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The Bot Brief
POSTED 11/04/2024
"There is no force on earth more powerful than an idea whose time has come."
- Victor Hugo
Bots in the News:
Despite a significant selloff on the NASDAQ and a 1.36% pullback by the S & P 500, the Bot Index managed to push forward 58 basis points. Helping the bot’s outperformance came from an unlikely source – the Asian components. For the past weeks, the Japanese companies have been a drag on the performance of the robotic index. However, each of the five Japanese holdings produced positive returns this week.
Despite double digit positive returns by the lower priced 3D Systems and iRobot, significant positives were generated by Amazon (+5.38%) following the strong consumer confidence report and Cognex (+4.04%) as its third quarter announcement surprised Wall Street with a 19% year over year gain in revenue, and net income up 56%.
Tesla, RTX and NVIDIA Corp. led the losers with declines of 7.51%, 5.12% and 4.34% respectively.
Bots in Space and Underseas:
In quite a few past Bot Briefs we have discussed the obvious need for robotic application as we accelerate our exploration of space and underseas. In the latest issue of The Economist there were articles addressing the subjects. One, entitled ‘Waterworld’ which focused on NASA’s recent launch of the Europa Clipper headed for Jupiter’s frozen moon Europa. Scientists are hoping to discover a subsea ocean and possibly habitable elements within. Another feature was entitled ‘Team of Rivals’ focused on how the space race with the US and China is shaping up and the specific approaches and goals of each nation. And our focus this week is on The Economist’s possibly breakthrough research titled ‘Hunting Tube worms’.
The mining and seeking new underwater explorations is a topic the Bot Brief has long espoused as a ‘winning ticket’ for automation and robots. As we have noted, the exploration of more than 3/5 of our globe that is underwater, presents an enormous opportunity to help understand what this hostile world provides. In ‘Hunting Tubeworms’ the authors discussed how one of the harshest environments on the planet has created an environment where tubeworms are thriving. Deep within the Pacific Ocean there are volcanically active regions where super heated water pours out of riffs in the earth's deep crust.
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In a recent expedition conducted by the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, the team set sent out a remotely operated vehicle down 2500 meters off the coast of South America. There they found colonies of tubeworms thriving which are unique to any other animal in that they have no ability to consume other organisms for food. They receive nourishment from bacteria that live symbiotically in a relationship. Hence, the tubeworms have no mouth nor stomach. Surely, this is nature's answer to the physics quest for a perpetual motion machine.
In their trials, researchers broke into the crust beneath one of the thermal vents whereby finding it was teaming with a variety of complex organisms. Instead of finding the expected bacteria and viruses, they found carnivorous polychaete worms and heat tolerant limpids. Since new species may provide solutions of how organisms evolve that may influence our thoughts on the possibilities of life outside our planet. The advent of new species which may carry complex chemicals, any number of medical and industrial applications could benefit mankind in ways currently unknown.
Member: American Economic Association, Society of Professional Journalists, United States Press Association. Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts, Robotic Industries Association (now A3 Automation), Member IEEE.
The Bot Brief is a weekly newsletter designed for economists, investment specialists, journalists, and academicians. It receives no remuneration from any companies that may from time to time be featured in the brief and its commentaries, analysis, opinions, and research represent the subjective view of Balcones Investment Research, LLC. Due to the complex and rapidly changing nature of the subject matter, the company makes no assurances as to the absolute accuracy of the material presented.