David Jones (left) demonstrates a 3D-printed component at a Feb. 2013 workshop hosted at PunchRock
Want to change STEM education with robotics? How about agriculture? Healthcare? Stop by the DC Robotics Group’s latest event on June 12, co-hosted with PunchRock, DC’s dedicated co-working space for social entrepreneurs. Share your latest project or startup ideas, join others with a vision, and meet entrepreneurs who are doing social good through technology.
Georgia Tech’s Dr. Henrik Christensen introduces the 2013 edition of the U.S. Robotics Roadmap.
The Congressional Robotics Caucus welcomed the release Wednesday of a follow-up revision to the highly influential 2009 report, A Roadmap for U.S. Robotics: From Internet to Robotics, which inspired the U.S. government’s first cohesive robotics research funding strategy in the $50 million National Robotics Initiative. The report outlines the progress of robots in multiple industries over the last five years, identifies goals for the coming decade and emphasizes the importance of the robotics research pipeline to maintaining U.S. innovation.
Situated on the top floor of a converted town house on 18th St. NW, just south of the bars and night life typically associated with the Adams Morgan neighborhood, two dozen people chatted over instructional workstations that featured a 3D printer making a business card holder from scratch, robotic arms, and a collection of motors and mechanical parts straight out of a machine shop. The event signaled the inauguration of the D.C. Robotics Group workshop series and the first event at PunchRock Labs, a technology innovation and education arm of the PunchRock co-working space for social entrepreneurs. Continue reading
The past year was a watershed moment for robotics. From defense to exploration, startups to legislation, we saw products, laws, and investments that have shifted robotics out of the lab and into our lives. They have built on decades of basic and applied research, taking advantage of plummeting component costs and maturing core technologies such as batteries and communications. Below are the top 10 stories of 2012. And choosing only 10 from so many successes, research, and new products was extremely difficult. Perhaps that’s really the best story of the year. Continue reading
iStrategyLabs combined an Arduino, old refrigerator, and social media for a GE promotion at SXSW
Hello December! We’re planning an exciting month in review post at the moment, but we wanted to share a meetup we’re organizing for the DC metro area next week:
The new DC Robotics Group is gearing up for its first show-and-tell event on December 13 (RSVP) in Dupont Circle. All professionals, hobbyists, and beginners are encouraged to bring their latest hardware project, Arduino hack, sensor, mobile platform, or artificial intelligence software! It’s sure to be an exciting event. On top of that, our hosts — iStrategyLabs — will show their Social Machine product, which combines an Arduino with social media to form a cyber-physical system for new promotion capabilities (first featured for GE at SXSW).
With DC Tech Week in full swing, we thought it would be appropriate to announce a new official Meetup group to the mix: the DC Robotics Group. Here’s our pitch:
Come join a growing group of engineers, hackers, researchers, artists, and entrepreneurs with a passion for robotics and robot technologies. Modeled on similar groups in Silicon Valley and Pittsburgh, we’re aiming to kick-start a community for robotics and robotics/hardware startups in the D.C. metro area. Whether you’re looking to build your first robot or you’re a veteran roboticist seeking collaborators, come share your knowledge, learn from others, and network.
In an existing landscape with a booming tech startup community, a growing hackerspace, and major research universities, we want this group to serve as a bridge and bring people together to work on the inherently complex and difficult multidisciplinary problems in robotics. And we’re not waiting to get started: our inaugural meetup is next Wednesday, November 14, in downtown DC!
