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GRUB! This week in imminent doom at the hands of cyborg animals
What the hell is going on these days? Seriously.
All of a sudden, scientists have created living remote-control pigeons, monkeys that can control huge robotic arms using only their brains, and cats that are getting pimped-out bionic eyeballs. And then there's that gaming helmet that can read your mind. It's awesome, but it's also creepier than 70 clown Draculas.
Here is what I'm talking about, yo.
* Real-life pigeon cyborgs: Simply by placing a bunch of electrodes and red wires in a pigeon's brain, scientists at the Robot Research Center at the Shandong University of Science and Technology in China have created a remote-controlled flying rat. By stimulating different areas of the pigeon's brain, the scientists can make the bird take off, fly forward, turn left or right, or hover. The ability to fly backward is still limited to robo-hummingbirds.
Don't look at us, monkey. We can't believe it, either.
* Monkey controls robot arm with mind powers: This development is actually a few years old, but a video "re-enactment" was recently found on YouTube. Researchers trained a monkey to feed itself grapes...using only the power of its mind and a big robotic arm. It's only a matter of time before the monkey uses his robot arm to smash the scientists out of spite. Monkey want banana, not grape.
* Cats with bionic vision: Meanwhile, in Missouri, Optobionics chip implants are being used to treat retinal problems in a cat named Gingersnap. The chips create artificial sight by sending signals from thousands of microphotodiodes to the optic nerve. The bionic eyes have also been successfully tested on humans and Michael Jackson.
All kidding aside, these developments could mean amazing things in the world of prosthetics and the physically challenged. But the following scenario is also logical, if not probable:
(1) Monkey uses robot arm and (2) modded Atari 2600 joystick to (3) fly pigeon, who then (4) drops radioactive waste on your house while (5) a cat simultaneously shoots your home with eye lasers. In other words, we're all screwed.
Luckily, thanks to the following technologies, the human race is well equipped to handle the imminent cyborg beast attacks.
Plan A: Fight back: One of the most popular ways to stave off a monkey-controlled robot arm is to kick the monkey in the face with a robot leg. Straight from the runways of Fashion Week in Paris come these fabulous Balenciaga robot pantaloons. However, if the human race is to be saved, the robot pants will need to be available in larger sizes. Most 80-pound runway models would be overpowered by a rhesus monkey, even one without a mind-controlled robot arm.
Plan B: Run away: Robot legs come in handy here as well, but you'll also need a pair of fashionable and futuristic running shoes. Two pairs of kicks are up for the task here: the glow-in-the-dark Reebok Court Victory Glows get all Tron up in here, and Nike's Transformer-branded shoes will transform your feet into those of a cheetah.
Plan C: Numb yourself to the pain: Nothing takes the edge off a bionic cat-eye attack like a fridge full of beer. Thanks to this robotic beer-launching refrigerator, you won't need to leave the couch to drown your fear in liquid gold. If you're too hard-core for beer, the USB Absinthe Spoon should do the trick. Listen to Pink Floyd during the attack to make the eye lasers look even more awesome.
That about covers this week. By next week, someone will have found a way to travel through time, and I'll have found a way to complain about it.
http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9692855-1.html
Force Protection May Win Army Armored Truck Award (Update1)
By Edmond Lococo
March 9 (Bloomberg) -- Force Protection Inc., the biggest maker of blast-resistant trucks for the U.S. Marine Corps, may win a U.S. Army order to make vehicles used to clear roadways of mines and explosives in Iraq valued at about $144 million.
The Army on Feb. 16 issued a notice of its plan to buy 180 of Force Protection's Buffalo trucks, without a competition, and allowed protests of the decision to be filed until March 5. The deadline to protest the uncontested award passed this week without response from potential competitors, Army spokesman Don Jarosz said in an interview today.
The Army plans on awarding the contract in June or July, Jarosz said. The Buffalo is the largest of three types of mine- protected trucks used by the Army and Marines, and features a 30-foot robotic arm with iron claw to clear explosives. Assistant Secretary of the Army Claude Bolton said yesterday the two services may buy 4,000 to 6,600 mine-protected vehicles.
``There is no competitor out there for the Buffalo currently, so it makes sense they would get this sole-source award,'' said Alan Albrecht, an individual investor who said he holds about 400,000 shares of Force Protection among his private investments. ``Production is ramping up quickly.''
The Buffalo costs about $800,000 per vehicle, Force Protection Vice President Michael Aldrich said. At that price, a purchase of 180 trucks would be worth about $144 million.
Shares of Force Protection rose $1, or 6.2 percent, to $17.15 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. They have surged more than ninefold in the past year.
