EngineeringTV, started in January 2007, is, “a unique online video program by engineers for engineers.” Each week, EngineeringTV posts two new interviews and informative videos on relavant eneering subjects. Topics range from smart cars, robotics, wind turbines, to space missions. Each episode is approximately 10 minutes long, and edited by engineers from a variety of industry publications, like MachineDesign, Electronic Design,  Microwaves & RF, EE Product News, and others.

Some episodes that robot builders will find especially interesting are Episode 68, “Humanizing Robotics“, an interview with Hanson Robotics, Episode 61 – The CoroBot Unmanned Mobile PC, Episode 64 – Advanced Arm and Hand Robotics, and Episode 49 – Next Generation Space Robotics.

Some things that we’d love to see in the future include tags for the episodes so users can quickly find videos on topics that interest them (like robotics), and the ability to embedd the videos into other websites and blogs – like this one. One nice feature that EngineeringTV makes available is an easy download link for all their videos.

The program, produced by Penton Media, is sponsored by National Instruments and Analog Devices.

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Robotic FX manufactures a tactical robot for military operations. It can be equipped for hazmat and EOD operations. The Negotiator and its bigger brother, the Negotiator 6X, are water resistant, can climb stairs, and weigh around 20lbs and 46lbs, respectively. Robotic FX has also recently won a $280 million USD contract with the US Army to ship 3,000 robots to the Middle East for Army operations.

There’s one slight problem though – iRobot is accusing Robotic FX of stealing designs for iRobot’s PackBot system, and of patent infringement. Not only did Robotic FX’s president, Jameel Ahed, formerly work at iRobot and access to technical information on the PackBot, but its hard to deny the amazing similarites between the two designs – especially manipulator arm and the patented front “flipper” design of the PackBot.

According to Defense News,

And just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, according to this Boston Globe article, “iRobot’s suit alleges that one day after his resignation [from iRobot in June 2002], Ahed used his
still-active iRobot e-mail account to send confidential iRobot files to
a Robotic FX address.”

Also,

The suit also alleges that a court-ordered search of Hill’s aparement revealed a laptop, owned by Ahed, concealed under her bed running an eraser program – unfortunately, the program had done its job before the police were able to locate it.

All this said, I wonder if Robotic FX will have their hands full dealing with a major lawsuit and delivering 3,000 robots to the US Army.

Looks like Robotic FX may need one heck of a “negotiator” to get out of this one. May justice be done.

More info at Xconomy and Robot Stock News.

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In what was a stunning blow to iRobot and its investors, the US Army rejected the company in a high-stakes big for a large order of bomb-detection and tactical robots (Forbes story here). iRobot, the favorite to win the bidding, offered its PackBot robots as the product of choice to meet the demand for 3,000 robots the military issued on July 17th.

Instead, the winner was Robotic FX of Alsip, IL – a company that iRobot is currently suing for patent infringement and theft of proprietary designs (more on this in later posts). And while, "iRobot …  has delivered more than 1,000 IED and cave-clearing, remote-controlled PackBots to the Army and Marine Corps since 2002", it’s not entirely clear why the Army chose Robotic FX’s systems over iRobot’s. The best guess seems to revolve around price. According to Thorn at Robot Stock News, "The contract appears to be about $93,000 per robot, while iRobot’s PackBots have generally been in the $120K-$150K range."

Jameel Ahed, the president of Robotic FX, said, "This procurement was competed on a two-step technically acceptable, low price basis and we are very excited to have won. We look forward to producing our high-quality, easy-to-operate robots for our soldiers.”

Joe Dyer, head of iRobots government division is quoted as saying, 
The Army has since then issued a statement in Robotic FX’s defense, citing the possibility of putting soliders in harm’s way if Robotic FX is prevented (by the courts) from meeting the contract.

You can find more detailed coverage of iRobots loss and the unfolding lawsuit at Robot Stock News.

The internet is abuzz with some recent news on iRobot that Engadget uncovered – apparently iRobot’s latest venture will be a gutter cleaning robot named “Looj ” (no, not this kind). The FCC documents that Engadget discovered have since then been made private until October 13th.

The robot is supposed to be remote controlled and has a flipper to send debris out of the gutters. It has apparently has a belt clip to allow you to safely scale a ladder with both hands free.

One of the questions that seems to come up frequently is how this ‘bot will turn corners. It’s also not clear whether iRobot will be targeting this product to consumers or to larger contractors or business that specialize in gutters.

What do you think?

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Though not the robot theme-park we all secretly want, South Korea has announced that it will be building a “Robot Land”, an industrial complex for its growing robotics industry. The location for Robot Land has yet to be chosen, but 10 provinces in Korea have submitted proposals. The cost of constructing the city is estimated at $500 million USD. Construction is slated to being in 2009.

I wonder if the city will be guarded by the sentry-bots?

[Via Robots.net]

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