Daily Archives: June 8, 2017

TechCrunch

Softbank is buying robotics firms Boston Dynamics and Schaft from Alphabet TechCrunch Here's a surprise turn of events: Softbank maker of the friendly Pepper robot and a major M&A player in the tech world has just announced that it is acquiring two more robotics companies from Google owner Alphabet as part of its own deeper move ... SoftBank unit buys robotics businesses from Alphabet IncReuters Alphabet just sold its division that makes creepy walking robots to SoftbankCNBC Softbank buys Boston Dynamics (and its robots) from GoogleEngadget Fox Business -The Verge all 28 news articles »

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Softbank is buying robotics firms Boston Dynamics and Schaft from Alphabet - TechCrunch

By Naomi Tajitsu | HAGA, Japan

HAGA, Japan Japanese carmaker Honda Motor Co (7267.T) on Thursday spelled out for the first time its plans to develop autonomous cars which can drive on city streets by 2025, building on its strategy to take on rivals in the auto market of the future.

Unveiling its mid-term Vision 2030 strategy plan, Honda said it would boost coordination between R&D, procurement and manufacturing to tame development costs as it acknowledged it must look beyond conventional vehicles to survive in an industry which is moving rapidly into electric and self-driving cars.

Honda has already spelled out plans to market a vehicle which can drive itself on highways by 2020, and the new target for city-capable self-driving cars puts its progress slightly behind rivals like BMW (BMWG.DE).

"We're going to place utmost priority on electrification and advanced safety technologies going forward," Honda CEO Takahiro Hachigo said.

Developing new driving technologies, robotics- and artificial intelligence-driven services and new energy solutions also would be key priorities for Honda in the years ahead, the company said.

LEVELING UP

Honda established a division late last year to develop electric vehicles (EVs) as part of its long-held goal for lower-emission gasoline hybrids, plug-in hybrids, EVs and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) to account for two-thirds of its line-up by 2030, from about 5 percent now.

By 2025, Honda plans to come up with cars with "level 4" standard automated driving functions, meaning they can drive themselves on highways and city roads under most situations.

Achieving such capabilities will require artificial intelligence to detect traffic movements, along with a battery of cameras and sensors to help avoid accidents.

BMW has said it would launch a fully autonomous car by 2021, while Ford Motor Co (F.N) has said it will introduce a vehicle with similar capabilities for ride-sharing purposes in the same year. Nissan Motor Co (7201.T) is planning to launch a car which can drive automatically on city streets by 2020.

Honda has been ramping up R&D spending, earmarking a record 750 billion yen ($6.84 billion) for the year to March.

(Reporting by Naomi Tajitsu and Maki Shiraki; Editing by Stephen Coates)

BRUSSELS The European Union wants to make it easier for law enforcement authorities to get electronic evidence directly from tech companies, such as Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google, even when stored in another European country.

BEIJING Alibaba Group Holding Ltd expects revenue growth of 45-49 percent in the 2018 fiscal year, said Chief Financial Officer Maggie Wu on Thursday during an investor conference in Hangzhou, China.

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Honda to focus on self-driving cars, robotics, EVs through 2030 - Reuters

There is plenty of enthusiasm in Westlake High Schools award-winning robotics program, and it has come a long way since being formed 10 years ago. This year, it inaugurated a new home with substantially more space in the old bus barn, but there never seems to be enough room to accommodate the growing interest.

Six different classes are offered and students who cant fit robotics into their schedule during the day, can participate in a team after school.

Students are passionate about this program where science meets fun, and Coach Norman Morgan says that along the way, the top five skills his students learn are: communication, problem-solving, time-management, failure and success.

First Tech Challenge Teams are filled with Freshman and Sophomores, and Juniors and Seniors work on the varsity team which participates in the First Robotics Challenge. Morgan said. The last two years, weve had over 70 students on our varsity team and over 65 on the junior varsity teams.

One of his goals has been to recruit more girls to the program, and theyve increased the number of girls substantially. The team made a concentrated effort to recruit at the seventh-grade level to convince enough girls to sign-up. One of them was Rosemarie Pousset, 17, who will be a senior.

A few girls and I came together and founded the all-girls First Tech Challenge team at Westlake, called the Psionics, Pousset said. Im so proud of the legacy we have here because Ive been mentoring the younger girls. Seeing the girls get hands-on after being afraid to makes me so happy.

Pousset is on the leadership team, which does fundraising pitches. Morgan says they go out and find corporate sponsorships.

Financing the team is always a problem because it is a real expensive, Morgan said. We developed a pitch-deck, and she (Pousset) and a few others trained with a start-up guy. Now they have experience pitching to these multi-national corporations.

Shrey Majmudar, 17, who will also be a senior, is a member of the outreach team who goes to Science days at the elementary schools. He encourages STEM and robotics participation in the middle schools, and informs the public about the teams successes and needs. Voluntary service is a big component of the program.

This summer, were hosting 23 camps through EISD, Majmudar said. We have our teams student volunteers at each of these camps, teaching kids from third to ninth grade about everything from programming their own apps, to 3D printing, to classic LEGO robots.

