Ever wonder why it has taken so long for your robot butler to arrive? It's 2013, so why aren't those long-promised robotic domestic servants helping out around the house yet?

One reason for the delay: Robot engineers lacked a common platform on which to communicate and collaborate with one another. Robotic hardware and software systems had to be built from the ground up every time. 

Open Source Robotics

But just as open-source operating systems for computers have amped up digital innovation, the robotics industry has undergone a similar transformation over the last five years. Ever since the advent of ROS (Robot Operating System), an open-source platform on which engineers could build robotic programs and apps, robotic innovation has picked up speed.

On Friday, robot engineers from around the world gather for the second annual ROScon in Stuttgart, Germany. Meanwhile, ROS has become a requirement for several high-profile DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) robotics projects - in this year’s DARPA Robotics Challenge, every contestant will use ROS.

"ROS has also started to appear in job listings and on resumes," said Tully Foote, ROS Platform Manager at the Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF). "At robotics conferences and presentations, most people are using ROS on their robots," Foote said, "and those who are not often justify why the are not using ROS if they are not."

“ROS is distinguished by its focus on building a community of collaborators,” Foote added. “From its inception, ROS has been designed to facilitate sharing of the software between members of the worldwide robotics community.”

Leveling The Robotics Playing Field

Steve Rainwater, a robotics expert and blogger at Robots.net, agrees that ROS is today’s "leading software framework for robotics," because it integrates exceptionally well with prior robotics research frameworks. 

“There have been other projects that tried to write complete robot operating systems from the ground up, but where [ROS creators] Willow Garage got it right is they understand how open source works,” Rainwater said. “They invent the parts they need and integrate them with the parts that already exist.”

ROS "keeps the playing field level to an extent between students and hobbyists at one end of the spectrum and governments and universities at the other," Rainwater added. "Improvements to robot software can come from either end of that spectrum and because of the way free software licenses work, everyone's contributions are accessible to benefit the entire community."

How ROS Works

Robotics research center Willow Garage invented ROS to solve the common platform problem. Today, the platform is overseen by the nonprofit OSRF to ensure that is remains easy to share and distribute. 

As an example of how ROS works, imagine you’re building an app. That app is useless without hardware and software - that is, your computer and operating system. Before ROS, engineers in different labs had to build that hardware and software specifically for every robotic project. As a result, the robotic app-making process was incredibly slow - and done in a vacuum. 

Now ROS, along with complementary robot prototypes, provide that supporting hardware and software. Robot researchers can shortcut straight to the app building. And since other researchers around the world are using the same tools, they can easily share their developments from one project to another. 

What Hath ROS Wrought?

The PR2, Willow Garage’s most sophisticated robot (built on ROS), has been prototyped to a variety of apps already. It can walk the dog, fold the laundry, bring you a beer and even plug itself in when it senses its battery is running low. At $400,000, it’s designed for researchers, not customers, and only 60 exist so far. 

“One of the ones I consider most impressive is the PR2 and Rosie making pancakes in Munich,” said Foote. “This is a demonstration of situational awareness, multiple robots coordinating, perception of deformable objects and they are doing it repeatedly with many visitors watching.” 

We're still a long way from affordable, personal robot assistants doing real work in homes and institutions. But the common ROS platform is helping roboticists create workable robot butlers - and many other useful robotics applications - far sooner than would have otherwise been possible.

Images courtesy of Willow Garage.

Back in the day, Nolan Bushnell invented Pong, founded Atari and created Chuck E. Cheese. But now he says that new tools and cultural norms are enabling creativity in ways never before possible - and offers hints on how to make your company more creative.

We spoke on the occasion of the release of Bushnell's new book: Finding the Next Steve Jobs, written with Gene Stone (more on the book's unusual publishing model later).

As many people know, Jobs worked for Bushnell at Atari in the mid 1970s before moving on to Apple. Bushnell uses Jobs as a symbol of creativity at tech companies: "Steve Jobs showed that an innovative company can create the highest market cap company in the world." Despite Jobs' passing in 2011, Bushnell says today's best companies are far ahead of where we used to be.

"In the early days of Atari," Bushnell recalls, "engineers came to work in a coat and tie and were working 9-5." Venture capitalists willing to give cash to help innovative startups were just a tiny niche, he says, "All the real financial clout was controlled by big banks in New York, but now we have vibrant angel investors, Kickstarter and crowdfunding."

