Welcome to Our Halloween Program 2025

Yes, it’s Halloween, when people dress up like someone or something else, and when the dead come back to visit the living. Which, in a way is kind of apropos of today’s podcast.

ABB Sells to SoftBank

The recent sale of ABB’s robotics division to Japan’s SoftBank. Was that a normal sale of one company to another, or was it something else? Was it part of a disguise? Was it part of an elaborate plan for Japan’s moribund AI and smart robotics industry to return to the world of the living? Was the sale a disguise to get Japan back into competition with its neighbors China and Korea. 

In an age of conspiracy theories, maybe this is one of them. Strange that it all happened in October, and much of it very close to Halloween.

The Real Internet Origin Story 1966

As a program bonus, we look back at the Internet before the Internet as we know it, 1966. When two engineers pioneering the Internet resolved to democratize the technology for the rest of us. 

LINKS FOR FURTHER READING

ABB Bails on Robotics

SoftBank, Robotics/AI & Takaichi Converge

How the Internet Came to Be
The Untold Story of Everything Digital

Heartfelt Thanks for Making This Is Robotics the #1 Global Robotics News Podcast