestion that Press is involved in questionable activities is “is unwarranted and improper,’’ he said.
Even if Press has been involved in certain transactions with people with criminal pasts, those transactions may have been entirely lawful, Schoeppl noted.
LAURUS FUNDS
Press previously was a representative of Laurus Funds, another family of hedge funds.
UTEK and Laurus Master Fund Ltd. announced an alliance in January 2004 designed to help Laurus’ portfolio companies identify and acquire new technology. As part of the deal, UTEK assigned an employee to work in Laurus’ New York headquarters.
Laurus also became an investor in UTEK. It reported owning 284,600 shares in February 2005, or slightly less than 5 percent of those outstanding at the time. That stake made Laurus the company’s third largest shareholder.
Laurus is run by brothers Eugene Grin and David Grin. Eugene Grin once worked as a broker for F.N. Wolf & Co. Regulators closed that firm in 1994, and the NASD ordered its president to pay nearly $7.8 million in restitution to penny stock buyers.
To date, seven of Laurus’ portfolio companies have used UTEK to seek out new technology, but only one has completed a licensing deal. An eighth company did a technology transfer with UTEK before getting capital from Laurus.
Both Cornell and Laurus specialize in providing financing to small, cash-strapped companies, often in the form of convertible notes that can be turned into stock at a discount to the prevailing market price. Cornell and Laurus also typically receive fees for each conversion, plus stock or warrants as an upfront incentive.
The case file in a suit brought by a Laurus-backed company in 2004 included a letter in which Press identified himself as an agent of the Laurus Master Fund and three other entities -- Keshet Fund, Keshet LP and Nesher LP.
In the letter, to an executive of Advanced Optics Electronics Inc. (OTCBB: ADOT), Press warned that the company was in default of its loan agreement and suggested that the debt could be eliminated through the issuance of 103.5 million shares of stock.
Advanced Optics said in its request for an injunction that Press was demanding shares worth $1.8 million to satisfy a debt of no more than $550,000. Advanced Optics added that its auditors had repeatedly been contacted about the debt – at a time they were trying to certify the company’s finances -- in an effort to pressure the company into turning over the stock. Advanced Optics later reached a settlement in the case.
The suit was filed against Knightsbridge Holdings LLC of Aventura, Fla., and Alyce B. Schreiber, its managing member. In the letter that was introduced as evidence, Press identified himself as president of Knightsbridge.
KNIGHTSBRIDGE HOLDINGS
Knightsbridge Holdings does business under the name Knightsbridge Capital. It was a large ChampionLyte shareholder, and played a key role in the company’s metamorphosis into Cargo Connection.
Other SEC filings have listed Press as president or vice president of Advantage Fund I LLC, also based in Aventura. Corporation filings list Schreiber as the managing member.
Collectively, Knightsbridge and Advantage Fund have provided advice or financing to more than a dozen Cornell partners.
In addition to Cargo Connection, Press and Schrieber have provided consulting services to at least two other companies that used UTEK’s services.
A second attorney who responded to questions submitted to Press emphasized that Press is no longer an owner or manager of Knightsbridge.
“There has been absolutely no affiliation between Press and Knightsbridge since 2004,’’ said Alan E. Weinstein, who practices in Miami.
In addition, he said, Press “has never heard of UTEK.’’
Sharesleuth has no way of determining whether Press has a financial interest in Knightsbridge. The last time his name appeared on a public document in connection with Knightsbridge seems to have been Sept. 28, 2004, a little more than a month before he became a portfolio manager for Montgomery Equity Partners.
But it is clear to us that Press still has very close ties to Knightsbridge, Advantage Fund and Schreiber.
Less than a month ago, a company called Trafalgar Advisors Inc. sent its annual filing to the Florida Division of Corporations. The document lists Press as president, at the same address that Knightsbridge and Advantage Fund used in their latest filings.
What’s more, we noted that a Trafalgar filing from October includes a handwritten section with a distinctive lettering style that matches the one in handwritten sections of filings for companies linked only to Schreiber.
Those documents appear to have been prepared by the same person.
Schreiber did not respond to Sharesleuth’s questions.
CARGO CONNECTION AND AVALON
Cargo Connection, a transportation and logistics company based in Inwood, N.Y., acquired a license through UTEK for technology to detect nuclear material in sealed containers.
Cargo Connection paid with 168.5 million shares of common stock. UTEK valued the stock at $1.03 million at the time of the deal. It pegged their worth at $643,300 at the end of the year, reflecting a decline in the company’s share price.
In its latest fiscal year, Cargo Connection reported a loss of $5.87 million, on revenue of $17.9 million. The company’s stock now trades for less than half a cent a share.
Peter Nasca, who handles media relations for Cargo Connection, said he was unaware of the New Jersey fraud case or the defendant whose list of fraud vehicles include the company.
Avalon, which has headquarters in Minneapolis, did technology transfers with UTEK in July and November of 2006, and in March of this year.
The first license covered a technique for using ultrasonic waves to remove waste deposits from oil pumping equipment. The second covered a system that uses sensors installed with oil well casings to better monitor reservoir conditions. The third covered technology for determining the presence and location of leaks in underground pipes.
Although Avalon bills itself as an oil and gas producer, its latest quarterly filing with the SEC listed less than $27,000 in revenue for the nine months that ended Dec. 31. Based on average crude prices for the period, that translates to less than 500 barrels of output.
Kent Rodriguez, Avalon’s president, did not respond to Sharesleuth’s questions.
Avalon posted a $2 million loss for the nine months. Its operating expenses for the period included $1.42 million in stock-based compensation. The company’s most recent annual filing with the SEC, last July, reported that it had just one employee. Its Web site currently lists two.
UTEK received a total of 35.1 million Avalon shares in the two deals last year. It recorded the original value of that stock at $1.99 million, but had lowered the figure to $864,200 by Dec. 31.
UTEK also transferred $525,000 in cash with the technology, $472,150 of which stayed with Avalon.
UTEK received an additional 34.9 million shares in the latest deal. UTEK pegged its revenue from that transfer at $697,500, based on a discounted stock price of 2 cents a share.
Avalon completed a 1-for-20 reverse stock split on May 15. UTEK now holds 3.5 million shares of the company’s common stock, or roughly 21 percent of those outstanding.
Avalon’s shares closed Tuesday at 45 cents a share.
COMMON PLAYERS
Cargo Connection’s predecessor, ChampionLyte, did a financing deal with Cornell in August 2004, when it was trying in vain to popularize a sugar-free sports drink.
The hedge fund agreed to provide ChampionLyte with as much as $15 million through a mechanism that would allow it to buy shares from the company at a discount to the market price and resell them on the public market.
Cornell also bought $400,000 in convertible debt held by Advantage Fund I , the investment fund connected to Press. Advantage Fund used part of the proceeds to provide additional financing to ChampionLyte.
At the time, ChampionLyte was controlled by an investor group that included Press. It also had a consulting agreement with Knightsbridge.
ChampionLyte never tapped the Cornell financing, and wound up abandoning the sports drink business.
Instead, it merged with Cargo Connection in May 2005, in a deal that Knightsbridge helped arrange. On the day the agreement was signed, the combined company issued a $1 million convertible note to one of Cornell’s affiliates, Highgate House Funds Ltd.
The debt was later replaced with a $1.75 million note issued to another Cornell entity, Montgomery Equity Partners. Press was one of two portfolio managers for that fund. The other was Angelo, Cornell’s co-founder and president.
Avalon has not done a financing deal with Cornell. But some of the people involved with Championlyte and Cargo Connection also have ties to Avalon.