And that's only part of the change. Even as we eliminate the gatekeepers, Bushnell contends, the costs of creativity itself are coming down as technological tools get cheaper and more powerful. Individuals and small groups can now shoot a movie or create a software company on their own. "In many cases, that's the most important thing," Bushnell says.

Unleashing Creativity

But there's still a lot more to be done. "The problem isn't creativity," Bushnell explains, "but creating the environment for creatives to work in… too much [good stuff] ends up on the cutting room floor."

"I believe we have literally thousands of Steve Jobses," but we don't empower them to create. "Look at the way we treat creative people! We just have to detoxify our companies and we'll have innovation flowing out of the ground like oil."

Hire Obnoxious People

One key considieration is to value true creative talent over mere niceness. This flies in the face of the "no assholes" rules now gaining popularity The problem, Bushnell says, is that "a lot of really brilliant people are obnoxious. They're used to always being the smartest person in the room and they may treat other people with disdain."

And Bushnell says that separating brilliant and obnoxious from just plain obnoxious is actually easier than you think.

The Importance Of Hobbies

Their contribution is one clue, of course, but Bushnell also suggests looking at what creative types do on their own time. "Enthusiasm is kind of the mitigator" for the obnoxious people, he says.

What you want is someone who truly has the companies interest at heart and just happens to be dismissive of people less capable of achieving those goals.

Bushnell points out that many people used to complain withering criticism from Steve Jobs. But Bushnell adds that it turns out that most of the time, Jobs was right. His victims just didn't like the way he critiziced them.

Today's Most Creative Company?

"Google. There are so many things going on at the Google campus right now that exemplify the right track. A lot of true craziness coming out of that company, but it's crazy like a fox. Autodrive cars? That's going to happen in a short amount of time… and think about what it took! That represents a large corporate commitment."

Book Publishing As Startup

Clearly, Bushnell tried to be creative with his book, as well. Rather than signing with a big publisher or going the self-publishing route espoused by folks like Guy Kawasaki, Bushnell chose to be the first example of a new startup publishing model that distributes the risk and the rewards.

Instead of doing all the work yourself, or having a traditional publisher pull together all the skills needed to put together a book, Net Minds works by trading equity in the project for the required work. Editors, designers, etc. get points, not just cash, and participate in any upside. According to co-founder Tim Sanders, Net Minds has 17 more books in the pipeline - not all of them attached to well-known names like Bushnell. According to Sanders, the team-publishing model lets freelance publishing professionals optimize their available time to earn passive income from successful projects.

Sanders claims to have 400 freelancers signed up, both new players and established veterans like Bushnell's co-author Gene Stone. While Sanders says the company is working on software to appraise a book's commercial potential, it's hard to see how it could pull in top-notch talent for anything but the sexiest, easiest-to-sell projects.

Disclosure: Many years ago, Nolan Bushnell wrote a column for me at Electronic Entertainment magazine.

Tech startups need to innovate in order to survive, much less grow and thrive. But when there's so much else to do, from fixing bugs to business development to sales and customer support, how do you fit innovation in?

Just as important, how do you figure out which innovations are actually worth pursuing?

We asked eight successful entrepreneurs from the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) how they incorporate innovation, formally or informally, into their startups, and what information they use to plot next steps.

1. Convergent vs. Divergent Innovation

I learned this concept a few years ago and it completely changed the way we innovate as a company. The problem with innovation is when idea generation becomes a free-for-all, it's difficult to reach consensus. There is a time and place for divergent thinking; by divergent I mean throwing ideas at a wall and seeing what sticks. Divergent thinking is creative, innovative, outside-the-box thinking. This approach generally doesn't work if you're trying to solve a specific problem. That requires a convergent approach. A convergent ideation session should start with a specific problem and goal that requires more of a linear approach. At my company, we start most of our meetings by saying, "This is going to be a Divergent or Convergent meeting." It has made a huge difference in efficiency for us. - Mitch Gordon, Go Overseas

2. Institutionalizing Innovation

We use a very structured approach to innovation. On Mondays, the entire company meets for a standup meeting, where we brainstorm ways to improve one of our KPIs. Nothing is off the table; it's pure brainstorming. This often results in silly or impossible ideas, but oftentimes, we find a nugget that we would never have thought of in the ordinary course of business. We separate the idea from the execution, meaning an engineer could think of a marketing initiative or vice versa. Based on discussion and feedback, we allocate resources and test the idea. - Adam Lieb, Duxter

