These new mini robots could teach your 5-year-old how to program

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Kids love robots. And now a new San Francisco area company, backed with $1 million from the likes of Google Ventures and Madrona Venture Group, is looking to develop a new class of low-cost robots designed to help five to eight-year-olds learn the basics of programming. All Things D has details on Play-i, which is… Read More…

Amazon vet’s robot-powered apparel startup expanding to downtown Seattle, Silicon Valley, Las Vegas

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Things are moving fast for Nadia Shouraboura, the former Amazon exec who’s now running Seattle’s newest men’s clothing store that’s powered by robots and your smartphone. Hointer opened up its debut store just above Wine World in Wallingford last fall and is now expanding to downtown Seattle, Silicon Valley and Las Vegas. “It is so much fun,”… Read More…

Amazon vet’s new robot-powered apparel startup aims to revolutionize how we buy clothes

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By the look on his face and sound of his voice, you’d never guess that Dave Cotter just spent the last 45 minutes trying to find the perfect pair of pants. There’s a reason why he’s happy. He didn’t have to rummage through piles and piles of pants, never had to deal with an annoying… Read More…

How Yoky Matsuoka created the modern robotic hand, and what the rest of us can learn from her

Yoky Matsuoka

Editor’s Note: Yoky Matsuoka, the former University of Washington computer science professor, is one of the subjects of the new book, “Mastery,” by Robert Greene, set for publication this week. This excerpt is reprinted with permission from Viking Press. In order to learn a subject or skill, particularly one that is complex, we must immerse ourselves in… Read More…

Romotive unveils new $150 smartphone-controlled robot, lands $5M from Sequoia, others

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Romotive today is unveiling its next-generation smartphone-controlled robot, a $150 device that the company says is faster and “more sleekly designed” than earlier versions. It’s also announcing $5 million in funding from Sequoia Capital, Crunchfund, Ron Conway’s SV Angel and others. Incubated at TechStars Seattle, Romotive moved to Las Vegas shortly after the program concluded as… Read More…

Jeff Bezos-backed robotics startup changes name, raises $30 million

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Jeff Bezos loves robots, with Amazon.com shelling out $775 million for Cambridge, Massachusetts robot maker Kiva Systems earlier this year. But that’s not the billionaire’s only robot love in the Boston area. Bezos also an investor in Heartland Robotics, which just announced today that it has raised $30 million in financing and has changed its… Read More…

Amazon completes Kiva deal, welcomes its new warehouse robot overlords

A Kiva robot in action

Amazon today finished its $775 million purchase of Kiva Systems, the Massachusetts-based maker of automation technology for fulfillment centers — better known as warehouse robots. The company disclosed the completion of the deal in a (very) brief regulatory filing. Amazon had announced the acquisition agreement in March. Kiva’s customers include drugstore.com, Gilt Group, Dansko, Gap, Toys R Us, Office… Read More…

Space robot company may pull an asteroid into orbit

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More details emerged today about Planetary Resources, and the Bellevue-based startup’s plans are sounding more and more like something out of a science fiction novel. One idea the company is considering: Bringing an asteroid into orbit near Earth to allow robots to mine it for precious metals, according to a New York Times article today… Read More…

Robotic fish swim the stories of the dead, design the future

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A fish may not need a bicycle, but a bicycle could learn a lot about the mechanics of movement from a fish. A group of robotics experts gathered today at a “Biorobotics Roundtable” sponsored by Kirkland robotics maker Coroware to discuss how building robotic fish can help us better understand evolution, locomotion, even swarm behavior…. Read More…

Owning a hacker space: Q&A with Matt Westervelt of Metrix

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When you walk into Metrix Create: Space in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, it’s hard to know exactly what you’ve gotten yourself into. With long tables piled with electronics, 3D printers tucked in corners, a vending machine that offers Arduino shields alongside M&Ms, and a large, looming Pick and Place peeking out from inside… Read More…

Check out this awesome basketball-shooting robot

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Forget about “Linsanity.” Check out this sharpshooting basketball robot, created by students at Seattle’s Aviation High School.  The robot will be one of the entrants in the upcoming FIRST robotics competition, a regional competition taking place March 21 to March 24 at Seattle’s CenturyLink Field exhibition center. KING 5′s Christie Johnson reports: Previously on GeekWire: Geeks Who… Read More…

Meet Romo: The super cool smartphone-powered robot

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A few weeks ago, I bumped into Romotive co-founder Phu Nguyen at a geeky tech event in Seattle. Nguyen, who had recently joined the class of TechStars Seattle, was showing off a cool way to control a mini-robot from his smartphone. Intrigued, I had to find out more. Now, according to a new video posted on… Read More…

First rule of combat robotics: It is inherently dangerous

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The first rule of combat robotics is: You don’t talk about combat robotics. Actually, that’s not really true. The first rule is: “Combat robotics is inherently dangerous.” Awesome. Sounds as fun as Fight Club, doesn’t it? If you’re not into the Sounders, Mariners or Huskies this weekend, it might be worth your time to cruise… Read More…

Retailers turn to robots to compete with Amazon.com

A Kiva robot in action

Amazon.com may be best known for its huge array of products or its Kindle digital reading device. But the Seattle online retailer has cleaned the clocks of many of its rivals by streamlining warehousing operations, allowing it to deliver products with unbelievable speed and accuracy. Now, several of Amazon’s rivals are fighting back with robots…. Read More…

Nerd Notes: Angry Birds hits the web, an octopus ballet and ice cream Androids

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In case you didn’t already know it, Star Wars changed the world and now there’s an info graph to prove it. In related news, people are STILL talking about Star Wars.Now here’s a ballet you don’t want to miss! The octopus ballet was filmed 200 miles off the Oregon coast by a team of UW researches…. Read More…

Nerd Notes: A ball catching bot, an internet kiss and the Finger-Nose

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The intelligence behind tracking Osama is revealed via Twitter. Introducing the floppy disk necklace. Hey, if Mickey Rourke, Mortal Kombat and the fanny pack can make a comeback, so too can the floppy-d. The largest 3-D map of the universe ever has been created by a group of top-notch geek astronomers. Get a load of this talented… Read More…

Nerd Notes: Shakespeare’s Terminator 2, Microscopic Microchip Art, and tweeting for beer at the ballpark

Microscopic art created by geeks, for geeks

Kevin Zelco (@MsBeerVendor) is taking beer orders (and tips) at Safeco Field via tweets.  A @MrUrinal would round this venture out quite nicely. Geeks hide microscopic art inside of microchips for other geeks to find.  This is why we heart geeks. Forget the fast cars and acne creams, teens want iPhones. Ever wonder what a dash of Shakespearean language… Read More…

Surgery meets social media: Robotic procedure to be webcast, tweeted

The OR at Swedish Orthopedic Institute. (Swedish Medical Center Photo)

Yes, even the operating room has a hash tag now. Aiming to promote its latest robot-assisted surgical technology, Swedish Orthopedic Institute in Seattle is planning a live webcast Tuesday morning of a 70-year-old patient’s partial knee replacement surgery. Any random person on the Internet will be able to watch and listen in on the action,… Read More…