Robots and Robotics
Amazon to Buy Maker of the Roomba for $1.7 Billion
Hey, Alexa, tell Roomba to vacuum the bedroom. Amazon announced on Friday that it had reached an agreement to buy iRobot Corp., the maker of the Roomba robotic vacuum, for $1.7 billion, adding to its growing roster of smart home products. “We know that saving time matters, and chores take precious time that can be […]
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Robots Aren’t Done Reshaping Warehouses
When Digit spends an afternoon unloading boxes from a tractor-trailer in 100-plus-degree heat, co-workers never hear a complaint. Digit, a blue-and-white humanoid robot, was designed to handle the tough, menial and dangerous tasks at warehouses. The robot’s movements, informed by years of studying how birds walk, include a slight sway in its frame when it […]
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Competing for Streets and Sidewalks
Almost as soon as technologists invented robots to haul groceries or burritos to people’s doors, the arguments over sidewalks started. Officials in San Francisco, which is a testing lab for many new technologies, worried that interactions with the robots could hurt older people, children or those with disabilities. About a year ago, Pennsylvania headed off […]
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OMG, You’ll Never Believe What the Laser Vacuum Revealed
After about a week of testing the cleaning tech, I concluded that there are convenient ways to fit these gadgets into our lives. Here’s a guide. The Dyson Laser Vacuum The V15 Detect, unveiled last year, is the latest stick vacuum from Dyson. Getting started is simple: You charge the battery, attach a cleaning head […]
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Why There’s a Growing Push to Ban Killer Robots
It may have seemed like an obscure United Nations conclave, but a meeting this week in Geneva was followed intently by experts in artificial intelligence, military strategy, disarmament and humanitarian law. The reason for the interest? Killer robots — drones, guns and bombs that decide on their own, with artificial brains, whether to attack and […]
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