SEC filings show that Thad Kaplan was on the board of directors of both Championlyte and Avalon. He also was an executive at a third company listed in the New Jersey court documents as a fraud vehicle -- Universal Property Development and Acquisition Corp. (OTCBB: UPDA), of Juno Beach, Fla.
Florida corporation records show that one of Kaplan’s relatives, Benjamin Kaplan, is president of Triple Crown Consulting Inc of North Miami Beach, Fla.
Championlyte’s SEC filings in 2003 noted that some officers of Triple Crown also were members of Knightsbridge, but that the two shared no common management.
Florida corporation filings offer no clues about the overlap, listing only one officer or manager for each – Kaplan as president for Triple Crown and Schreiber as managing member of Knightsbridge.
Sharesleuth’s research shows that Triple Crown held shares in seven companies on the list of fraud vehicles in the New Jersey case.
Triple Crown provided financing to Championlyte. And according to SEC filings, it is a part owner with Avalon and Universal Property in two oil and gas ventures in Texas. It also provides consulting services to Universal Property.
Triple Crown and Knightsbridge both were investors in Advantage Fund.
Knightsbridge is listed as managing member of Advantage Fund in its latest Florida corporation filing.
Advantage Fund also was a member of a second entity, Advantage Fund I Colorado LLC. A Florida corporation filing from 2002 listed the other members as Jeffrey O. Friedland and Friedland Capital Inc. The Colorado offshoot was dissolved in 2004.
Friedland heads Friedland Global Capital Markets LLC, which is based in Denver and offers publicity, promotional services and networking, primarily to microcap companies.
Two decades ago, Friedland, Silverman and Bloom worked together at a stock promotion firm called Corporate Financial Marketing. One company filing lists Friedland as president and Silverman as secretary.
Manfredi, the stock promoter who has pleaded guilty to fraud in the New Jersey case, provided services to Triple Crown. SEC filings show that Triple Crown gave him shares of Tech Laboratories Inc. (OTCBB:TLBT) for performing certain unspecified tasks.
Tech Laboratories was another of the companies listed as fraud vehicles.
SEC filings show that Tech Laboratories had an investor relations contract with Triple Crown, a consulting agreement with Knightsbridge and multiple financing agreements with Cornell.
Tech Laboratories issued more than 6 million shares to Triple Crown or its designees in 2003 and 2004. Robert Pozner’s wife, Leslie Pozner, was among the recipients.
Others who got Tech Laboratories shares from Triple Crown included Stedman Walker; Alexly Resources LLC, an entity set up for the benefit of two of Press’ daughters; and Edward Meyer Jr., a stock promoter who settled SEC fraud charges in 2002 in connection with an unrelated “pump-and-dump’’ scheme.
Knightsbridge, Triple Crown, Pozner, Manfredi, Stedman Walker, Triple Crown and Meyer also show up in the SEC filings for Americana Publishing Inc. (OTCBB: ADBN).
That stock may also be on the list of fraud vehicles in the New Jersey case, under a slightly different name. The list compiled by Manfredi and prosecutors includes an entity called American Book Publishing, which matches no publicly traded company.
Considering the author and the other companies on the list, we believe that American Book Publishing is supposed to be Americana Publishing, the prior name of Americana Distribution. SEC filings show that Manfredi received stock in that company.
THE NEW JERSEY CASE
Robert Pozner’s career in the brokerage business includes stints as a trader at Investors Associates and Glenn Michael Financial Inc.
He and the other defendants in the New Jersey case are alleged to have participated in a scheme in which they secretly gained control of nearly 100 million free-trading shares of a Florida company called TeleServices Internet Group Inc., inflated the price of the shares through prearranged trading, then dumped them on unsuspecting investors.
The indictments say the scheme ran from mid-1997 to late 2000.
Pozner previously settled civil fraud charges brought by the SEC in connection with the manipulation of shares in another company, Freedom Surf Inc., in 2000. He also pleaded guilty to criminal fraud and perjury charges in that case.
Pozner has longstanding ties to Press and Schreiber. He also worked at Investors Associates with Silverman, who was described in at least one SEC filing as a Knightsbridge consultant.
Knightsbridge had consulting agreements with six companies that were listed as fraud vehicles in the New Jersey case.
Four of the six later did financing deals with Cornell. Pozner or his wife were shareholders in all four of those companies. SEC filings for one of the companies show that Pozner received his stock through an assignment by Knightsbridge.
Knightsbridge also held shares in a seventh company on the list of fraud vehicles in the New Jersey case, Pick Ups Plus (Pink Sheets: PUPS). According to SEC filings, it received that stock as collateral for a loan that went into default.
Sharesleuth turned up at least 14 financing deals involving Knightsbridge, Cornell Capital and other entities headed by Press or his associates. The deals appear to have started with Tech Laboratories in the spring of 2004.
FINANTRA INC.
Press never has been charged with a violation by either the SEC or NASD. However, he and PCM Securities have been on the losing end of significant arbitration awards, and he also was ordered to pay $1 million to an investor in a civil fraud case.
While still at PCM Securities and its parent, Performance Capital Management Inc., Press established a business that would ultimately become Finantra Capital Inc. Schreiber later became a vice president of Finantra, a publicly traded company that provided commercial and consumer financing.
Schreiber previously worked in the business development department at Sky Scientific Inc., a Florida company that was the subject of a wide-ranging SEC case that included fraud charges against executives, accountants, stock brokers and stock promoters.
The SEC alleged that Sky Scientific – a purported mining company – issued false statements about its operations, precious-metal reserves and assets.
Schreiber was not among those charged. More than a dozen other defendants, including Sky Scientific’s chief executive, Walter A. Dorow Jr., and stock promoter Melvin L. Levine, were ordered to disgorge more than $14 million generated by the sale of Sky Scientific stock. Dorow and Levine later went to prison for other securities frauds.
Finantra made a flurry of acquisitions before running out of cash and shutting down abruptly in 2001. Its stock was delisted after it failed to remain current on its SEC filings.
One big shareholder won a $1 million jury verdict against Press and Finantra, after presenting evidence that Press, Schrieber and others were manipulating the price of Finantra’s stock at the same time they were soliciting him to buy a 9 percent stake in the company.
A former SEC examiner investigator testified on behalf of the shareholder -- Montreal industrialist Herbert Black -- that trading patterns showed clear evidence of market manipulation. He also testified that Pozner, then head trader at Glenn Michael, played a key role in that trading. The alleged manipulation occurred in 1999 and 2000.
Pozner himself was a Finantra shareholder. He received stock through Finantra’s acquisition of a south Florida mortgage company in 1998. The sale agreement in an SEC filing lists Pozner as a part owner of the company, Ameritrust Holdings Inc. The document lists former boiler-room boss Leonard Tucker as another of the owners, along with members of his family.
SEC filings show that a third large Finantra shareholder was a Florida company called Oceancrest Merchant Group Inc. Its president was Elliot A. Loewenstern, one of the founders of Biltmore Securities Inc. The NASD expelled Biltmore in 1999 and permanently barred Loewenstern and firm’s other principal, Richard B. Bronson.
The firm and the men settled charges that they had engaged in fraudulent conduct in the underwriting, distribution and trading of stock in five companies. Biltmore agreed to repay more than $6 million to customers. The firm and Loewenstern and Bronson also agreed to pay $1 million in fines.
Before launching Biltmore, Loewenstern was a top broker at Stratton Oakmont Inc, a notorious boiler room that was shut down by regulators in 1997. Its top executives were convicted on fraud charges and sent to prison.
