Cross Pollinating in the Robot World

Man becomes, as it were, the sex organs of the machine world, as the bee of the plant world, enabling it to fecundate and to evolve ever new forms. --Marshall McLuhan


Battelle Memorial Institute said Tuesday it acquired a Massachusetts-based maker of underwater robots.
The Columbus research institute did not disclose the sum it paid for Cambridge-based Bluefin Robotics Corp. Battelle said Bluefin will retain its name and management team.

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Business Week Tech Beat

Now comes the merger of two tiny robot companies that promises to deliver smart robots at affordable prices.
The "brains" in this union are provided by Frontline Robotics, an Ottawa outfit with just 11 employees that has designed Robot Open Control, a robot operating system for collaborative security robots. The "brawn" comes from White Box Robots, which is basically one guy: Thomas Burick, a Pittsburgh inventor. Burick came up with the idea of making tough little mobile robots, called PC-BOTs, mainly out of off-the-shelf PC parts. They even run Windows. Think of them as PCs on wheels. Frontline announced its acquisition of White Box on May 10.