Cougar in Competition
The Army purchases would add to the approximately 100 Buffalo trucks already ordered by the service, and would follow a $16.3 million Marine Corps order for 19 of the vehicles on March 6, Aldrich said.
``They put out a pre-solicitation notice when they intend to make a sole-source award so that anyone who wishes to protest can do so,'' Aldrich said in an interview today.
``We have not received any protests,'' Jarosz said.
Force Protection based in Ladson, South Carolina also is competing for awards to build the smaller mine-protected trucks with its Cougar vehicle. The Buffalo and Cougar have already logged more than two million hours of heavy combat operations and withstood more than 2,000 explosive attacks since they were first deployed in 2003, the company has said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Edmond Lococo in Boston at elococo@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: March 9, 2007 16:27 EST
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&refer=conews&tkr=FRPT:US&sid=asKwmJoP...
Robot That Roams the Body to Seek And Destroy Cancer
Daily Mail 03-12-07
THE idea of a beetle moving around inside your body may be the stuff of horror films.
But scientists believe an insect-shaped robot could be a major weapon in the fight against cancer.
The device, just under an inch long, is designed to be inserted into the body through a small incision.
Once inside, doctors can control its movements and direct it to areas where investigations are needed.
It would be able to capture images through a tiny camera placed in its 'head' and could deliver drugs through a special injecting device.
Early versions have also included tiny forceps for taking tissue samples. In future these nippers could be used to snip out cancerous cells.
Less than half an inch across, the metal device is encased in plastic to protect its components while in the body. It is connected to a computer by a cable through which it relays data and images.
This can also be used as a 'safety line' if the beetle goes off course.
Doctors would be armed with MRI body scans of the patient taken in advance to help them navigate the robot.
However, unlike the plot of the 1966 Raquel Welch film Fantastic Voyage which featured a microscopic crew and submarine travelling through a scientist's bloodstream this device could not be inserted into blood vessels because it is too big.
But it could be placed within the digestive tract, where it could be used to seek out and treat cancers of the oesophagus or bowel.
In tests on animals the robot, which weighs around five grams and is roughly the size of a cockroach, is said to have performed very well.
The prototype, which is the result of three years' work by researchers at Ritsumeikan University and the Shiga University of Medical Science in Japan, was unveiled yesterday.
It is not the first time that scientists have developed mini- robots to work inside the body. Other researchers have created ones which are designed to be swallowed and take internal pictures. And U.S. scientists are working on a small robot that enters though an incision to treat heart problems.
However, the latest model is the most versatile and able to perform the most functions.
According to one of its developers, Professor Masaaki Makikawa, this new prototype robot has the ability to perform treatment inside the body, eliminating the need for surgery in some cases.
Miniature robots able to move through the body would be particularly useful to investigate and treat tumours in hard-to- reach parts of the body, such as sections of the bowel.
In 2005, New Scientist magazine reported that Italian researchers were developing a six-legged robotic camera that crawls around inside the body and attaches itself to the intestine wall.
Its legs had tiny hooks on the end so it could crawl through the gut without slipping. It also had a special clamp that allowed doctors to stop it altogether if they spotted something of concern and needed to take a closer look.
At the time, researcher Dr Ariana Menciassi, of the Sant' Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, said: 'All the indications are that this will be far less uncomfortable than a colonoscopy or gastroscopy in which the intestine is inflated, causing much pain to the patient.'
j.wheldon@dailymail.co.uk
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/technology/technology.html?in_article_id=440948&i...
and http://www.medgadget.com/archives/2007/03/fantastic_robot_1.html
me either...
and as for "losing a chunk of shareholders" they just had literally hundreds of "fresh eyeballs" on the stock when the ABB stuff broke, and how did they respond?
they gave us a supposedly super-secret settlement and AL_tronics
how 'bout the Portgual demo?
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=17472318
not sure if that'll still happen considering Calsyn's blog post from yesterday, http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=17852514 but how could they NOT PR this sort of an event?
they also didn't PR Calysn's appearance at an MSFT event in Spain?!? for some reason MSFT thought it was even worth a video interview (hosted on an MSFT server - http://www.mseventseurope.com/downloads/teched/livedev/vt_MartinCalsyn.wmv ), yet Walt doesn't PR it?
instead we get Weisel's backward-looking combined "shareholder letter"?
trying to save money of PRs? and if so, how could they think the market would applaud the proposed non-binding NC/CNC garage mishap?
or how 'bout that Coro is one of the major sponsors of this year's RoboBusiness convention (w/MSFT, btw)?
