Today's Robotics: Lawn Mowers To Bomb Removal

(EMAILWIRE.COM, February 28, 2001 ) Peterborough, NH - ActivMedia Research (http:www.ActivMediaResearch.com) - oday's robots are harnessing technologies moving the dreams of researchers at companies like Sony, Toro and Electrolux closer to reality. Sizes are now small enough that robots can be used in a multitude of applications, and they can perform a variety of useful tasks such as speaking, moving, and manipulating objects.

The leading applications for today's industrial robotic products, detailed in ActivMedia Research "Mobile Robotics: The Next Revolution" ($495us), include materials handling, spot and arc welding, dispensing / coating, and assembly - seemingly not all that exciting. But the trend in development is toward creating increasingly useful robots that assist and extend the reach and vision of humans.

Examples include: (PHOTOS: http://www.activmediaresearch.com/mobile_robotics.html)

· Israel's Friendly Robotics introduced its robotic lawn mower, becoming highly successful in less than a year on the market.

· DEKA and Johnson & Johnson continue FDA testing of their robotic wheelchair, first to use the gyroscopic technologies, now being tested widely for various applications.
· Probotics placed its Cye hobby robot in leading premium-goods catalogs Sharper Image and Hammacher Schlemmer.

· Pyxis, a division of Cardinal Health-care, now offers a completely free-moving pharmaceutical delivery robot that can deliver medical records, medications, and other important items hospital-wide.

· DARPA-supported robotics are engaged in de-mining abandoned mine fields, providing intelligence and surveillance equipment that can be dropped from planes and helicopters, and providing remote tele-operated battlefield surgery units to be placed close to combat troupes while surgeons operate safely from field hospitals.

· SRI International is currently involved with robotic technologies from machine vision to electroactive polymer materials and diamagnetic levitation for manufacturing and biomedical applications, all of which may put useful robots into a variety of industries.

· ActivMedia Robotics' AmigoBots introduced the first "off-the-shelf" Net-linked tele-presence rover for remote videoconferencing, monitoring and communicating with business associates, family, friends and pets.

· Sony's Aibo robotic dog, with a tiny camera in its nose, has become a soccer goalie's nightmare kicking goals with reasonable frequency.

Jeanne Dietsch, CEO of ActivMedia Robotic's (sister company to ActivMedia Research LLC), states, "Last year, corporate R&D robotics teams were formed in Germany, Sweden, Japan, and the United States. Sprint, Centrum, Fuji, Canon, NTT, Intel, Ericsson, and GM joined Sony and Honda with serious looks into application robots, based on ActivMedia Robotics PeopleBots and custom platforms. Many of these robotic developments are in the very early experimental stages, and no one knows for sure whether or when actual products will come out of them. But in the meantime, research institutions, the military, and private industry continue to funnel money into intensive research. In some cases interest lies only in learning more about how the human body or mind works. In other cases, robots are intended to actually make their way out of the lab and take on important duties in the real world."

INFORMATION: http://www.ActivMediaResearch.com/mobile_robotics.html

ActivMedia Research's "Mobile Robotics: The Next Revolution", available for $495 ($1,500 for a corporate site license) opens a window on the new age of Mobile Robotics and its impacts on the technologies of today and the near-term tomorrow. This is the first in a series of reports dedicated to alerting the business community to trends, products and technologies approaching the margin of commercialization that will transform physical work as we know it.

ABOUT ACTIVMEDIA RESEARCH, LLC

ActivMedia Research LLC has been the Web's leading authoritative eBusiness information source since 1994, when it began studying the emerging world wide web as a business platform. Ever watchful of innovative business strategies, ActivMedia was first to publicly demonstrate that online business was both viable and profitable (Business Week, 9/23/96). An ongoing series of eBusiness research studies continue to alert eBusiness managers to new business opportunities and changing online strategies.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

ActivMedia Research, LLC is a division of ActivMedia, Inc. Its sister company, ActivMedia Robotics, LLC , is a pioneering manufacturer of mobile robotics technology, and the two companies share senior executive management. This relationship provides a unique perspective from which to interpret emerging robotics markets.


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