An SEC filing in 2000 also lists Stedman Walker as a holder of Finantra warrants.
Finantra employed two stock promoters to help generate interest in its shares. According to testimony in one of the lawsuits against the company, they were Lee S. Rosen and Bonnie Nelson.
Rosen’s name might be familiar to Sharesleuth readers because he appeared in our first investigative report, on Xethanol Corp (AMEX: XNL). Rosen was a Xethanol shareholder afind also was co-founder of DDS Technologies USA Inc. (OTCBB: DDSU), which did a joint venture with Xethanol.
Rosen also is chairman of the board of H2 Diesel Holdings Inc. (OTCBB:HTWO), which has a license to produce what it describes as a new class of biofuel. Xethanol holds a 34.2 percent stake in the company.
Bonnie Nelson was known as Bonnie Nelson Kantrowitz when she worked as a broker for Vanderbilt Securities in the early 1990s. The NASD charged her in 1992 with selling securities at excessive markups. She settled without admitting or denying guilt, and was suspended for 30 days and fined $34,000.
Another of the Vanderbilt employees charged in that case was Jerome E. Rosen. He would later be named as a defendant with Calvo in the SEC’s case against Systems of Excellence.
Jerome Rosen was a trader for J. Alexander Securities Inc. then. That brokerage was cited in the Finantra shareholder suit as one of the participants in the manipulation of Finantra’s stock. Rosen was barred from the securities industry after the jury in the Systems of Excellence case found that he manipulated that company’s stock.
KNIGHTSBRIDGE’S BEGINNINGS
Following the collapse of Finantra, Schreiber set up Knightsbridge. Although she is the only member listed in Florida corporation records, multiple SEC filings have identified Press as the firm’s president. The last such filing was in 2004.
Schrieber signed a consulting contract in the summer of 2001 with Save On Energy Inc., a Tampa company that later hired UTEK to search for new technology. Her task was to help identify and structure acquisitions.
The company also hired Press’ mother, who was 71 at the time, as a marketing consultant, to help raise its profile in the investment community. Each received 250,000 shares. The registration statement that the company filed in connection with the consulting agreements valued the shares at 75 cents each.
A third contract went to Aspen Capital Partners LLC of Tampa. Finantra had hired that fimr as a consultant in April 2001, just before its demise.
Anil Ganatra, who was Schreiber’s partner in a different venture, became Save On Energy’s chief financial officer and chief operating officer for part of 2002.
The company later changed its name to Hybrid Fuel Systems Inc. It formed a strategic alliance with UTEK in 2005 and adopted yet another new identity last year. It now is called U.S. Energy Initiatives Corp. (OTCBB: USEI).
Perhaps coincidentally, the same company had previously hired Jeffrey S. Langberg as a consultant. He played a key role in the creation and development of Xethanol, an ethanol producer that did five technology deals with UTEK.
Another Florida company, Magic Media Networks Inc., signed a financing deal with Knightsbridge in 2002. That company’s president and chief executive, Gordon S. Venters, is a former F.D. Roberts broker whose registration was revoked by the NASD in the summer of 1993 for failure to pay fines and costs assessed in a disciplinary case.
Magic Media canceled the deal with Knightsbridge when it found money elsewhere.
Magic Media hired UTEK to seek out new technology in 2003 but never did a licensing deal. The company recently changed its name to Destination Television Inc. (OTCBB: DSTV).
Press and Schreiber also had business relationships with individuals who now serve as officers or directors of UTEK partner companies.
Knightsbridge signed a consulting agreement in July 2004 with Colmena Corp., a Boca Raton-based company in search of fresh capital and a new line of business. The following month, Colmena agreed to merge with NetWorth Systems Inc. of Fort Lauderdale.
L. Joshua Eikov took over as president of the combined company, renamed NetWorth Technologies Inc.
NetWorth did a financing deal with Cornell in October 2004. Under the terms of its consulting agreement, the amount of money raised entitled Knightsbridge Capital to receive 4.99 percent of NetWorth’s outstanding shares.
NetWorth Technologies merged in 2005 with another Cornell partner, Solutions Technology International Inc. (OTCBB: STNL).
Eikov left Networth around the time of that deal and is now chief executive of Mobile Ready Entertainment Corp (Pink Sheets: MRDY). That company hired UTEK in September to scout for technology.
OVERLAPS
Sharesleuth found numerous other examples where individuals or partnerships with ties to Press and his associates appear in the SEC filings of companies linked to UTEK, the Cornell funds or the Laurus funds.
Those connections may well be coincidences. But we think some are worth noting.
Sharesleuth’s research showed that a company called First Mirage Inc. provided financing or financial consulting to at least three UTEK partners – Swiss Medica Inc. (OTCBB: SWMEE), Quest Minerals and Mining Ltd. (OTCBB: QMMG) and Health Sciences Group Inc. (Pink Sheets: HESG).
Some SEC filings have listed Alexander Cherepakhov as a principal in First Mirage. He is Donna Silverman’s ex-husband and worked with her at Investors Associates. Like her, he was suspended and fined by the NASD for violations at that firm.
Cherepakhov also was a shareholder in Americana Publishing. SEC filings show he was involved with that company well before Knightsbridge became one of its consultants.
Other SEC filings list one of Cherepakhov’s partners in First Mirage as Frank E. Hart.
Hart was ordered by a federal court in 1994 to forfeit more than $600,000 in profits that he and another of his companies, Generation Capital Associates, reaped by selling stock obtained illegally when savings and loans were converting from mutual ownership to stock ownership. The case was brought by the SEC and the Office of Thrift Supervision. Hart consented to the charges without admitting or denying guilt.
SEC filings list Cherepakhov, Hart, or entities connected to them as shareholders in at least six of Cornell’s portfolio companies.
A 2004 filing for one of those companies, Wherify Wireless Inc. (OTCBB: WFYW), showed that First Mirage owned 1 million shares, or roughly 4.5 percent of then-outstanding stock. The filing said Cherepakhov had control over the shares. ((percentage changed per fact checker).
The same SEC filings showed that John J. Micek III, a UTEK director, and Silicon Prairie Partners LP, the venture group he heads, had roughly 1.1 million shares. Micek’s brother, Gregory Micek, was a Wherify director, and other members of the Micek family also were shareholders.
Wherify announced a deal last March for $45 million in debt and equity financing from Cornell.
Another SEC filing from January 2006 listed Cherepakhov as one of the people who controlled Professional Traders Fund LLC.
That fund was an investor in Xethanol, which did five technology transfers with UTEK. It also was an investor in Universal Detection Technology Inc. (OTCBB: UDTT), which hired UTEK last summer to seek out new technology.
The deal with Universal Detection was announced in July and canceled in September.
An SEC filing in April by Carbiz Inc. (OTCBB: CBZFF) lists Knightsbridge and an entity called Crescent Fund LLC among the company’s largest shareholders.
Crescent Fund also owned a stake in WebSky Inc (Pink Sheets: WKYN), which did a technology transfer with UTEK in February 2006. Crescent Fund is headed by Jeffrey S. Stone, a recidivist securities law violator who was hit with new fraud charges in August.
The SEC alleged that Stone and his wife, Janette Diller Stone, acquired more than 288 million shares of WebSky’s stock under false pretenses, then hired promoters to hype the stock through false spam emails.
WebSky’s share price tripled, and the Stones reaped more than $1 million by selling their shares into the market they helped stimulate. WebSky’s chief executive also was charged by the SEC. He settled without admitting or denying guilt.