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=17589536
who in their right mind doesn't PR this sort of stuff (unless they really don't care about the pps right now as some have suggested?)
imo that too goes to the entrenchment theory.
why is it that when Coro accomplishes things that any other microcap would proudly PR they are only revealed on this board?
for example, our iHub A-list celeb (sorry MrF i have you @ B-list) publishes an authoritative Microsoft Robotics Studio book w/Wiley & Sons (that incidentally also acknowledges iRobot), and there is nothing from the company?!?! you can't tell me that any other OTCBB would ever allow that to happen.
and seriously, talk about a competitive advantage!!! the guy who quite literally "wrote the book" on MSRS works for this little company, but it is hardly known beyond the confines of this message board!!!
Professional Microsoft Robotics Studio is "one of the first guides to Microsoft’s new platform for visualizing and programming robotics applications." Published by J.S. Wiley & Sons — ISBN: 978-0-470-14107-6. http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470141077.html and http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/ Amazon.com listing — http://tinyurl.com/yv9t73
my suspicion is it is because the one who controls the PR button can't bring himself to publicize those accomplishments for whatever reason.
and it is truly ABSURD!!!
100% JMO!
he's like an iHub version of a "joy buzzer"!
yeah, but whenever MrF stops by, things always get stirred up...
the stock would probably double just on the naming of Lloyd Spencer as new CEO imo.
and you can be sure he wouldn't be doing any interviews about being in the Navy 4 or 5 decades ago trying to figure out motion control on a gunship!
"Again, I'm sure you're not suggesting my take is Ft.Myers centric...I could spend a whole thread telling you how backwards the place is."
please do. according to some Walt fans, he's the next Messiah.
he should be working on his golf game imo.
no, i meant Weisel's entrenchment, not yours at all.
there is a COMPLETE lack of anything that even remotely resembles "meritocracy" in the way the company appears to be currently managed imo. allocating more resources to Ft Myers? c'mon, how can anyone claim that is the best use of resources here! is the company really gonna grow w/an NC/CNC garage in its portfolio, or is there some other reason for that, ahem, "decision"?!?
yours is certainly a refreshing viewpoint, even the old ones!
but it remains a view that is imo Ft Myers-centric, and that leaves it skewed imo.
perhaps to some degree, but it altogether skirts the issue of Coroware...
and IMO one cannot even begin to contend that they are actually performing any sort of depth of analysis of this company w/out addressing Coro in detail.
this quote below is from your very first post here, and leaves me bewildered by the current entrenchment.
"his [Weisel's] track record has nothing to do with running a successful software company (robotics and controllers, perhaps, but a pure software development company...no).."
there is already a guy (Lloyd Spencer) w/in this company w/direct mgmt experience from MSFT, who DOES have experience running a robotics software company, and his team has profound experience w/MSFT (including the development of MSRS) on a relative basis considering the size of the company (and could/should provide significant market leverage imo).
http://www.coroware.com/management.aspx
Lloyd was Solutions Unit Manager at Microsoft. His focus was on developing and marketing solutions in concert with independent software vendors and systems integrators. He and his team helped guide the telecommunications industry toward the use of open, interoperable standards such as XML Web Services.
Prior to Microsoft, Lloyd was assistant vice president and business sector manager at Newbridge Networks in Ottawa, Ontario, where he directed the development of innovative embedded systems solutions for telecommunications.
Before joining Newbridge, Lloyd was product line manager at Sun Microsystems Inc. in Mountain View, Calif., and a data communications software engineer at Hewlett-Packard Co. in Cupertino, California.
it is completely mind-boggling imo that Walt is hanging on for some reason, and even more so that the board has not called for his retirement when the company has this sort of talent (w/managerial and programmer experience at MSFT, Newbridge, Sun and HP) just waiting in the wings.
and it also confounds me that there are actually some posters out there who occasionally pop in to remind us of how great Walt is, blah, blah, blah...
perhaps by the time they finally figure it out, it'll be like RobotScript redux?
btw, your first post is the link above...
re: the next standard in robotics, it's right in front of you and it's called Robotstudio.
This RobotStudio v.5.08?
looking forward to read your observations here in future posts MrF!
