Strategic Sharing: Zipcar Leads $13.7M Investment In Campus Car-Sharing Startup Wheelz
February 22, 2012 – 8:25 am | No Comment

Well, you have to hand it to the strategy team over at Zipcar . Arguably the largest on-demand car-sharing network, Zipcar went public last year and not long after saw its market cap cross $1 billion . It’s since fallen back, and with collaborative consumption and the market for car-sharing heating up, the big players have to make moves. Zipcar has since forged a partnership with Ford, making it the largest provider of cars for Zipcar’s University program , and, in December, the company took a controlling stake in Spain’s largest car-sharing network, Avancar . Today finds Zipcar making another strategic move to get its mitts in fellow car-sharing companies, again with a focus on universities, whose students are among the most eager adopters of car-sharing models. What do I mean? The company today announced that it is a lead investor in the $13.7 million series A financing of Wheelz , a junior, university-focused version of itself. The Detroit-based Fontinalis…

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Articles in Robots

Whatever you did this holiday, this guy with the robot wife had more fun
December 26, 2009 – 1:45 pm | No Comment
Whatever you did this holiday, this guy with the robot wife had more fun Let’s just start with the lede: Inventor Le Trung spent Christmas Day with the most important woman in his life – his robot Aiko. The science genius enjoyed a festive dinner with his mum, dad and his £30,000 fembot which he designed and built by hand. Le, 34, from Brampton, Ontario, Canada, even bought gifts for his dream girl, who is so lifelike she speaks fluent English and Japanese, helped cook the turkey and hang up decorations. Yep. You read that ...
Tetra the micromouse needs no cheese, completes maze in new record time (video)
December 12, 2009 – 9:43 am | No Comment
Tetra the micromouse needs no cheese, completes maze in new record time (video) Lab rats beware -- there's a new turbo-charged robotic cousin of yours on the block. This little autonomous fellow, Tetra, has just wowed micromouse hobbyists with a 4.766-second finish time in a maze (which had to be mapped by the micromouse first) in a recent demonstration, beating the previous All Japan Micromouse contest record by a big margin of 1.6 seconds. Sadly, Tetra wasn't the winner of this year's contest as it failed to complete the final Expert Class event -- ...
Video: Verizon Droid calls iPhone ‘digitally clueless’ in latest ad
December 5, 2009 – 7:52 pm | No Comment
Video: Verizon Droid calls iPhone ‘digitally clueless’ in latest ad The word “droid” is short for “android.” When you think of androids you think of robots. “Robot” is a Czech word that means “drudgery.” “Drudgery” is defined as “dull, irksome, and fatiguing work.” And let me tell you: it is dull, irksome, and fatiguing to sit through this latest Verizon Droid commercial. The ad, which just started airing on TV, takes aim at the iPhone, calling it, among other things, “digitally clueless.” The implication is that the Droid, well, isn’t. It’s fast, and ludicrously so (“a racehorse ...
PaPeRo: NEC’s cute helper robot
November 26, 2009 – 8:35 am | No Comment
PaPeRo: NEC’s cute helper robot As a huge conglomerate, NEC is active in a lot of areas. But unknown to many people outside Japan, the company is quite aggressive in the robotics field, too. Their PaPeRo, a cute helper robot, for example, has been around since 1997 already. And now, just in time for a robot exhibition that currently takes place in Tokyo, the company shows an updated version of the little guy. The new PaPerRo R500 stands 38cm tall and weighs ...
Nerdbots: throwbacks to the tin toy era
November 24, 2009 – 11:17 pm | No Comment
Nerdbots: throwbacks to the tin toy era These cute little robot figures are strictly for decoration, but they hearken back to a day when decorative figures were our toys. Do none of you remember the fun we had with immobile, poorly-molded Star Wars figurines and the original tin robots these ones emulate? Toys are a bit more complicated these days — not that I don’t enjoy them too. These Nerdbots are made from household items, and remind me a bit of what might ...
LadyBugBot, the creepy-crawly robotic fridge magnet
November 23, 2009 – 9:03 pm | No Comment
LadyBugBot, the creepy-crawly robotic fridge magnet For Let's Make Robot's robo-wiz "Isotope," anything he sees has the potential to be a 'bot. Example: pondering a simple ladybug magnet on his refrigerator, he decided it'd be better as a larger, motorized magnetic crawler exploring the surface of his fridge. $30 and 16 hours later, he had the charming LadyBugBot you can see in the video above. He's also got a full list of DIY instructions posted, and it's simple enough that'd it'd be a great present for anyone ...