Tradequest International Inc. (OTCBB: TRDQ), another company that hired UTEK to search for technology, also has a connection to Press and his associates in south Florida.
The Miami-based company hired SOS Resource Services as a consultant in April 2006. It issued 3 million shares, which it valued at $600,000, to that firm’s president, Salvatore Russo, to provide for advice on Latin American markets and other matters.
SOS Resource Services was a consultant to Championlyte, Americana Publishing and PowerChannel Inc. (Pink Sheets: PWRC), another Knightsbridge client that was included on the list of fraud vehicles in the New Jersey stock manipulation case.
Although SOS Resource Services uses a postal box in Port Washington, N.Y. as its address, Russo lives in Miami.
Powerchannel’s chief executive sued Knightsbridge, Press, Schreiber, Advantage Fund, Triple Crown, Benjamin Kaplan and other parties in 2004, alleging fraud, breach of contract and the improper issuance of stock.
Florida corporation records show that Russo was a partner with Powerchannel’s CEO, Steven Lampert, in another business, Men’s Evolution. The Federal Communications Commission in 2000 ordered another of Lampert’s public companies, Long Distance Direct Inc., to pay $2 million for submitting unauthorized change orders in phone users’ accounts (a practice known as “slamming”, and submitting unauthorized charges (“cramming”), purportedly for calls to a psychic hotline.
Lampert filed for bankruptcy, and documents in that case say he transferred most of his Powerchannel stock to Russo as consideration for a loan he was unable to repay.
Russo also is a partner in a business with Barry C. Honig, who advised Powerchannel in the Knightsbridge deal. Honig is another former broker who now works as a consultant to small public companies. SEC filings show that Honig is a shareholder in NeoStem Inc. (OTCBB: NEOI), which hired UTEK in January to look for technology.
Peter M. Peterson, the founder of Aspen Capital Partners, is a NeoStem director.
Triple Crown Consulting also appears as a minor shareholder in the filings of Sense Holdings Inc. (OTCBB: SEHO), which did a technology transfer deal with UTEK in 2001.
Sharesleuth noted that HydroFlo Inc. (Pink Sheets: HYRF), one of UTEK’s technology transfer partners, contracted with EYI Industries Inc. (OTCBB: EYII), a Cornell-backed company, to distribute its water purifying and filtration products.
The SEC brought fraud charges last July against HydroFlo and its chief executive, Dennis L. Mast. Regulators said the company and Mast defrauded investors by “making false and materially misleading statement’s about HydroFlo’s water treatment business, contracts and prospects in a series of press releases in 2005.’’
Some of those releases concerned orders supposedly secured by EYI . HydroFlo and Mast settled the charges without admitting or denying guilt. Both agreed to injunctions against future violations of securities laws, and Mast was barred from serving as an officer or director of any public company.
Sharesleuth’s research into companies connected to UTEK, Knightsbridge and Cornell turned up several mentions of Phillip E. Pearce, a former senior vice president of E.F. Hutton & Co. and former chairman of the NASD’s board of governors.
Pearce is a director of 5G Wireless Communications (OTCBB: FGWI), a Cornell-backed company that hired UTEK in January 2006 to look for suitable technology. He also is a director of H2 Diesel, the company in which UTEK partner Xethanol has a large stake.
In addition, Pearce is a director of Bravo Brands Inc. (OTCBB: BRVO), a company that hired Knightsbridge as a consultant and also received financing from Keshet, Nesher and other entitities that frequently invest alongside Laurus.
Jerome Mahoney also popped up frequently in our searches. Mahoney is non-executive chairman of the board of MM2 Group Inc. (OTCBB: MMGP), a Cornell-backed company that hired UTEK last July to scout for technology.
Mahoney also is chairman and chief executive of iVoice Inc. (OTCBB: IVOI), another Cornell partner, and is non-executive chairman of three other companies that have been financed by the hedge fund.
The Newark Star-Ledger reported in 2005 that Mahoney had collected roughly $4.6 million in the previous two-and-a-half years by selling more than 2.5 billion shares of his iVoice stock. At the time, the company was losing money and its stock was sinking below a penny a share.
At least two companies that used UTEK’s services got money from both Cornell and Laurus.
Veridium Corp. did a $2.5 million revolving debt agreement with Laurus in April 2004. Three months later, it hired UTEK to find technology that would aid its industrial-recycling business. No deal materialized.
Veridium got additional capital from Cornell in April 2006, in the form of a $4.4 million convertible note. A few days later, Cornell bought out Laurus’ debt position. Veridium changed it name last July to GS Cleantech (OTCBB: GCST) and is now pursing alliances with ethanol producers.
NetFabric Holdings Inc. (OTCBB: NFBH) did two financing agreements with Cornell in July 2005, one stock-based and one debt-based. Seven months later, the company entered into a $3 million deal with Laurus. NetFabric used $1.9 million of the money to retire its debt to Cornell.
Cornell said that it had no relationship with Laurus beyond those occasional transactions.
At least three other companies that licensed technology through UTEK got financing through Langley Park Investments PLC, a British company whose U.S. agent then became a portfolio manager for one of Cornell’s hedge funds.
Langley Park, whose shares are publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange, did stock swaps in 2004 with Nutracea Corp. (OTCBB: NTRZ), Advanced Refractive Technologies Inc. (Pink Sheets: ARFR) and Material Technologies Inc. (OTCBB: MTTG).
The transactions were designed to give Langley Park a portfolio of securities, and to give its partners shares that they could sell to meet their cash needs once Langley Park went public.
Nutracea wound up suing Langley Park, claiming that it was fraudulently induced to enter into the swap by promises that Langley Park was seeking deals only with solid, solvent companies.
Instead, most of Langley Park’s partners have been penny stock companies, and its shares have plummeted since it went public.
Nutracea gave 7 million shares of its shares to Langley Park in exchange for 1.27 million Langley Park shares. The Nutracea shares would have a current market value of nearly $24 million. Nutracea has been valuing its Langley Park shares at less than $300,000.
A federal judge ruled in favor of Langley Park. That fund said last week that it had realized nearly $14 million by selling Nutracea shares.
SEC filings show that the U.S. attorney and escrow agent for Langley Park was Gottbetter & Partners LP, a New York firm headed by Adam S. Gottbetter.
In November 2004, Yorkville, Cornell’s manager, hired Gottbetter to run a new hedge fund, Highgate House Funds Ltd. It said in announcing the expansion that the fund would have $150 million under management.
Highgate House went on to providing financing to UTEK clients Cargo Connection, Swiss Medica, Inseq Corp. (now GS Energy Corp., OTCBB: GSEG) and Aerotelesis Inc. (OTCBB: AOTL).
Yorkville and Gottbetter later had a falling out over one of Highgate House’s rare successes, Charys Corp. (OTCBB: CHYSS), whose shares went from a little over $1 a share in February 2006 to more than $10 a share by June.
Yorkville sued Gottbetter, alleging that he and his partners had taken too big a cut of the Charys shares and warrants the parties received in the financing deal.
Gottbetter last year set up his own hedge fund, Gottbetter Capital Management LP.
When Highgate and Montgomery Equity Partners were combined with Cornell, Press’s position as portfolio manager was eliminated. According to an affidavit filed in December in the suit Yorkville bought against Gotbetter, Press remained a consultant to the funds.
SaarResearch.com provided fact-checking services for this story.
Kathleen McLaughlin and Ilya Svintsitski contributed research.
