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Sony Corp. is planning next spring to roll out a dog-shaped pet robot similar to its discontinued Aibo with updated components that could allow it to control home appliances, people familiar with the matter said.

Sony is preparing for a media event in November to show off the product, the people said. It is unclear whether the new product will use the Aibo name and how much it will cost.

Sony is preparing for a media event in November to show off the product.

Continue reading “Sony’s Pet Project, a New Robot Dog, to Be Unleashed Soon” »

Argo AI LLC, a driverless-car developer controlled by Ford Motor Co., has purchased a 17-year-old company that makes laser systems needed to operate cars without human intervention, an important step for a conventional Detroit auto maker looking to boost its role in shaping the industry’s transformation.

Argo AI said Friday it is buying New Jersey-based Princeton Lightwave Inc. for an undisclosed price, a move that provides Ford with more immediate access to so-called lidar systems that use lasers to create a 3D view of the…

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Continue reading “Ford’s Argo Buys Laser System Firm as It Boosts Driverless Car Development” »

Is this what cars will look like in 2030?

Superior batteries are on the way, and they could disrupt power markets within the next decade—Sooner Than You Think.

Google unveiled software aimed at making it easier for scientists to use the quantum computers in a move designed to give a boost to the nascent industry.

The software, which is open-source and free to use, could be used by chemists and material scientists to adapt algorithms and equations to run on quantum computers. It comes at a time when Google, IBM, Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp. and D-Wave Systems Inc. are all pushing to create quantum computers that can be used for commercial applications.

Casper the Robot is making a difference at a hospital in Lisbon: http://cnnmon.ie/2y2YRSk

Built Robotics has raised $15 million in a round led by NEA to do for construction equipment what Waymo is doing for automobiles.

Bank of America’s chief tech officer says that the technological shift is happening too fast for folks on Wall Street to adapt.

Job losses are on the way.

Imagine printing off a wristband that charges your smartphone or electric car with cheap supplies from a local hardware store.

That’s the direction materials research is heading at Brunel University London where scientists have become the first to simply and affordably 3D print a flexible, wearable ‘battery’.

The technique opens the way for novel designs for super-efficient, wearable power for phones, electric cars, medical implants like pacemakers and more.