Daily Archives: August 8, 2017

by: Steve Gehlbach Updated: Aug 7, 2017 - 7:17 AM

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. - Students in the state's largest district will have new tools and new programs when they go Back 2 School Monday morning, and it includes robots.

All elementary, middle and high school students in Gwinnett County will get their hands on robots.

It is part of the districts STEM Science, technology, engineering and math approach for all grades.

Channel 2s Steve Gehlbach visited Puckett Mill Elementary School to see how the program works and how students build the robots.

Every child at our school has an opportunity to program robots, to build robots, to learn about coding, said instructional coach and robotics mentor Mandy Collins.

I think its a fun learning experience, fun to have hands-on learning, how to build stuff, make stuff, said student Nick Perdue.

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Students at Meadowcreek High School also get to do just that at their new makerspace that opened at end of last school year.

The new labs let students use real-life materials to solve real problems, beyond just sitting in a classroom and taking notes.

Gwinnett County's STEM program

So coming into school the first day the students will have the opportunity to actually do what they learn, to solve real life problems, said Meadowcreek principal Tommy Welch. This space provides that opportunity and encourages innovation in our students.

The goal with the robotics and all the STEM education is to get students more engaged, using teamwork, and make learning more relevant to the problems students face outside of the schools in their own communities.

Well have teams of reporters and photographers, as well asNewsChopper2 and Triple Team Traffic guiding you through the first days of the school year, every weekday on

Channel 2 Action News This Morning from 4:30 to 7 a.m.

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Robotics class expands to more Gwinnett County students | WSB-TV - WSB Atlanta

Auris Surgical Robotics just raised $280 million in a Series D round, bringing its total funding to date to $530 million.

Never heard of Auris? You're not alone. The startup--which was founded in 2007 by Federic Moll, co-founder of Intuitive Surgical, which makes the da Vinci robot--has made an art of keeping its R&D, and even its basic ambitions, under wraps. It has yet to release a product to market.

Last year, Auris got FDA approval for its first medical robot, an endoscope to help treat lung conditions. That bot is part of a class of flexible robots that avoid cutting patients by using the body's natural openings--the mouth, in the case of the FDA-cleared bot.

The company has chosen lung cancer as its first surgical target, according to a vague statement on its website.

So why did 39 investors help pad Auris' latest round? A big part of the reason is the incredible success of Intuitive, which saw $2.7 billion in revenue last year.

Intuitive received FDA clearance for the da Vinci in 2000, though at that time it wasn't clear how readily surgeons would adopt the new technology or how patients would react to it. But the robot quickly demonstrated reduced complications associated with, among other things, prostate removal.

Because of the position of the prostate, surgeons have to enter through the abdomen and then tunnel down to reach it. The invasiveness of the procedure carries high risks, and two common complications are incontinence and impotence. The da Vinci uses long pencil-like rods in place of a surgeon's hands, meaning surgeries performed with it are less invasive, reducing complications and recovery times.

Last year, Auris spent $80 million acquiring another Moll company, Hansen Medical, which has a trove of valuable patents relevant to robotic surgery.

According to Auris' website: "With our technology, physicians will be able to access early stage lung cancer without incisions, allowing accurate diagnosis and targeted treatment."

Cancers of the lungs and airways kill more than 150,000 people each year, in part because diagnosis often comes late. Current surgical treatments are invasive and risky. Auris clearly sees an opportunity to do better.

The company is based in San Carlos, California. I'll be following this one closely in the months ahead as Auris moves to market with its FDA-cleared device.

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Secretive surgical robotics company raises $280 million | ZDNet - ZDNet

Patch.com

Toms River East Robotics Team Wins $1000 Staples Grant Patch.com East's Robotics Club is dubbed the Raiders Shortcircuits. In addition to competing at events throughout the year, the Shortcircuits perform outreach to elementary schools, using their robot to encourage interest in STEM skills and careers. The funds ...

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Toms River East Robotics Team Wins $1000 Staples Grant - Patch.com

What happened

Shares of robot-assisted surgery start-upMazor Robotics Ltd. (NASDAQ:MZOR)gained 20% in July, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The market boosted the stock in response to news that its most recent spinal surgery system continues to gain traction.