Posted by Chris Carey on May 29, 2007 09:23 PM | Permalink
http://sharesleuth.com/2007/05/connecting_the_companies.html
http://sharesleuth.com/2007/02/utek_update_1.html
http://sharesleuth.com/2006/10/utek_corp.html
Institutional Risk Analytics - IRA Corporate Monitor
Innova Robotics & Automation, Incorporated
Ticker: INRA
Exchange: QB
Auditor: LBB & Associates Ltd., LLP
Business Case Viability
OPERATIONAL FOCUS
Regardless of the financials, it is critical to ask if the company is actually doing what it operationally purports to be doing? Or is it more of a financial vehicle? What is the dependency of the business model on non-operating sources of income. When all is said and done is the business model viable? That is, did it turn a Net Profit?
http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/corp.asp?ticker=INRA
http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/obligor.asp?ticker=INRA
yeah, hopefully CORO will try to retrieve the .com via ICANN.
this zhiqiang feng person seems to just be holding the name hostage imo.
zhiqiang feng
lookrice@hotmail.com
086-021-69184364 fax: 086-021-69184364
Room 103,Building 39,No.655,jingtang road,
Shanghai,China SH 201824
CN
http://www.whois.net/whois_new.cgi?d=corobot&tld=com
http://www.corobot.com
looks like a "cybersquatter" registration imo.
www.corobot.com is for sell.
corobot Inc. is selling this domain .
Please send a email to lookrice@hotmail.com for detail.
http://www.whois.net/whois_new.cgi?d=corobot&tld=com
Domain name: corobot.com
Registrant Contact:
fengzhiqiang
zhiqiang feng lookrice@hotmail.com
086-021-69184364 fax: 086-021-69184364
Room 103,Building 39,No.655,jingtang road,
Shanghai,China SH 201824
CN
Administrative Contact:
zhiqiang feng lookrice@hotmail.com
086-021-69184364 fax: 086-021-69184364
Room 103,Building 39,No.655,jingtang road,
Shanghai,China SH 201824
CN
Technical Contact:
zhiqiang feng lookrice@hotmail.com
086-021-69184364 fax: 086-021-69184364
Room 103,Building 39,No.655,jingtang road,
Shanghai,China SH 201824
CN
Billing Contact:
zhiqiang feng lookrice@hotmail.com
086-021-69184364 fax: 086-021-69184364
Room 103,Building 39,No.655,jingtang road,
Shanghai,China SH 201824
CN
DNS:
ns.yovole.com
ns1.yovole.com
Created: 2006-03-21
Expires: 2010-03-21
http://www.whois.net/whois_new.cgi?d=corobot&tld=com
May 2007 open short interest = 0
http://otcbb.com/asp/OTCE_Short_Interest.asp
INNOVA ROBOTICS & AU (INRA) OTC Type: OTCBB
May 2007
Short Interest
0
Interest Percent Change
(100.00)
Average Daily Share Volume
90.377
Days to Cover
1.00
link back to prior post for earlier INRA short sales data...
Lunar robotics office staying put, NASA says
Friday, May 25, 2007
By SHELBY G. SPIRES
Times Aerospace Writer shelby.spires@htimes.com
Decision follows after Shelby balked at move to D.C.
A lunar robotics office that NASA Administrator Mike Griffin wanted to move to Washington, D.C., will remain at Marshall Space Flight Center with new work, NASA officials and U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby's office confirmed Thursday.
But the fate of a lunar lander probe is still under review.
The 32-employee Lunar Precursor Robotic Program office will be included in the NASA budget at $20 million a year for the next six years. Also, the office will continue to manage two planned NASA lunar probe missions and begin a new assignment: mapping the moon to find sites of scientific value, Shelby's office said.
Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, balked in April when Griffin proposed moving the office because of budget problems. Shelby worked with Democrats and Republicans in Congress to keep the office at Marshall.
NASA's plan to move the office "was a huge mistake," Shelby said. The lunar robotics office, he said, will provide "critical data" for manned flights to the moon and a long-term presence in space.
U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer, D-Huntsville, said the robotics office could be a cornerstone in developing future Marshall propulsion work.
"The Lunar Precursor Robotics Program office is vital to the future of this country's space program," Cramer said in a statement. "I was glad to work with our state delegation, led by Sen. Shelby, to keep the LPRP office open while adding new roles.
"We have expertise in propulsion and a number of other areas that are critical to NASA's missions and I'm pleased that this fact was recognized."
The office has two probes - the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite - scheduled to launch to the moon in late 2008. But a third mission - the lunar lander probe - is still under study, said David Mould, a NASA spokesman in Washington.
"That project is a high priority, but the question is when the lander work needs to be done for lunar missions that are some years out," Mould said. "That timeline is under review."
Shelby said the lunar office is an important part of Marshall's work.
"I am glad that NASA recognized Marshall as much more than a rocket center," he said. "We must ensure that the talented staff at the space center continues to play a key role in America's expanding efforts in space."
Budget pressures
Shelby worked with Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., and U.S. Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., in April to write a letter directing NASA to restore $20 million for the robotics office. Mikulski and Mollohan chair subcommittees that oversee NASA's budget. Shelby is ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science, which votes on NASA's budget.
Griffin's proposal to move the office to Washington would have effectively closed down the work. He wanted to slash its $20 million-a-year budget as a way to help make up a $577 million shortage NASA faces this budget year.
Griffin sent Shelby's office a letter Wednesday saying that the office would remain at Marshall and that several other programs, including a NASA education program and a future space telescope mission, would be included in the budget.
Reversing the decision could become a problem for Griffin and his successors, and "it opens up their decisions for further second-guessing," said Keith Cowing, who runs NASAWatch.com.
"It makes a joke of any leadership on Mike Griffin's part if he makes a decision and then he reverses it because Senator Shelby or (Rep. Bud) Cramer tell him to back off," Cowing said. "How can NASA administrators actually manage if they constantly have Congress reversing decisions they don't like?"
http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1180084611254030.xml&coll=1
FYI - this is the local paper from Mesa's neighborhood.
maybe this guy can clarify that. perhaps he could swing by the Gulf Harbour Club and buy the boys a round?
"when i say insiders... I meant that investors close to the company..."
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=19869706
"no, not affiliated with company, but do live in ft myers and invested about six months ago."
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=18289184
except those "big egos in charge" that you noted don't seem to be able to generate any revs.
Q1 (2007) revs - $671,679
$635,305 = CoroWare = 94.6%
$19,854 = Altronics = 2.96%
$16,520 = RWT = 2.46%
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1156784/000114420407027737/v076125_10qsb.htm
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=19834543
Robo-girls Take On the World
By Andy Hospodor and Joe Hospodor
A lone all-girl team makes the semifinals of the FIRST Robotics World Championships
Photo:Andy Hospodor
slide show of the robot competition http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/may07/5105/robo
More than 10 000 teenagers from 344 teams traveled from 23 countries to the Georgia Dome this month, bringing with them teachers, parents, and mentors. Joining them were representatives of parts suppliers, manufacturers, DARPA, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The draw? The 2007 FIRST Robotics World Championship.
Seven all-girl teams made the run through the gauntlet of regional championships to be part of the Atlanta group. All-girl robotics teams are a new and growing phenomenon.Some of them earned their spots by winning regional competitions outright. Others got their tickets by capturing a Rookie All Star award—for exemplifying a young but strong partnership effort—or by garnering a Chairman's Award—for creating the best partnership among all participating teams.
