"It's going to be a $50,000 to $100,000 platform. So Congress has to be there to provide some grant money."
Related: Look Up in the Sky! It's a Bird, it's a Plane, it's an... INSECT SPY DRONE?
The Terminator Was NOT a Movie
"The nearly invincible robotics industry; Government orders buffering firms from downturn" by Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff | April 17, 2009
The recession that's hammered the global economy appears to have spared the robot makers gathering in Boston this week. Executives at the RoboBusiness Conference & Expo at the Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center said that demand for military robots, combined with the likely effects of President Obama's economic stimulus package, is helping to offset a slowdown in commercial orders and difficulties in obtaining bank financing.
See?
His stimulus wasn't meant to help you at all, American taxpayers. I told you it was all wasted loot for special interests.
"We almost didn't make it to the show because we've been so busy," said Will Pong, director of robotics for Segway Inc. in Bedford, N.H. "Orders are taking longer to close, but they're still closing."
Marty Foley, manager of global antiterrorism products at Foster-Miller Inc. in Waltham, said he was seeing "very strong" demand for his company's machines. "Every developed country with a really strong military either uses robots or sees the need to use robots," Foley said.
Of course, we are all about peace not world domination or anything like that.
Related: The Pentagon Spending Sprees
U.S. Military Spending to Keep Growing
America's Lone Industry
Companies like Foster-Miller and iRobot Corp. in Bedford have established Massachusetts as a global leader in robotics technology. Massachusetts companies tend to focus on robotics software and components, as well as robots for consumer, military, and naval applications. Hydroid Inc. of Pocasset, which was not at the RoboBusiness conference, said this week that it has sold one of its REMUS underwater robots to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The robot will be used to conduct research in the Arctic Ocean.
So the scientists can then lie to us about global fart-misting.
Local companies have been shielded from the slumping demand for industrial robots, such as those used in the assembly of automobiles. The Robotics Industry Association reported earlier this year that overall orders to US robot makers in 2008 were down 21 percent from the previous year, with most of the decline coming from weak demand for industrial robots.
But attendees at the RoboBusiness show said they're still seeing high interest in robots for use by government agencies. Segway, best known for its two-wheeled, self-balancing electric scooters, introduced a firefighting robot at the show. The hefty, four-wheeled machine features a rotating nozzle that can unleash an intense blast of water in a burning building while firefighters remain safely outside.
"It's not cheap," said Pong. "It's going to be a $50,000 to $100,000 platform. So Congress has to be there to provide some grant money." Pong said that an infusion of federal stimulus money should give many cities the money they'd need to buy the Segway firefighting robot. "It's hopefully an easy sell right now," he said.
Yup, the AMERICAN TAXPAYER gets TAKEN AGAIN!!!!
Foley said that Foster-Miller's robots for law enforcement agencies continue to sell well. "We haven't seen a drop-off in domestic business," he said. He predicted that stimulus funding would keep the orders coming in.
Need I even comment?
The US Army has embraced the Foster-Miller SWORDS robot, which carries a machine gun and enables soldiers to engage in remote-controlled battles against enemy troops. Foley said his company now offers an upgraded version, the MAARS, which can carry less-lethal weapons like tear gas grenades as well as a gun.
So how long until these robots are turned on the American people (already are with the law-enforcement getting them, right?)
Foley stressed that all his company's weaponized robots require a human at the controls. "There has to be someone behind it with a conscience," he said.
There are no guarantees there!! Guys sitting behind a console are pressing the button for Predator strikes with no more than a wink.
Vincent Dupourque, chief executive of French robot maker Robosoft, said he has seen no drop in orders for his firm's machines, which patrol the hallways in hospitals and eldercare facilities. But thanks to the international banking crisis, customers are finding it harder to arrange financing. "It's become more and more difficult to get our money," Dupourque said.
Yeah, sure, whatever....
Dan Kara, editor-in-chief of Robotics Business Review, which produced the RoboBusiness show, said that cash-strapped businesses and governments may put off robot purchases. But, he added, "The impetus is with us, so if anything, this is just a setback."
--more--""Hello, this is civil defense, whose in control there?"
This is Conner, John Conner.
Welcome to the future, AmeriKa!!!!!