Re: Coroware and MS...
as for future of bot software, the barrier to entry that MSFT creates should not be underestimated imo (and the Coro crew was (and is) inside MSFT, and some of the Coro guys were also knee-deep in the development of MSRS).
and regarding the soft-money recruiting, of the pool of kids getting excited by robotics, a portion of them will proceed to engineering, IT, etc. educations. perhaps some of them would not have otherwise pursued math/science without the bot geek experience. and note how the OTS adaptations have begun w/video game controllers used w/bots.
as for the head start Japan currently has... the U.S. used to have an enormous, and to some, an insurmountable head start in auto manufacturing. it took one generation for Japan to catch up (from Hiroshima and Nagasaki) and even surpassing Detroit in building cars.
who can say the U.S. won't turn the tables w/automation tech in the next generation? i have tremendous faith in the capabilities of America (at least in some respects). and as for private capital? there's a TON of it in the U.S. waiting for "proof of concept" on the future of bot business models imo.
now, once you get past the defense contractor behemoths e.g., Boeing, Northrop, General-Dynamics, Raytheon, etc., the pool of publicly-traded concerns pursuing bot technology shrinks pretty fast (i know of < 10 public companies in the bot "space")
- any you can think of, especially those "with strong pps and market share" would be appreciated!
does your skepticism include what Coroware and Microsoft is/are doing?
can't disagree that Japan has really been the avant garde in bots, but that doesn't mean other nations/cultures can't catch up imo (and/or eventually surpass).
LOTS of signs, btw, in the U.S. of high school and college kids embracing robotics...
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=%22high+school%22+robotics&ie=UTF-8&scori...
yep. that's him.
Aron Govil
UAV helicopter manufacturer - Rotomotion LLC
http://www.rotomotion.com/prd_UAV.html
and here's a aero blog that covers UAV stuff occasionally
http://spyplanes.blogspot.com/
ABB robots assembles the perfect flat pack
Case Studies
Svedplan, part of the Licentia Group, is a fast emerging producer of flat pack furniture that has deployed a team of eight ABB robots to improve competitiveness and reduce risk to manual handlers. As a result, production has increased by 45 percent from a line that will pay back in less than three years!
As one of Scandinavia’s budding producers of flat pack furniture, Svedplan, that turns over SEK 300 million (Euros 33.3 million) needed to improve processes to maintain competitiveness with low-cost production and reduce the risk to handlers in the packaging process. As demand and production grew, Svedplan knew that automation was the natural development in the production process. Robotic systems have been involved in loading and unloading production lines, together with automated processes for drilling holes. But packaging the various components was still largely a slow and costly manual activity.
To provide a solution, Svedplan turned to Teamster AB, a specialist in automated process technology, to create a concept that was flexible enough to handle a wide range of large products and allow for fast changes to the line.
Teamster recommended automating half of the manual picking line, creating three stations with a total of eight ABB robots. As a member of ABB’s Partner Network, Teamster understood that ABB Robotics would be able to provide the best robots for the system. Three IRB 660 robots were used to feed parts directly from pallets to five IRB 4400 robots that pack the products into boxes.
The IRB 660 is a dedicated 4-axis palletiser, which combines a 3.15 metre reach with a 250 kg payload. Indeed, the IRB 660 has the versatility, reach and handling capacity to meet the demands of most palletising applications. Well-balanced steel arms with double bearing joints, a torque-strut on axis 2 and rapid manoeuvrability makes the IRB 4400 perfectly matched for Svedplan’s needs, where speed, accuracy and flexibility are important. For economic operation, the drive train is optimised to give high torque with the lowest power consumption.
The Euros 2,268,000 (£1.5m) investment has made a remarkable impact on the production line. As a result of the automated robotic system, production has increased by an impressive 45 percent with a return on investment estimated at just two to three years! Automated lines now prepare 10 to 15 boxes per hour, compared with six to10 boxes per hour on the manual lines. Payback is estimated at two years – three at most. The new technology is also vital for Svedplan future prosperity in the highly competitive furniture market.
To accompany the new robots, vision system software was installed. This enables products to be saved as ‘recipes’ in the system and changes to the product handling can be made efficiently. New products can be introduced quickly by entering the pack size with details of the new packaging position and station.
Worker attitudes towards automation have also changed. Preben Ritter, Managing Director of Svedplan, commented, “At first, workers were extremely wary of this new technology, but now they feel proud of it!” Svedplan assured workers that, far from threatening their jobs, it was the best way of preserving employment in the face of global competition and significantly there have been no job losses as a result.
Svedplan started business in 1944 as a traditional carpentry workshop, producing solid wooden beds and couches. Today the company specialises in the production of flat-packed furniture units, manufacturing as many as 50,000 products a week for one of the world’s biggest furniture retailers. These are freighted directly from the factory to outlets and distribution centres around the world.