The growing presence of robo-girls is good news for efforts to bring more women into science and engineering. A 2005 Brandeis University study found that students participating in FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) were more likely to attend college—88 percent versus 53 percent—and major in science or engineering—55 percent versus 28 percent. After their freshman year of college, the students are 10 times more likely to find an internship or co-op summer job and four times more likely to pursue an engineering career. Representatives from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and others were out promoting their programs at the Atlanta championships among robo-girls and -boys.
Two of the qualifying all-girl teams had been to the world championships before and knew what to expect. But the remaining five teams were rookies; for them, the competition was an eye-opener. They soaked up as much of the experience as possible, sleeping only when necessary.
In the 2007 version of the game, tagged Rack 'n' Roll, each team starts with nine pool rings on the field and nine behind the human players, ready to be passed into the ring. Robots place rings on a scoring rack in the center of the field to earn points, and any team that can use one robot to lift a partner robot 0.3 meter above the field in the last moments of the game scores a bonus of 30 points. Each robot is built around an onboard controller from Innovation First, programmed in C language, the central piece of a kit that includes hundreds of parts. The controller attaches to a 900-MHz wireless modem so that the robot can be driven remotely. Teams can add on additional parts, as long as the total cost of the robot stays under US $3500. The teams compete in alliances of three, fielding one robot each.
The all-girl qualifiers included:
• The Muses, from Archer School for Girls, Los Angeles. The Atlanta event in April was their second appearance in the World Championship. This team, which dates from 2000, may have been the first all-girl team to form in the United States (robo-history is not always well documented). Wearing pink and black bowling shirts and rhinestone-studded safety glasses, the Muses distinguished themselves in Atlanta by being the only all-girl team to place a ring during the autonomous period, the 15 seconds at the beginning of every match during which robo-handlers must keep their hands off remote controls.
• S.W.A.T., from St. Mildred's-Lightbourn School, Oakville, Ont., Canada. Like the Muses, S.W.A.T. was formed seven years ago, when two girls and a teacher built a robot and convinced the school to participate in FIRST. In their first year they added a dozen "Millies," as girls are known on campus; this year S.W.A.T. boasts 25 members, an impressive statistic, considering that the school has fewer than 600 students and robo-girls outnumber other Millies on the soccer and swimming teams. Also impressive, again, because St. Mildred's doesn't push technology studies and has no CAD system or welding or metal shops. The girls built a standard chassis out of the kit supplied by FIRST, purchased an off-the-shelf transmission, and bolted, screwed, and wired together a wheeled robot with a simple manipulator arm. After the first regional competition, they realized that scoring rings was a slow way to get points (6 rings in a row equals 64 points), so they swapped the manipulator arm for ramps to lift their alliance partners (for 60 bonus points in the endgame). S.W.A.T. won the Waterloo Regional event, along with its Chairman's Award.
The team's robot is a symmetrical creature, covered with plaid maroon wool that matches the school-uniform skirts. This caused a problem in the world championships: operators had a hard time identifying the robot's orientation on the field. To solve the orientation problem, they printed the team name on two small arrows fashioned out of emery boards that a team mom had sent to them after a mentor broke a nail during a competition.
They stapled these arrows to the ramps folded up against the sides of the robot, and could easily get the robot moving in the right direction, making it harder for competitors to push their robot around. Kate, the operator of the S.W.A.T. robot, tells potential robo-girls, "Don't be intimidated by people pushing you away; go out and find support."
• The Foxy-bots, from Montclair High School, in New Jersey. The Foxy-bots could have joined an existing coed team, but team captain Lauren discovered that girls were shuttled away from robot design over to team-spirit building, fundraising, and public relations. She wanted hands-on experience and convinced Credit Suisse to sponsor her purchase of a robot kit. Her team now numbers nine, and she advises other robo-girls, "Don't listen to the boys. Just don't." The Foxy-bots shared parts and designs with their school's coed team but added ramps to its design. But they didn't notice that the ramp hinges were attached to the chassis in a way that prevented them from descending all the way to the ground, making it hard for alliance partners to get onto them. Rather than reweld the chassis, the Foxy-bots designed clever L-brackets and relocated the ramps.
• The Green Grinches, from Vancouver, Wash. This Senior Girl Scout troop uses "Talk nerdy to me" as its tagline. Seven girls and four robo-moms started the team in 2003 when the girls aged-out of the Lego League, a competition for elementary schoolers also sponsored by FIRST. They created a prototype of their robot design in cardboard and constructed the kit chassis with a single-linkage manipulator arm that could pick up rings from the ground. The seven, now high school seniors, are about to age out again, and their local Girl Scout Council has asked them to start a new team in southern Washington, train them, and provide all the tools and equipment. If they succeed in this task, the Girl Scouts will honor them with the Gold Award, the highest honor in girl scouting. And it appears that they will succeed: the day before the Green Grinches left for Atlanta, the Evergreen School District board approved a Robotics club. On the final day of the competition, the Green Grinches proudly wore their Girl Scout sashes.
• The Space Cookies, of Moffett Field, Calif. Another Girl Scout-sponsored team, the Space Cookies recruit members from public and private high schools in Palo Alto, Los Altos, Mountain View, San Jose, and Santa Cruz. Wendy Holforty, a NASA senior research engineer, mentors the team and helped team captain and founder Michaela Brandt score an internship last summer at NASA.
• The Fe26 Maidens, of the Bronx High School of Science, in New York City. This, the newest all-girl team, is a nerdy twist on the Iron Maiden of rock music fame. The Fe26 Maidens got their berth in the Worlds by winning a rookie all-star award at the New York City Regional competition. The three founding girls spun out of a big-brother team, the SciBorgs, lined up a sponsor to purchase a FIRST kit, and got lucky when a new science teacher arrived. Dorothy Fibiger, a recent graduate in chemical engineering from Cornell, started teaching at Bronx Science and signed on as the team's founding faculty advisor. Her biggest coaching challenge has been the size of the team—not the number of girls—but the size of its members. Fibiger is about 20 cm shorter than the average 170-cm team member and has difficulty seeing through them onto the playing field when she offers strategic suggestions and calls plays.
The Fe26 Maidens named their robot, Rosie the Riveted, because the girls had "lots of fun with the rivet gun." Rosie is a heavy robot that can score, and she has ramps, along with a clever secret: she plays a defensive autonomous game. Unlike the regional matches covered by IEEE Spectrum, in the Atlanta championships, many robots scored during the 15-second autonomous period that starts each game. Rosie kicks off matches by speeding down the lane into the competitor's zone, then cutting across the rear of the rack—upsetting any robot trying to score autonomously. When Rosie slammed into A-Rack-Nid, the robot of neighboring Staten Island Technical High School, in the qualifying matches, the boys definitely paid attention. But cocaptain Antoinette says, "It's less about being girls and more about being able to participate." She plans to attend SUNY Maritime College, in Throggs Neck, N.Y., and study mechanical engineering. Cocaptain Alexandria will study mechanical engineering at Rochester Polytechnic Institute. And cofounder Kathleen will study environmental science at SUNY, Binghamton. With six new recruits behind them and a strong faculty mentor, this all-girl team is on track for long-term success. They won four and lost three of their qualification matches in Atlanta—not too shabby for rookies.
