Yesterday, iRobot Corp., the manufacturer of the Roomba and PackBots, went to a federal court in Boston and asked a judge to issue an order halting the production of a rival robot builder’s machines. iRobot alleges that a former employee of the company, Jameel Ahed, designed the bots for his new firm, Robotic FX, using iRobot trade secrets. No, that’s not a PackBot pictured on the left.
There’s more than pride at stake here. Robotic FX just won a $280 million contract from the military last week. It looks like production at Robotic FX won’t shut down, but this should be an interesting case to follow. Personally, I think they should just let the robots fight it out.
Via :Â Boston Globe
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- Tags: Boston Globe, Packbot, Robot Builder, Roomba
The prospect of more secure borders, and less immigrant labor, has farmers thinking about turning to technologically-advanced machines to do the hard work out in the fields. Companies are developing robots that would be capable of selecting and picking the right fruits and grapes, even determining ripeness through digital imaging, and tending grapevines, too.
The massive machines from Ramsay Highlander (one of which is pictured at left) might look like something out of Mad Max, but they actually help farmers with the very peaceful business of harvesting spinach, lettuce and various vegetables. The company says its new Spinach/Spring Mix Mechanical Harvester can cut over 15,000 pounds worth of the green stuff per hour. That’s a lot of lettuce.
Via : Boston Globe