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Margareta Zeicu, Marketing Manager Consumer Industries
ABB Automation Technologies AB, SE-721 68 Vasteras, Sweden
Telephone: +46 (0)21 344012
e-mail: margareta.zeicu@se.abb.com
www: www.abb.com
Editor:John Houston
http://www.pandct.com/media/shownews.asp?ID=13668
re "culturally excited"
that was my point. U.S. culture appears to be increasingly aware of robotics, though as you correctly pointed out, not to the same extent as Japan.
And yes, I have seen some of the Japanese robotics innovations (e.g., incl. Asimo, and more recently, humanoid bots w/realistic features, fluid movement, etc.), and yes, the West may even be (is) trailing right now...
have included pics of Asimo in some of my past posts -- it's incredible technology imo.
http://asimo.honda.com/
okay, but Lyric + "saks fifth" is no better.
no Saks webpage in the first 100 google hits - does that make it a "supposed customer"? all i see are unverifiable PRs and similar stuff.
http://www.google.com/search?as_q=Lyric+&hl=en&num=100&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=sak...
researching the identities of the spammers pushing Lyric Jeans stock seems like a big waste of my time because i don't own it and definitely don't "believe in it."
do you remember mentioning to me your fast DD method of looking on the web to see if there are more signs of it being a stock promotion versus a real business?
see for yourself.
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&q=lyric+LYJN&btnG=Sear...
and it has 88 SPAM sightings per spamnation:
http://www.spamnation.info/stocks/StocksByYear.php?year=2007
clumsy robot.
currently on the Yahoo! main page.
big, bad, and bent on destruction –but not so quick on his feet. » Video http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=0d5e85c94f7e0a78e34df84d9ad717d2.1993261&cache=1
and "Mini-humanoid robot in action"
http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=150962
Yahoo! also currently has a "search robotics" link on the main page:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=robotics&ei=UTF-8&fr=ytff1-&x=wrt&cs=bz&fr=fp-t...
anyone who tells you robotics isn't gonna be huge hasn't done any homework imo!!
but you posted "I actually believe in this..."?
doesn't make any sense to me that for some reason you simply "believe in this."
edit: do they owe any convertible debt?
couldn't find any filings at the SEC...
edit: was able to find some LYJN SPAM alerts on google's "news.admin.net-abuse.sightings" tho.
http://groups.google.com/groups/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=LYJN&qt_s=Search+Gr...
"They have either hidden it, or are clean."
uhhhhh okay. didn't know the SEC had a history of "hiding" periodic reports, etc., but not so sure i'd characterize a never-ever reporting pink as being "clean" under any circumstance. do they have a "skull & crossbones" @ Cromwell's site yet?
hmmmm. just noticed that the stock is "no par."
that's sort of unusual, isn't it?
clumsy robot.
currently on the Yahoo! main page.
big, bad, and bent on destruction –but not so quick on his feet. » Video
http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=0d5e85c94f7e0a78e34df84d9ad717d2.1993261&cache=1
and "Mini-humanoid robot in action"
http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=150962
Yahoo! also currently has a "search robotics" link on the main page:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=robotics&ei=UTF-8&fr=ytff1-&x=wrt&cs=bz&fr=fp-t...
anyone who tells you robotics isn't gonna be huge hasn't done any homework imo!!
maybe you are both right to some extent?
rockstar: Weisel = invisible now. perhaps he is tired of everything and just doesn't have the answers to move this company forward? meanwhile the company does have what would appear to be a thoroughbred itching to run wild (Lloyd Spencer) imo. and i agree that the proposed acquisition is total nonsense imo.
uw86: maybe they do know something and are totally unconcerned w/ the share price? maybe that's true, though a lack of concern for the pps should never be acceptable imo. however, insiders and quasi-insiders do hold a significant % of the totaly equity and at some level would seem to have some sort of concern for the pps, though perhaps just not on a short-term basis?
.<font color=red>GET WELL SOON MARTIN!!
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
We'll be right back after this...
No, I haven't fallen off the face of the planet - at least not permanently, though much of February was lost to me. What started as the return of an old friend, pericarditis, turned into a much more sinister case of pneumonia and ultimately, septic shock.
I'm not completely well yet, but I am out of the hospital and each day brings small but noticeable improvements. My sincere thanks to the folks at CoroWare for their patience and understanding and flexibility in helping me through this.
http://robotsoftware.blogspot.com/
Robotics rules at Rochester High
Team challenged to create a three-dimensional tic-tac-toe player as entry in regional contest
February 25, 2007
BY BILL LAITNER
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
There were people bent over workbenches, tools cluttering the floor and -- in the middle of it all -- a small vehicle taking shape.
Henry Ford would have approved.
But ol' Henry wouldn't have recognized much else in this scene of four-wheeled innovation at Rochester High School in Rochester Hills.
