Kinze Manufacturing, a large farm equipment maker in Iowa, is developing driverless tractors like the self-driving cars that Google, Mercedes-Benz, and Nissan are prototyping.
Microsoft has hired five units of the autonomous security robot K5, manufactured by Knightscope, to patrol its campus in Silicon Valley. The robots’ mission is to predict and prevent criminal activity.
Telepresence robots allow their users to remotely interact with and observe people and their surroundings without being physically present there themselves. Such robots have the potential to add mobility and adaptability to traditional modes of videoconferencing. Their use in the everyday activities of companies and in the realm of business travel is promising as an idea, but in practice it is, as yet, a technology which is at an early stage in its development, with advantages and disadvantages, as reflected by those who have tried it.