The company began taking orders for its new Mazor X surgical system last October and ended 2016 with an 18-system backlog for the new product. News of just six Mazor X orders in the first quarter this year raised concern that interest in the new system had fizzled, plus a state agency investigation disclosed in June also hit the stock hard.

Image source: Getty Images.

While the company still hasn't shed much light on the reason for the investigation, announcing 16 Mazor X orders during the second quarter, and 19 total system orders, went a long way toward assuring investors that the Mazor X system is indeed gaining popularity.

The pre-earnings order announcement predicted record second-quarter revenue, which the company delivered earlier this month. Second-quarter revenue rose 87% higher from the same period last year to $15.5 million. While placing more systems into more hospitals is important, investors will want to keep an eye on recurring revenue from consumables that must be replaced after each surgery performed. In the second quarter, revenue from kit sales and services rose a healthy 50% to $6.3 million.

Compared with industry giantIntuitive Surgical, Mazor Robotics is still small potatoes. As my Foolish colleague Brian Feroldi pointed out recently, Mazor's focus on spinal surgeries has kept the two from crossing paths. The robotic-surgery space is changing rapidly, but for now, it looks as if Mazor will remain at the top of the nice little niche it's carved out for itself.

Cory Renauer has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Intuitive Surgical. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Here's Why Mazor Robotics Ltd. Gained 20% in July -- The Motley Fool - Motley Fool

Pittsburgh Business Times

Robotics pioneer and former CMU Provost Jordan dies at 86 Pittsburgh Business Times It was in the latter role, in 1979, when he joined with Raj Reddy, a computer science professor, and Thomas Murrin, a top executive at Westinghouse Electric Corp., to create the Robotics Institute, which was the first to establish a Ph.D. program in ...

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Robotics pioneer and former CMU Provost Jordan dies at 86 - Pittsburgh Business Times

The United Kingdom has published a set of Key principles of vehicle cyber security for connected and automated vehicles outlining how auto-makers need to behave if they want computerised cars to hit Blighty's byways and highways.

Penned by the UK's Department for Transport, with help from the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure, and launched by transport minister Lord Callanan, the principles suggest all participants in the auto industry's long supply chains must work together on security both in the design process and for years after vehicles hit the roads.

The eight principles follow:

Each principle has sub-principles and that's where the detail gets interesting. Principle 1.2, for example, suggests Personal accountability is held at the board level for product and system security (physical, personnel and cyber) and delegated appropriately and clearly throughout the organisation.

Principle 2.4 expects Security risks specific to, and/or encompassing, supply chains, sub-contractors and service providers are identified and managed through design, specification and procurement practices.

Principle 3.4 may raise eyebrows as it suggests Organisations ensure their systems are able to support data forensics and the recovery of forensically robust, uniquely identifiable data. This may be used to identify the cause of any cyber, or other, incident. The combination of uniquely identifiable and other incident isn't spelled out, but suggests all manner of avenues to investigate driver behaviour, although those efforts could founder on Principle 7.3's insistence that Users are able to delete sensitive data held on systems and connected systems.

There's some sound OpSec suggestions under Principle 5, with 5.3 calling for Design controls to mediate transactions across trust boundaries, must be in place throughout the system. These include the least access principle, one-way data controls, full disk encryption and minimising shared data storage. Principle 5.4 suggests Remote and back-end systems, including cloud based servers, which might provide access to a system have appropriate levels of protection and monitoring in place to prevent unauthorised access.

Principle 8.1 sets out how a car should respond to malicious hacking attempts, by stating The system must be able to withstand receiving corrupt, invalid or malicious data or commands via its external and internal interfaces while remaining available for primary use. This includes sensor jamming or spoofing.

To The Register's mind, the Principles are largely sound and could handily be applied to other Internet of Things devices.

Lord Callanan's announcement suggests the Principles will be included in future legislation governing self-driving cars on British tarmac.

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UK publishes Laws of Robotics for self-driving cars - The Register