For starters, there was not a whiff of the potent stuff that, more than a century ago, stunk up Clara Ford's kitchen: gasoline.
"We're not allowed to have anything that burns," said John Mathieson, 17, of Rochester Hills as he crouched this month over the object of the group's attention.
The vehicle's frame -- or chassis, in auto-speak -- was far too small for any human being to ride. The chassis enclosed odd-looking wheels, blinking lights and a nest of wires. Soon to come would be a 9-foot mechanical arm.
In place of petroleum fumes were dual electric motors, being tested while 35 students worked against the clock, building not the next Model T but what they hope is an award-winning robot.
"We have to get it done and shipped by Feb. 20," Mathieson said Feb. 15.
Elected by his peers to be captain, Mathieson -- now in his fourth year on Rochester High's robotics team -- leads this corps of nine girls and 26 boys, including his freshman brother, Andrew.
Their entry, powered by a battery and motors identical to those of their competitors, will face off against other robots from dozens of other schools in a Rack 'n' Roll regional competition March 9-10 at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti.
If Rochester's robot does well, it will advance to other contests and perhaps end up where this group did last year: at the national competition in Atlanta -- placing a stunning third in the world in their division. That's one tough act to follow.
And this year, "it's a completely different game," said Alex Debusschere, 18, of Rochester Hills. Last year's robots opposed each other in simplified games of basketball.
"This year, it's three-dimensional tic-tac-toe," Debusschere said with a grin.
His team is part of a worldwide competition that, in eight years at this high school, has become an extracurricular fixture as embedded as varsity athletics or cheerleading. To be sure, robotics is a cerebral leap from shooting hoops or shaking pom-poms. Most on the robotics team are kids who love computers and thrill to the challenge of building something technical.
Does that make them nerds? Steve Spry, 16, a junior from Rochester Hills, said peer approval isn't a problem.
"There's nothing around here like, 'You're such a geek -- you're such a nerd' for being involved with this," Spry said. Instead, for many of his peers at Rochester High, seeing is accepting.
"We do a demonstration each year for all three lunches. I think that gets us a lot of respect," he said.
Team members split up into specialties, doing everything from computer-aided design and animation to programming, electronics, even public relations and carpentry. The carpenters must build a shipping crate with precisely fitted padding, among other things.
As with sports, robotics requires team members to keep their grades up, or else they can't attend competitions, said Chris Shannon, 15, a sophomore from Rochester Hills. He leads the team's public-relations squad.
The group has inspired Herculean help from parent-mentors. Night after night for nearly two months, half a dozen parents have shown up to provide crucial help, said Mike Herderich, 47, of Rochester Hills. He's a senior engineering specialist with General Dynamics Land Systems in Sterling Heights.
"We probably put in 25 to 40 hours a week here, after work. And this last week, it's close to 60 or 80 hours," said Herderich, whose day job is with U.S. Army battle tanks but who spent all his recent nights with the robotics team and his daughter, 16-year-old Stephanie.
The spread of robotics in schools has spawned close partnerships with the auto industry. General Motors Corp. alone sponsors more than three dozen high school teams across North America, said Leandro Barajas, a senior research engineer in manufacturing research at the General Motors Tech Center in Warren.
"And last year, this team was the best of those," Barajas said Feb. 15, as he stood at Rochester High on the concrete floor of a storage area, now devoted to robotics.
"We have supported this team from the beginning," giving about $25,000 in cash support this year, Barajas said.
It's a very good investment, he added, because the U.S. auto industry hopes these robot builders grow up to design winning cars.
That's something ol' Henry Ford would understand.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070225/CFP04/702250412
Robotics programs aren't cheap
February 25, 2007
BY BILL LAITNER
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Award-winning robotics programs flourish after school at Rochester High School, Rochester Adams High School and in a combined team from the two high schools in Troy.
Across Michigan, robotics teams are widely praised for cultivating engineering skills in teenagers, who may someday help revive Michigan's economy.
But the teams are costly to run; this year's parts kit and initial entry fee alone cost more than $5,000 for Rochester High, said Mike Herderich, 47, of Rochester Hills, a parent-mentor for the school's team.
"To do this right, you're talking about $20,000 a year. A lot of that comes from student fund-raising, and all the parents contribute quite a lot," Herderich said. But the rest must come from other sources, such as corporate funding -- which is hard to find, "especially in southern Michigan right now," he said.
To get more schools involved in robotics, the state provided $150,000 in seed money last year, and Gov. Jennifer Granholm said during a call-in program on Feb. 16 -- carried by Michigan public radio stations -- that she had proposed the same amount in her new budget.