3. The Growth Factor Question

Contrary to popular opinion, the purpose of innovation isn't about what we can do to make our company more money - it's answering the question we call "The Growth Factor." This question is: "What can I do today to provide my customers, clients or patients with a greater advantage and benefit?" Now, in order to answer this question, you need to know the ultimate result people are seeking. Once you've found that answer, you are innovating from a place of creating a product or service that's helping your customer receive an even better advantage for working with you. - Charles Gaudet, Predictable Profits

4. Validate the Market - And Its Size

The key is finding an idea that people are willing to spend money on. How do you find out if people are willing to spend money on the idea? Utilize Amazon to see what people are spending money on. Check out the completed listings on eBay. Search Twitter to see if anyone is talking about the problem you're solving. From there, you can figure out the size of the market. Facebook Ads are a great way to get numbers for market size (you don't have to run ads to get these numbers). Then, determine the value of a customer by looking at what they're expected to pay for your product. Multiply that value by the market size to get your total available market value. If that number is attractive, then validate the idea to see if your product stands up to your theory. - Brett Farmiloe, Markitors

5. Pitch It To The Team

When someone comes up with a new idea, we expect him to sell it to the team. If you can’t sell it to the team, you’re not going to be able to sell it to the world. We often have multiple iterations of pitching the idea – each time, the pitch (and the idea itself) improves based on the criticism and feedback we give the person. Some ideas die off, but others become stronger and evolve into big, new ideas that have a meaningful impact on our business. Trying to sell your idea to multiple people out loud will make you think of questions and opportunities you never would have considered on your own. It’s become a game in our organization to see if you can anticipate all the questions you’re going to get when pitching a new idea. - Chuck Cohn, Varsity Tutors

6. Prove Your Concept With Current Customers

When we’re looking to launch a new tool or product, we poll our customer base. We never spend time or resources developing a product that won’t sell. So many businesses get caught in the love affair of some idea someone thought their audience would love. Always prove the concept will sell before producing it. - Brian Moran, Get 10,000 Fans

7. Test Before You Test

We use a methodology I call “Test Before You Test,” and it allows us to test an idea or concept in a low-cost environment before we even try it in the real world. Rather than surveying customers or spending a fortune on theoretical market research, we run data-gathering tests on real customer behavior in a simulated environment. This lets us see how successful we’ll be before launching. - Benji Rabhan, MorrisCore

8. Identify & Track Key Metrics

New ideas can come from all corners of an organization, from the CEO down to the office assistant. If an idea seems to have merit, push it to decision makers who can whiteboard the goals and project its potential impact vs. the potential resources it would require. It's important to identify metrics that will indicate if an idea is valid and to measure results against these metrics over time to see if it has been successful. Yodle’s National team began as an idea in a customer conversation. By testing the idea and finding merit in it, we launched a full-scale business unit focused on local online marketing for franchise companies, dealers and manufacturers, and national brands. Today, this business unit represents approximately a third of our business. - John Berkowitz, Yodle

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world's most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

Networking giant Cisco predicted Wednesday that as we move into a "fundamentally mobile and video" world, the "Internet of Everything" — which combines the so-called Internet of Things with the Internet used by people and their mobile devices — will create $14.4 trillion in value and boost overall corporate profits by 21%. All by 2022.

Those are some pretty big numbers, shared by Cisco executives at a press event in San Jose on Wednesday. But while the vision makes sense, quantifying the changes to be wrought by growth of the Internet of Everything seems, well, fairly abitrary. To say the least.

What Goes Into $14.4 Trillion?

Rob Lloyd, Cisco President, Sales and Development, broke down the $14.4 trillion figure this way:

• $2.5 trillion in better asset utilization
• $2.5 trillion in employee productivity
• $2.7 in supply chain logistics
• $3.7 trillion in better customer experience.
• $3 trillion in enabling new innovations.

Perhaps we can start by seeing which industries benefit first and most dramatically. According to Lloyd, the top candidates include manufacturing, the public sector, energy and utlities, healthcare, finance/insurance, transportation and wholesale/distribution.

The Internet of Everything combines several trends, including the growth of connected devices, the increasing use of video, cloud computing, Big Data and the increasing importance of mobile apps compared to traditional computing applications.

Lloyd did lay out numbers to support the importance of the trends. But though these are also all giant numbers, connecting them to the $14.4 trillion figure still requires a leap of faith.

In terms of connected devices, he said, we've gone from 200 million in 2000 to 10 billion devices today, to a predicted 50 billion by 2020. On the mobile side, Lloyd said, 20 billion mobile apps were downloaded last year alone. By 2017, he added, two-thirds of mobile traffic will be video.