• Gatorbotics, from Castilleja School, Palo Alto, Calif. The girls of Gatorbotics, who call themselves Gatorbots, started their team in 2005 and now stand at 25 students, or roughly 10 percent of the girls in their all-girls high school. When Bellarmine College Preparatory, a Jesuit high school for boys in San Jose, offered to let Castilleja join their team in 2005, these robo-girls just said "no," and now robotics is a big draw at Castilleja. Team captain Christina suggests a key element of their attraction, that the "uncomfortable feeling of doing something new, figuring it out, is an adventure." The Gatorbots start their design process after brainstorm sessions, then build simple prototypes with kit parts. Finally, they draw their design with CAD software on their laptop computers, draw up a bill of materials, ask mentors to drive them to hardware stores, electronics shops, and junkyards, and then finally go to sponsor Ideo in Palo Alto to get the chassis welded. Their robot has a passive gripper for placing rings on the rack and ramps that lift their alliance partners.
As the only all-girl team to place in the top eight in their division, winning six matches and losing only one, Gatorbotics got to select its alliance partners. Picking such alliance partners is crucial. With 344 teams competing, teams strained their resources trying to gather intelligence on the other teams. Players fed each other real-time scouting reports using IEEE 802.11 ad hoc networks, and they constantly updated Wiki pages with team analyses. When Spectrum asked whether the Gatorbots would play with the boys, operator Christina replied, "We are going to play with robots." After donning her newly issued alliance captain's hat and rearranging her hair into a ponytail that stuck out the back, she invited two coed teams, the Robonauts of Clear Creek Independent School District, League City, Texas, along with CyberBlue of Perry Meridian High School, in Indianapolis, to join her team's alliance.
The Gatorbotics robot functioned well in the qualification rounds of the Atlanta championships, winning six matches and losing only one. However, their competitors in the quarterfinals, Foley Freeze, of Bishop Foley Catholic High School, Madison Heights, Mich.; YTACCC (Youth Technology Academy), of Cleveland Municipal School District; and the home-schooled Beach Bots, of Hope Chapel Academy, in Hermosa Beach, Calif., defeated the Gatorbotics alliance 42-6 and 286-18. In the second game the Gatorbotics robot entangled itself with the scoring rack and, as the girls wrestled with the controls to free it, the robot toppled over and was down for the count.
Although none of the all-girl teams advanced beyond the quarterfinals, their presence still influenced the championship matches. The winning alliance was Gumpei, from the Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science, Worcester, Mass.; Ring Wrangler, from South Windsor High School, in Connecticut; and Pit-Boss, from Cimarron-Memorial High School, in Las Vegas. Gumpei won the Silicon Valley Regional under the mentorship of former Fembot Sabrina Varanelli. Now Varanelli has a championship banner hanging in the robotics lab at Worcester Polytechnic, where she is studying mechanical engineering.
Speaking of trophies, Spectrum spotted Gatorbotics captain Christina still wearing her alliance captain hat the next day in the Atlanta airport.
About the Author
Andy Hospodor is chief technical officer of BookRenter.com and a senior member of IEEE. Joe Hospodor, a 16-year-old high school student, is responsible for public relations with the Harker Robotics Team 1072, in San Jose, Calif. Contact the authors at andy.hospodor@ieee.org.
Success in high school robotics comes from engineers who act as mentors, coaches, inspectors, or even referees at events across the country. FIRST is seeking volunteers to assist with Regional Events in March 2008 and the Championships in April 2008. See https://my.usfirst.org/vims.
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/may07/5105
Schilling Robotics Wins ROV Supply Contract from Allseas
Schilling Robotics, LLC
Monday, May 21, 2007
Schilling Robotics has been awarded a contract to exclusively supply remotely operated undersea vehicles (ROVs) technology to Allseas Group S.A., one of the world's major offshore pipelay and subsea construction companies. Schilling will deliver four ultraheavy-duty (UHD(TM)) ROVs to Allseas by October 2007.
The four ROVs (UHD 15, 16, 17, and 18), will perform survey operations and provide ROV services for Allseas, and Schilling's UHD systems will form the foundation of Allseas' ROV equipment.
Risk Analysis and Management of Petroleum Exploration Ventures
The systems will be installed on Allseas' vessels to perform survey support, pipeline touchdown monitoring, and a wide array of construction support tasks in the North Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and other major oil and gas regions worldwide.
The ROVs feature 150 shp and are rated for operation to 4000 meters. Each system will include a Schilling Robotics extended-excursion XE(TM) TMS system with 500 meters of tether and an independent propulsion system.
"The specialized equipment used in our operations requires that we employ state-of-the-art technology and highly trained operators. Schilling Robotics' equipment will help us in managing our projects safely and within budget," said Jan Blankman, Allseas' head of subsea services. He continued, "The AutoTrack(TM) utility, which allows survey coordinates to control vehicle movement, will be especially valuable in our survey work."
Allseas will pair all four UHD systems with ODIM high-specification handling systems with active heave compensation, enabling the ROVs to operate in the world's harshest offshore environments almost year round.
Schilling Robotics' CEO Tyler Schilling said, "We take great pride in the fact that Allseas selected us to supply these important systems for their ROV operations and services division, since Allseas is known in the industry for the great care with which they select their equipment."
Headquartered in Davis, Calif., with regional offices in Houston and Aberdeen, Schilling Robotics designs and delivers the highest-performing, most advanced subsea robotics, control systems, and components for use in the world's harshest environments. The company brings over 20 years of technology expertise and innovation in control, communication, and actuation to the challenges facing customers in subsea environments.
The Swiss-based Allseas Group S.A. is one of the major offshore pipelay and subsea construction companies in the world, operating specialized vessels that are designed in house. Founded in 1985, the company has gained worldwide experience in all types of offshore and subsea construction projects. Allseas supports clients already in the conceptual design stage and offers its services for project management, from engineering and procurement to installation and commissioning.
http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=45426
Wizard the AC robot works magic on judges
(published on 21/05/2007)
A robot created to patrol air conditioning systems and eliminate potential leaks has won an engineering award.
Known as 'Wizard' the remote operated DI (duct inspector) will police the highways and byways of ac systems to keep a watchful eye on them and where needed spray coat the insides of ducts and pipes to prevent leaks.
Wizard was awarded the Best Engineering Award in Britain in the Knowledge Transfer Partnership 2007 awards.
The robot is designed by Breval, the Glasgow-based specialist in the installation and maintenance of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems.
Breval has spent the last three years developing a machine that will apply specialist coatings to the insides of ventilation ductwork.
The robot will also clean inside the ducts and comes equipped with eight wheels, lights and a camera.
"We are delighted that our Wizard concept has been recognised through this award, " said Patrick McBride, contracts director of Breval.
Breval's website states "Patents are pending in Europe and USA and we are working hard to refine our design whilst gaining valuable positive feedback from our clients.
"We feel sure that the investment we have made in this direction will in the near future offer many of our existing and new clients a probable solution to ventilation ductwork problems, be they bacterial contamination, refurbishment or poor efficiency, this could be the answer".
Wizard, which has completed its first phase of testing, was developed in partnership with the Bell College in Hamilton, as part of the Department for Trade and Industry's Knowledge Transfer Partnership.
Benefits of using Wizard include reduced system running costs, reduced maintenance costs and an extension in the lifetime of ducts.
http://www.acr-news.com/news/news_story.asp?id=305
Underwater Robot Recovers Over 500,000 Silver And Gold Coins
Odyssey Marine Exploration (OTC:OMR) announced last week that they had recovered over 500,000 coins from a colonial period shipwreck.
They are keeping the location of the site, code named "Black Swan" secret until they have completed their salvage operations.
The find is worth at least US $500,000,000 based on an estimated average value of the coins, some in "dazzling mint state" condition, at US $1000 each. The estimate is considered preliminary because only 6000 of the half million coins have been inspected.