"I intend to keep it in the budget. I need support in the Legislature for it," Granholm said on the show.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070225/CFP04/702250486
my comment: robotics appears to be one of the main paths to bringing kids together w/engineering, science and math education in a meaningful and fun way that might prove to be a key to keeping America competitive.
IRBT's CEO made shareholders happy recently...
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=17837551
iRobot CEO Exercises Options
Co-founders Terminate 10b5-1 Plan
BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--iRobot Corp. (NASDAQ:IRBT) today announced Chief Executive Officer Colin M. Angle exercised non-qualified stock options to purchase 347,710 shares of iRobot common stock. These non-qualified stock options were granted to Angle in 1997 and were scheduled to expire in June 2007 on the 10th anniversary of the grant. Of the 347,710 shares to be acquired by Angle upon exercise, the company withheld 110,396 shares to satisfy the minimum tax withholding obligation.
For purposes of satisfying the minimum tax withholding amount, the withheld shares of iRobot common stock were valued at $14.39 per share, today’s last reported sale price of iRobot common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market. The company expects Angle to report the withholding of shares in connection with this option exercise on Form 4 as a sale of shares to iRobot. Angle has informed the company that he currently intends to hold the remaining shares of iRobot common stock acquired upon this option exercise indefinitely.
In addition, on March 5, 2007, Colin Angle, co-founder and chief executive officer, Helen Greiner, co-founder and chairman, and Rodney Brooks, co-founder and chief technology officer of iRobot, each terminated his or her previously established Rule 10b5−1 trading plan that permitted the sale of shares of common stock at predetermined levels and specified dates commencing in August 2006.
About iRobot Corp.
iRobot is a provider of robots that perform dull, dirty or dangerous missions in a better way. The company’s proprietary technology, iRobot AWARE Robot Intelligence Systems, incorporates advanced concepts in navigation, mobility, manipulation and artificial intelligence. This proprietary system enables iRobot to build behavior-based robots, including its family of consumer and military robots. For additional information about iRobot, please visit www.irobot.com.
Contacts
iRobot Corp.
Media Relations
Parna Sarkar, 781-418-3135
psarkar@irobot.com
or
Investor Relations
Elise Caffrey, 781-418-3003
ecaffrey@irobot.com
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070306006...
sporting an RWT tee...
yeah, w/Wachovia.
http://www.roboticstrends.com/displayarticle862.html?POSTNUKESID=49481d630366a576b751e717240fdb9b
Industry Shorts - Nexus: Robots in Squad Cars: Innova Holdings and Wachovia Team Up to Provide Leasing Program
Tuesday, August 15, 2006 - 09:08 AM
Equipment leasing program provides municipalities and state agencies up to $2 million in financing to assist sheriffs, police and fire departments equip response vehicles with unmanned robotic vehicles for search and rescue, surveillance, and other dangerous missions.
Innova Holdings, Inc. (OTC BB: IVHG), a robotics technology firm providing software and hardware systems to the service, personal, and industrial robot markets, announced that working with Wachovia Bank it is now offering an equipment leasing program especially developed for municipalities, state agencies, and other public entities that can issue bonds that can be used to purchase unmanned robotic vehicles for their departments. The announcement was made before attendees of the Florida Chapter of the FBI National Academy Associates Annual Training Conference, July 31, 2006, at Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa in Fort Myers, Fla. The lease offering conforms to the usual equipment lease structure and features competitive terms. Federal agencies are excluded from this program currently but will be considered in the future.
“We believe that sheriffs and police departments, firefighters, and emergency response teams need and want unmanned robotic vehicles available to assist with any number of emergency situations from rescuing miners from a mine disaster to tracking down fugitives,” explained Walter K. Weisel, Chairman and CEO of Innova Holdings. “We believe that this lease program with Wachovia may enable local and state agencies to bundle the acquisition of an unmanned robotic vehicle with, for instance, the leasing of new or additional patrol vehicles.”
Commenting on the leasing program, Tino Hernandez, Equipment Leasing Manager at Wachovia Bank said, “We are pleased that Innova Holdings, which has a long-standing banking relationship with Wachovia, chose us to provide its leasing program.”
According to Hernandez, leases up to $250,000 require only a one-page lease application. The program is designed to be simple and quick. Wachovia can provide lease arrangements for Innova Holdings’ customers ranging from as little as $25,000 up to $2 million. Hernandez also stated that computer-based equipment is the largest commodity in its leasing portfolio.
“We believe that Wachovia provides the expertise in leasing equipment as well as the experience working with public agencies that allows us to offer our customers a leasing solution from a highly-regarded financial institution,” said Walter K. Weisel, Chairman and CEO of Innova Holdings.