New Levels Of Complexity To Support New Uses

That complexity will make today's issues "look very, very minor," and pose historic challenges to manage, Lloyd said. That statement, at least, is easy to grasp. "We've been warming up for this for the last five years." The company already has a number of projects in the works demonstrating key elements of the trend, including installing smart meters and pole-top routers for BC Hydro in Canada, and a single auto plant with 50,000 IP devices.

Cisco's Sean Curtis demo'd live data from San Carlos, Calif., showing a heat map for mobile connections using "dwell time" metrics to track how efficiently pedestrian traffic was moving through the suburb's commuter train station. Curtis said similar information mashups have been applied to San Carlos' farmers market, offering insights into how many shoppers showed up, how long they stayed and which stalls they visited — information that would be of great use to both retailers and city planners.

The next step, Curtis said, is to link that kind of data with store data as well as parking and traffic information to help shoppers optimize their experience. The idea is that eventually shoppers could see the best route to the least crowded store with the best prices on the items they were looking for.

As apps like that come online, the Internet of Everything should indeed spur growth. Maybe even trillions of dollars worth of growth. Exactly how much and when, though, seems a Big Data question of the highest order. 

Rising Expectations, Bigger Security Issues

The rise of the Internet of Everything is already changing corporate expectations, Lloyd said, not to mention who pays for technology advances. "The Internet of Everything will be driven by business funding, not just IT funding," Lloyd said.

What about security for all this connected information? Padmasree Warrior, Cisco's chief technology and strategy officer, said "the data will be collected whether we want it to be or not. How will it be used? That is the security question."

Photos by Fredric Paul

Apple is reportedly developing a smart watch made from curved glass. Does it really have a choice? With iPhone sales stalling, the Cupertino innovator is in desperate need of another hit product, and not just any product: Apple needs something that consumers will refresh every 12 to 18 months. My editor Dan Lyons has his own thoughts on why these Apple watch rumors are making the rounds. But what if we take them at, pardon the pun, face value?

At Apple's size, the company must be very choosy about its products. While Apple does at times dabble in $100 million "hobbies" like Apple TV, its bread-and-butter depends upon multi-billion dollar breakout successes like the Mac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Apple simply isn't the kind of company that is going to release a horde of SKUs, each designed to reel in a hundred million dollars here and a hundred million dollars there.

(See also Who's Manipulating Apple Stock With This iWatch Story?)

The company continues to thrive, but its stock has taken a beating recently as investors fear that Android is knocking the iPhone off its lofty perch, and will almost certainly do the same in the tablet market. (Some investors are more sanguine on its chances.) Over time, it's simply not possible for Apple's high-margin, premium product strategy to own the mass market. So as it fades into highly profitable niche-status in smartphones, just as it has in personal computers, Apple needs a new hit to drive it forward.

Apple Needs A Particular Kind Of Hit

But not just any kind of hit. While The Wall Street Journal and others have reported that Apple has a TV in the works, a TV doesn't fit Apple's recipe for success. All of Apple's big hits have a few things in common:

1. They're focused on consumers.
2. They're priced at a premium but within the budgets of the middle class (in Western Europe and North America)
3. They're cheap enough that consumers "refresh" to the latest version every 12 to 18 months

A TV, however, and particularly a premium TV like Apple would be inclined to make, is not going to fit in the budget of many consumers, and certainly not in less affluent markets. But even if it were, people don't buy new TV sets every year. Apple could still build a multi-billion dollar business with a multi-year refresh rate, but this would significantly change Apple's standard operating procedure.

Much more likely would be significant improvements to Apple TV, taking control of video content from the cable and satellite operators. One Apple source tells me that Apple is waiting on DirecTV's exclusive contract with the NFL to end in 2014. Regardless, an Apple gateway to bounteous video content fits perfectly with Apple's iTunes business model, as well as the three factors above.

An Apple Watch Could Be A Perfect Fit

But then, so does an Apple smart watch. In fact, an Apple smart watch arguably better fills Apple's product portfolio, as it serves as a complement to Apple's iPhone and iPad products, helping to spur sales both ways. It also could further expand Apple's App Store business, with a range of fitness, diet, and other apps landing on one's wrist.

It would not, however, find many fans at traditional watchmakers, as Box CEO Aaron Levie humorously points out:

Apple rumored to be making a watch. And now, a moment of silence for Casio.

