After announcing a deal with Beyond Meat back in February, McDonald’s this morning announced that it is set to start selling plant-based Beyond Meat burgers in select locations next month. Starting November 3, the McPlant will be available at eight of the fast food giant’s restaurants, including in Irving and Carrollton, Texas, Cedar Falls, Iowa, […]
On ten years of ‘The Vertical Farm’
Roughly two hours pass between my initial email and our first Zoom chat — on a Sunday, no less. I skip the post-gym shower and pop on a baseball cap, because I’m not sure when the opportunity will present itself again. After more than two decades of espousing the benefits of vertical farming around the […]
RoboTire raises $7.5M to automate tire replacement
RoboTire crossed our radar in February of last year, just before much of the world was brought to a complete standstill courtesy of the pandemic. Things were still fairly early stages for the Detroit-based startup, which was founded by former Spark Robotics CEO Victor Darolfi. The company has clearly picked up some good, strategic interest […]
Robot response team
I’ve been working on a big project the past several days (more on that soon), which means, unfortunately, I’ve been away from the daily breaking news. That means, in turn, that I really haven’t been on top of the big robotics news this week. So let’s use this column as an opportunity to play a […]
What a community means in the modern world of startups
“Community” has grown into one of those buzzy Silicon Valley terms over the years, but long-time advocates explain that the concept is fundamental in entrepreneurship and venture capital investments.
Ad Astro
Let’s talk about arms for a second. Or, rather, let’s talk about a lack of arms. It’s a common thread between Jibo, Kuri and now Astro. I suppose one could make the argument that Anki’s Cozmo had arms of a kind, but the overhead forklift wasn’t good for much beyond hooking into a proprietary block. […]
Why Amazon built a home robot
iRobot’s CEO once told me, with a wink, that he didn’t become a truly successful roboticist until he became a vacuum salesman. It’s a good line, and one that betrays some fundamental truths about the industry. Robots are hard, and in a lot of ways home robots are doubly so. That no one has managed […]
Amazon takes on Fitbit with the $80 Halo View
A year after launching its original exercise band, Halo, Amazon just dropped the follow up, Halo View. The company’s not quite ready to go full bore into the smartwatch category just yet, but it clearly has the Google-owned Fitbit brand directly in its sights with the newly announced Halo View. The device doesn’t quite challenge […]
Amazon’s newest Echo Show is a 15-inch, wall-mounted digital picture frame
Amazon just took the wraps off the latest — and largest — addition to the Echo Show family. The Echo Show 15 takes the company’s smart screen technology to the wall in the form of a 15.6-inch 1080p display that doubles as a massive digital picture frame. The $250 device is certainly a novel approach […]
Amazon launches a $60 smart thermostat
Amazon kicked off its big hardware event today by announce a new smart. The company worked with Honeywell to create the device, but is keeping its own branding on the product (rather than, say, Ring, Blink or any of the other smart home companies it owns). The device runs $60, though the company notes that […]