The remotely operated diver Zeus has allowed the salvage team to use "diligently followed archaeological protocols" to ensure that they get the best historical value from the sites. However, Odyssey claims that they have still not been able to determine the identity of the ships.
The Zeus is capable of diving to 2500 m (8200 ft). It weighs 8 tons in air with 8 thrusters and 2 seven function manipulator arms. It is connected to the surface through a fiber optic umbilical for telemetry and high-definition video.
The treasure, they say, was recovered from "beyond the territorial waters or legal jurisdiction of any country," but they still expect other claims on the booty.
I think, technically, it all belongs to the robot, since he was the one who made the recovery possible, but it will be shared with he investors in the company.
http://robotgossip.blogspot.com/
http://shipwreck.net/pr134.html
iRobot Sponsors Robotics Contest
Posted by Sheila Franklin
Related: Corporate News, Design, Misc. Tech
iRobot CreateiRobot, keepers of the roomba, has announced that has teamed up with sites Instructables and Tom’s Hardware Guide to create a contest for all you wannabe inventors.
“Robots spark the creative juices of people with a wide variety of interests because we all have dull, dirty or dangerous tasks that we would rather delegate to a robot,” said Helen Greiner, co-founder and chairperson of the company.
If you would like to enter your own bot idea, submit images and description of your creation to iRobot and you might win $5,000. They are also offering a limited amount of scholarship packages if you have a design in mind but cannot afford the $129.00 Create Kit. Winners will be announced August 31. We’re thinking that maybe we can encourage the guy with the Beer-Launching Fridge to adapt his and make it a “brewba.”
Google snaps up Stanford robotics
Licensing deal for sensing technology seen as weapon in battle with Microsoft for 3-D mapping services
By Elise Ackerman
MEDIANEWS STAFF
Article Launched: 05/22/2007 03:05:07 AM PDT
http://contracostatimes.com/business/ci_5957589
Google is hoping a robotic car will prove to be a secret weapon in its ongoing battle with Microsoft to extend the frontiers of the Internet.
MediaNews has learned that Google has quietly licensed the sensing technology developed by a team of Stanford University students that enabled Stanley, a Volkswagon Touareg R5, to win the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge. In that race, the Stanford robotic car successfully drove more than 131 miles through the Mojave Desert in less than seven hours.
The technology will enable Google to map out photo-realistic 3-D versions of cities around the world, and possibly regain ground it has lost to Microsoft's 3-D mapping application known as Virtual Earth.
Technologists believe an emerging 3-D Internet will eventually be commonplace as increasing numbers of people work, play and shop in virtual environments.
Microsoft's Virtual Earth, available through the 3-D link on maps.live.com, gives a hint of what that future will look like. Thanks to a unique approach to aerial photography, clever algorithms and the application of massive computational power, Microsoft has been able to create exact replicas of more than 50 cities, including San Francisco and San Jose.
Google Earth had 3-D cities, too. But until now, its buildings have been modeled by people, not computers, giving Microsoft's computer-generated cities a decided edge in completeness.
Katherine Ku, director of Stanford's Office of Technology Licensing, said the deal with Google was completed earlier this month. Ku said elements of the deal are exclusive so the same technology will not necessarily be available to competitors.
Google has previously licensed technology from Stanford, including the original search algorithm that was developed by Sergey Brin and Larry Page while they were pursuing graduate degrees in computer science at the school.
Sebastian Thrun, director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab and leader of the Stanford Racing Team, will also work part-time at Google. Thrun declined to discuss the commercialization of Stanley's technology.
A Google spokeswoman indicated that the company was planning an announcement at the Where 2.0 conference in San Jose on May 29-30.
"I'm thrilled," said David Cheriton, head of Stanford University Distributed Systems Group, and an early mentor to Brin and Page who later provided financial backing to the Stanford Racing Team.
"I think that this technology is very impressive because it offers amazing realism in a surprisingly simple approach," he said.
Jonathan Stark, who competed in the 2005 race as leader of Team Underdawg, made up of Bay Area enthusiasts, said Stanley's technology will let Google scan building faces, allowing for a much richer online experience than the current combination of aerial photos and human-created architectural models.
Stark's current Team Orange will compete against the Stanford Racing Team later this year in the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge.
Contact Elise Ackerman at eackerman@mercurynews.com or 408-271-3774.
that's what i was thinking...
http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=UTF-8&p=%22martin+calsyn%22&n=100&vst=0&vf=all&...
now see what happens to the Google Trend results when you add "studio" to the search string.
"Microsoft Robotics Studio"
http://www.google.com/trends?q=%22microsoft+robotics+studio%22&ctab=0&hl=en&geo=all&...
note not only the #1 city, but also note the top-ranked languages and region.
Google Trends + "Microsoft Robotics"
searches of that term have some interesting results. among them is that searches originating from Washington, D.C. are among the top 5 worldwide.
http://www.google.com/trends?q=%22microsoft+robotics%22&ctab=0&hl=en&geo=all&date=al...
please explain something for me.
why would you care what people post here?
wow. why all the Conrad Black style hostility toward the peon shareholders?
thought you previously posted that you were not an insider?
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=18289184
why would you even care what people post here?
btw, insiders do not hold a majority of the stock:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1156784/000114420407020095/v072155_10ksb.htm
Name and Address of Beneficial Owner
Amount and Nature of Beneficial Ownership
Percent of Class
Walter K. Weisel
15870 Pine Ridge Road
Fort Myers, FL 33908
7,643,833
Direct Ownership 9.44%
Martin Nielsen
15870 Pine Ridge Road
Fort Myers, FL 33908
3,626,560
Direct Ownership 4.48%
Gary McNear
15870 Pine Ridge Road
Fort Myers, FL 33908
1,799,979
Direct Ownership 2.22%
Craig Conklin
15870 Pine Ridge Road
Fort Myers, FL 33908
2,225,752
Direct Ownership 2.75%
Eugene V. Gartlan
15870 Pine Ridge Road
Fort Myers, FL 33908
5,216,114
Direct Ownership 6.44%
Jerry Horne
15870 Pine Ridge Road
Fort Myers, FL 33908
7,432,922
Direct Ownership 9.18%
Richard K & Johanna Wynns
15870 Pine Ridge Road
Fort Myers, FL 33908
7,114,552
Direct Ownership 8.79%
Directors and Officers as a Group
27,626,790
34.13%
now that the O/S > 89M, insiders own less than a third of the shares (31% +/-).
insiders held even less on a % basis prior to the RS:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1156784/000114420406040177/v053791_def14a.htm
SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT
The following table sets forth information as to the shares of our common stock beneficially owned as of August 10, 2006 by (i) each person known to us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our common stock; (ii) each director and nominee for director; (iii) each executive officer; and (iv) all of our directors and executive officers as a group. Unless otherwise indicated in the footnotes following the table, the persons as to whom the information is given had sole voting and investment power over the shares of common stock shown as beneficially owned by them. Unless otherwise indicated, the address of each person shown is c/o Innova Holdings, Inc., 17105 San Carlos Boulevard, Suite A6151, Fort Myers, Florida 33931.
Walter K. Weisel
62,128,047 = 8.14%
Martin Nielson (1)
36,751,700 = 4.85%
Gary McNear (2)
21,902,117 = 2.89%
Craig Conklin (3)
23,223,617 = 3.07%
Eugene V. Gartlan (4)
46,437,196 = 6.01%
Jerry E. Horne
74,329,227 = 9.90%
Richard K. and Johanna Wynns
47,020,748 = 6.24%
Sheri Aws
6,034,483*
Directors and Officers as a Group
196,497,160 = 24.21%