The phrase "'a visionary rag'" combines two concepts:
Visionary:
This term is used to describe someone with strong, original ideas about
how things might be different or improved in the future. Visionaries
often have a clear picture of what could be, inspiring others to achieve
these possibilities.
Rag:
In the context of publications, "rag" is a slang or informal, often
disapproving term for a newspaper or magazine perceived to be of poor
quality. The term has a history of being used to refer to newspapers
that are considered worthless or sensational.
Therefore,
"a visionary rag" is likely an informal or sarcastic phrase suggesting a
publication (like a newspaper or magazine) that, despite being
considered low-quality or even contemptible by some, surprisingly
presents strong, insightful, or forward-thinking ideas.
> Essentially,
it's a bit of an oxymoron, juxtaposing a term of criticism ("rag") with a term of praise ("visionary") to describe a publication that defies
expectations by offering insightful perspectives despite its perceived
shortcomings
INTRO: Aldebaran,
a French company that blazed the trail in the field of 'empathetic'
humanoid robots in the late 2000s, has been put into liquidation, local
media has reported. The tech pioneer was placed into bankruptcy
proceedings in January, and then in receivership the following month.2 days ago
Nao, Aldebaran’s first system, replaced Honda’s Asimo in the annual RoboCup soccer tournaments. The company released the first version of Pepper in 2014.
Aldebaran’s Romeo model was intended to be a research platform toward household
applications — a notoriously difficult market to crack — but it was not
as popular as the other models. Pepper and Nao were also limited in
capability and robustness for commercial applications.
In comparison, today’s humanoids
have better balance and autonomous navigation, have begun to manipulate
items, and can interact with people more naturally thanks to recent
advances in generative AI. But for many years, Pepper and Nao were ambassadors of robotics to the general public.
But in 2015, only 15%
of companies planned to renew their three-year contracts for Pepper.
The robot cost $30,000 in the U.S. or $2,000 with a $550 per month
subscription fee for maintenance and software updates.
The company said it had sold about 20,000 Nao robots and 17,000 Pepper humanoids to 70 countries, but it stopped producing Pepper in 2020 or 2021.
SoftBank and URG part of ownership saga
Aldebaran isn’t the only humanoid robotics developer to change ownership — Boston Dynamics has been owned by Google, SoftBank, and Hyundai — but it never achieved the scale investors hoped for.
In 2012, SoftBank Group,
which has invested in numerous robotics companies, acquired Aldebaran
for $100 million. In 2016, Tokyo-based SoftBank rebranded the unit as
part of its SoftBank Robotics Group, with facilities in the Europe,
Asia, and the U.S., which posed its own cultural challenges.
SoftBank put Pepper robots in HSBC Banks to improve customer service, but several industry observers questioned
at the time whether SoftBank had rushed what CEO Masayoshi Son had
dubbed the “emotional robot” into production. HSBC’s regulatory troubles
also didn’t help.
In 2018, Haier partnered with SoftBank Robotics to build a version of Pepper for its Smart Home platform and retailers in China.
In 2022, Bochum, Germany-based United Robotics Group (URG), founded by Thomas Hähn in 2019, acquired SoftBank Robotics Europe after months of negotiations. HAHN Automation had acquired collaborative robot pioneer Rethink Robotics after its own struggles in 2018 and relaunched it last year.
SoftBank Robotics Europe had already laid off nearly half its staff of 330 people at the time of the URG purchase. SoftBank said that the Whiz cleaning robot was its flagship system.
URG had been the primary distributor of Nao and Pepper in Europe since 2021. It then released the Plato hospitality “cobiot,” which cost $800 a month to lease. URG also rebranded SoftBank Robotics Europe back to Aldebaran.
In 2024, URG stopped funding Aldebaran, which recorded an operating loss of about $29 million for the previous year.
In April, Aldebaran laid off more staffers. The company recently fielded interest from two prospective buyers, but the deals fell through, leading to the receivership proceedings.
Aldebaran is still looking for buyers, but the fate of its remaining staff, support, and intellectual property is unclear. The Robot Report will continue following and sharing its story.
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