Every year, First Robotics Competition gives out the Deans List award, its highest honor, to the student whose passion and effectiveness is exemplary in leading their teams. Majmudar was one of four students to win in the 10-year history of the Westlake robotics program.

Morgan also won the Woody Flowers Award, which is the highest honor any team mentor can receive. He was also honored by the Eanes school district with its Teacher of the Year title in 2014.

The First Robotics Competition held every year, brings an intense challenge with a six-week time limit to build and program a large robot capable of playing a field game against competitors. Teams have limited resources and must raise funds and use their wits and imagination to best their opponents. For the past five years in a row, the Westlake team received the Chairmans Award at the regional level of this competition because it best represents a model for other teams to emulate

This years team also got to the subdivision finals of the World Championship competition with their robot-the furthest the team has ever gotten.

Some team members have also traveled the globe to mentor teams in other countries. Alumni of the program are rewarded by acceptance into prestigious colleges and are employed by pioneering technology companies.

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Westlake Robotics exceeds tech challenges - Austin American-Statesman

What happened

Shares of Mazer Robotics(NASDAQ:MZOR), an Israeli-based robotic-surgery company focused on diseases of the spine and brain, fell by 11% in afternoon trading on Thursday.

Mazor released anSEC filing today stating that the Israeli Securities Authority (ISA) conducted a search at the company's office. The ISA is also questioning "certain officers" in connection with aninvestigation being run by the agency.

Mazor's response to this news was brief: "Mazor has not been informed as to the subject matter of the investigation, nor has it been charged with any wrongdoing. Mazor is cooperating fully with the ISA."

As expected, a numberof law firms have already announced their intention to conduct investigations on behalf of shareholders to see ifMazor has misled the public.Given the unexpected news, it's easy to understand why traders are selling off shares today.

Image Source: Getty Images.

Without any additional information, it's hard to know what to make of today's news. It's possible that we could learn a great deal more about this situation tomorrowas CEO Ori Hadomi is scheduled to give a presentation at theJefferies 2017 Global Healthcare Conference at 8:00 a.m. EDT. While the conference is invitation only, a webcast is going to be published on the company's website.

While this news is certainly unsettling, I'm personally still abeliever in Mazor's products and long-term potential. For that reason, I'm content to sit tight until more news surfaces.

Brian Feroldi owns shares of Mazor Robotics. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Why Mazor Robotics Is Tanking Today - Motley Fool

Updated June 09, 2017 10:47:01

A school in the south-east of Perth is working to boost the future workforce in key areas of science and technology by engaging students through robotics.

Science, technology, engineering and maths known as STEM subjects are said to teach people the skills and knowledge needed for 75 per cent of the fastest growing occupations.

Yet despite children being more engaged with technology than ever before, recent studies have shown the number of Australian students in the STEM area is decreasing.

The Robotics Club at Southern River College in Gosnells, about 20 kilometres from Perth, has been running since 2012 and is already having positive results.

"Many of the students have gone on to pursue similar interests in further study," Southern River's deputy principal Mike Erith said.

"And it's not just the technology skills.

"There's all those other higher order skills: the collaboration, leadership, problem solving and team work."

The group meets once a week for two hours after school over two semesters.

Students are given specific missions, which they have to complete through building and programming their robots.

The previous group of students came fifth in a robotics competition at Macquarie University in March which Mr Erith said was a wonderful achievement.

"That group loved the program so much they've even come to me and told me they wanted to start their own club," he said.

"It shows when you open their minds and get that aspect of inquisitiveness in their learning combined with joyful learning they'll want to make it their own. It's a win, win."

The program at Southern River is facilitated through The Smith Family, an education-based charity for children.

WA general manager Ian Moore said people of all backgrounds and gender should be given the opportunity to enter what is fast becoming the job market of the future.

"If we look at students in lower socio-economic backgrounds compared to those in higher socio-economic backgrounds there is a schooling gap in terms of performance in maths and science-related subjects when we get to Year 9 of about three years," he said.

"So some students can be three years behind."

He said the way the program worked was by first grabbing the students' imagination while also delivering a number of skills needed for further study and work in the field.

Mr Moore said there needed to be more access to STEM subjects for everyone especially considering the current fear of a shortage of key science and technology workers down the track.

"Essentially what we've got is a huge cohort of kids and young people that aren't being given the opportunity to take up careers in science and technology," he said.

"And there is absolutely no reason not to include girls in that."

Year 8 student Alexis Gidman is one of three girls in the group at Southern River College.

She said she had always had an interest in the area so signed up right away.

"I want to build limbs for people that have missing ones," she said

"So they can do everything they need to for everyday life."

Dylan Pudwell wants to be a forensic scientist, and said he found the club had helped him in other areas.

"It's helped me with my maths, given me practice with the maths skills," he said.

"And really helped with how I solve problems."

Topics: education, science, robots-and-artificial-intelligence, gosnells-6110, wa, perth-6000

First posted June 09, 2017 07:47:07

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WA robotics students are tech wizards of the future - ABC Online