Innova Holdings has formed a strategic alliance with Mesa Robotics, Inc. (Madison, Ala. – www.mesa-robotics.com), giving Innova Holdings exclusive worldwide rights for sales and marketing of Mesa’s full-line of unmanned ground vehicles (UGV). Innova Robotics enhances the UGV’s with robotic devices, sensors, vision, and other systems to increase functionality. Innova Robotics leverages the patented products, technology, and robotics expertise of the other Innova Holdings subsidiaries, which include Robotic Workspace Technologies (RWT™) that recently launched the URC3™ high-performance open architecture PC controller for robots and other automated devices, and CoroWare that supports the application of unmanned mobile robotics, offers web-based services and other software business solutions. Innova Holdings also has strategic development relationships with Embry Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) and the University of South Florida (USF).
The RWT subsidiary develops and provides a standardized control platform, the Universal Robot Controller™ (URC™) that can be used with virtually any industrial robot. The URC3 represents not only an open control system that can be applied to any kinematical mechanism, but also a processing system capable of handling in excess of 1,000 instructions per second on a platform that integrates analog and digital communications from a virtually limitless array of signal generators. Working with the CoroWare subsidiary, the company is transferring this expertise to the unmanned mobile robotic vehicle arena where a single command and control system that can interface with equipment, field personnel, and command centers will drastically improve the functionality of unmanned vehicles.
About Innova Holdings Inc.
Fort Myers, Fla.-based Innova Holdings Inc. (BB: IVHG), through its subsidiaries, provides hardware and software systems-based solutions to the military, service, personal and industrial robots markets. The robotics and automation technology company is chartered to continue expanding its growing suite of technologies through acquisitions and growth. Its founder, Chairman and CEO Walter K. Weisel, is recognized as a pioneer and leader in the robotics industry. The Company’s wholly owned subsidiaries are Robotic Workspace Technologies Inc. (RWT), Innova Robotics Inc., and CoroWare. To learn more, visit us online at www.InnovaHoldings.com.
About Wachovia Bank
Wachovia Corporation (NYSE:WB) is the fourth-largest bank holding company in the U.S., based on assets under management of $ $521 Billion as of 12/31/05. Wachovia is one of the nation’s largest diversified financial services companies, providing 13.4 million household and business relationships with a broad range of banking, asset management, wealth management and corporate and investment banking products and services. Wachovia has retail and commercial banking operations in 16 states with 3,109 offices from Connecticut to Florida and west to Texas and California. Globally, Wachovia serves clients through more than 40 international offices. Wachovia had assets of $553.6 billion, market capitalization of $86.0 billion and stockholders’ equity of $48.9 billion at June 30, 2006.
Investor Relations
Investors can visit Innova Holdings' Investor Relations Hub at www.agoracom.com/IR/Innova to post questions and receive answers, or simply review questions and answers by other investors. They may also request to be added to the investor e-mail list.
Forward-looking statements such as "believe," "expect," "may," "plan," "intend," etc., contained herein are within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties and are based on the company's beliefs and assumptions it made using information currently available to it and which reflect current views concerning those future events. Actual results could differ materially. Therefore, undue reliance should not be placed on any forward-looking statements, since they apply only as of today's date, and accordingly, reference should be made to the company's periodic filings with the SEC.
Information
Sandra L. Brooks
INCOMM International Inc.
7825 Baymeadows Way, Suite 101-A
Jacksonville, FL 32256
Tel: (904) 636-5085
Email: slbrooks[at]incomminternational.com
URL: www.incomminternational.com
Jesse Blum
Friedland Corporate Investor Services LLC
Tel: (303) 468-1287
Email: jesse[at]friedlandcapital.com
URL: www.friedlandcapital.com
this stock must be a scam -- just look @ that ban list!!
edit: you seem to have something resembling a dialogue w/him elsewhere... why not just ask him?
edit: doubt he would be honest w/you on a wide variety of subjects. and just like the sun setting and moon rising, day after day, he'll come back here later when the pps is much higher, and claim that he flipped the stock in the .30s, bought it back at the lows, and it'll correspond with his bash nonsense posts---count on it.
c'mon man, Ozzy rocks!
and he gives a damn about his fans, doing a worldwide tour this year and waiving his performance fees across the board so tix are free and the tour will be financed by merchandise, etc.
PS weo rocks too!
fyi - Innova is a reporting company.
http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?company=&CIK=INRA&filenum=&State=&SIC=&o...
aren't there some discounts for dilution economies of scale?