Robots

A bunch of the companies we’ve invested in were at CES 2013. Modular Robotics , the makers of Cubelets, were at the Eureka Village (where Startup America was). The first thing I had to do when I got to CES was a panel for Startup America so the Modular Robotics booth was literally one of the first places I stopped after getting to Las Vegas. It was mobbed. I came back around a few other times and it continued to be mobbed. They were showing Cubelets (which are for sale now) as well as a few new spicy connector things that they are about to release that let you connect Cubelets up to anything you can build with Legos. ...

28 Spheros + 1 Boombox. + 4 Android phones = Mind Blown. Wow – have you bought a Sphero for Christmas yet?

I’ve been intrigued with robots since I was a little kid. When I was at MIT in the 1980’s, there was a huge movement around the future of robotics. A few of my friends, most notably Colin Angle, went on to do something and co-founded iRobot which he still runs 25 years later. I didn’t pay a lot of attention to robots or robotics in the 1990’s as I got caught up in the Internet, but started thinking about them again about five years ago. Over the past few years, as part of our human computer interaction theme, we’ve invested in several companies doing “robotics related stuff” including MakerBot (3D Printers) and Orbotix (a robotic ball controlled by a smartphone). I’ve also looked at lots of robot-related companies and thought hard about the notion that the machines have already taken over and are just waiting patiently for us to catch up . ...

Marc Andreessen recently wrote a long article in the WSJ which he asserted that “Software Is Eating The World .” I enjoyed reading it, but I don’t think it goes far enough. I believe the machines have already taken over and resistance is futile. Regardless of your view of the idea of the singularity, we are now in a new phase of what has been referred to in different ways, but most commonly as the “information revolution.” I’ve never liked that phrase, but I presume it’s widely used because of the parallels to the shift from an agriculture-based society to the industrial-based society commonly called the “industrial revolution.” ...

Orbotix , one of our investments (and a TechStars Boulder 2010 company) is looking for an iOS and an Android developer. If you don’t know Orbotix, they make Sphero , the robotic ball you control with your smartphone. And if you you wonder why you should care, take a look at Sphero on his chariot being driven by Paul Berberian (Orbotix CEO) while running Facetime. I got the following note from Adam Wilson, the co-founder of Orbotix – if you fit this description email jobs@orbotix.com ...

A post in the New York Times this morning asserted that Software Progress Beats Moore’s Law . It’s a short post, but the money quote is from Ed Lazowska at the University of Washington: “The rate of change in hardware captured by Moore’s Law, experts agree, is an extraordinary achievement. “But the ingenuity that computer scientists have put into algorithms have yielded performance improvements that make even the exponential gains of Moore’s Law look trivial,” said Edward Lazowska, a professor at the University of Washington. ...

I do not want to tangle with an army of 10,000 of these. Especially ones that have lots of sharp pokey electrocution things built in to their foreheads. I wonder what my golden retriever would think of these dudes. Now, what would have really been sweet is if I had one of these when I was 10 and could put it in my brother’s bedroom at night. Bwahahahahahahahahaha.

I’m completely laughing my ass off after watching Samantha Bee’s Future Shock – Roombas of Doom segment on Comedy Central. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart M – Th 11p / 10c Future Shock – Roombas of Doom Daily Show Full Episodes Important Things With Demetri Martin Funny Political News Joke of the Day Totally hilarious. My fraternity brother, co-founder, and CEO of iRobot – Colin Angle – holds his own nicely. iRobot was one of those investments that will always be in my “I wish I’d done that” category as I remember sitting with Colin in my house in Eldorado Springs talking about the upcoming VC round he was contemplating. Oh well.