— Aaron Levie (@levie) February 10, 2013

The biggest reason for thinking an iWatch could be a big deal for Apple, however, is that it perfectly fits Apple's business needs and design ethos. Watches have seen little innovation for decades, yet continue to be used for both style and utility. (As for myself, I traded in my watch years ago for my iPhone, which provides the time and more.) At $250 to $500, Apple's smart watch could be hugely profitable but also inexpensive enough to justify consumers buying the latest and greatest each year.

None of this guarantees that Apple will release a smart watch. And it's possible that Apple will ignore my advice (again) and release a high-end TV. There aren't many product categories that fit Apple's need for consumer products with a 12- to 18-month refresh cycle. Wrist watches just happens to be one of the few.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

Samsung dramatically outsells Apple now, according to IDC's latest numbers, but market leadership isn't merely a matter of market share. While Samsung will almost certainly outsell Apple for years to come, the bigger question is whether the Korean giant is ready to take its mantle as mobile computing's innovation hub. For now, the answer seems to be 'Sort of.'

In the global mobile phone market, Samsung crushes Apple, claiming 23.4% of the market to Apple's 7.8%. But in smartphones, which arguably better demonstrate innovation, Samsung owns 30.3% of the market to Apple's 19.1%.

Despite Samsung's superior global market share, it still trails Apple in the U.S., and its flagship Galaxy S still falls short of Apple's iPhone 5 sales. Most of its numerical advantage in emerging markets comes from a "spray-and-pray" approach to product deployment, shipping a number of different form factors and hoping a few will stick. Fortunately for Samsung, its "phablets" like the Galaxy Note 2 seem to be finding an audience, while Apple offers nothing in this tweener market.

A Question Of Innovation

This may be a winning sales strategy, but it doesn't necessarily indicate market leadership through superior innovation. But then, is this any different from Apple? 

According to Booz & Company's 2012 Global Innovation 1000 report, which surveys executives at 700 companies to compile its list of the world's most innovative companies, Apple not only topped the list for the third-consecutive year, but it actually widened the gap between it and second-place finisher, Google, being named as a top innovator by 80% of respondents to Google's 43%.  Samsung, which claimed fourth place, garnered even fewer votes. In this and other measurements of perceived innovation, Apple reigns supreme.

And yet... Apple didn't exactly invent tablets, smartphones, touch screens, voice recognition technology or any of the innovations we generally credit to Steve Jobs and his disciples. Apple simply created demonstrably better products than its competitors. So much so that in 2010 then Samsung telecom chief J.K. Shin, comparing Samsung's user experience to Apple's, said "the difference is truly that of Heaven and Earth."

Let's just say that Shin didn't see Samsung making it to the Pearly Gates.

Is Samsung Getting Better?

Samsung has taken the smartphone and tablet concepts and blended them in its Galaxy Note 2, as mentioned above, which arguably is at least as "innovative" as Apple. But when we talk about innovation, we're really thinking about people or companies that so clearly take control of a market and its very essence that they command respect. Under this definition, Samsung still has a ways to go.

But there are plenty of signs that suggest it knows the way. Remember when Samsung, LG and other Asian brands were considered low-end imitations of innovative Western brands? No, really. People used to think that. But take a walk through any electronics or appliances store and you'll see that it's Samsung, more than any other, that now pushes the innovation envelope. Samsung used to be what you bought when you couldn't afford a "real" brand like Bosch or Sony or GE. Not anymore.

In fact, Samsung arguably has much in common with Apple. Much more so than with Sony, which actually did create a whole new market with its Walkman. Samsung, like Apple, is adept at taking others' concepts and cranking out highly polished products that are superior in form and finish.

The Road Ahead

Looking forward, I suspect we'll see Apple attempt to go back to its role of being a premium, highly profitable BMW-like brand that sets the tone for the industry without actually being used by most of the market. Samsung, like Honda, will be innovative in the sense of building mass-market, high-quality products that stand on their own merits, even if they sometimes take their cue from Apple.

Could Samsung challenge Apple at the high end for the soul of the industry's direction? Yes, it could. As VisionMobile's Developer Economics 2013 report highlights, a big part of Samsung's success, like Apple's, comes down to its "in-house ownership of the most expensive hardware components, ensuring both earliest availability and lowest bill of materials," not to mention the ability to innovate at every level of hardware design. But despite Samsung's ability to challenge Apple at the high-end, as it does now, I suspect that, as it has in every other market in which it competes, feeding the mass market will prove more appealing than dominating the premium-and-comparatively-tiny niche.

Samsung is an innovator. It just doesn't want to have innovation at the expense of market share.