Just over a week since his gaffe stating that technologies such as ATMs were hurting the economy by taking jobs away from tellers and the resulting barrage of criticism from the right wing press, President Barack Obama seems to have done an about face and is now embracing these very same cutting-edge technologies - in particular those created at Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC). NREC's impressive roster of technological innovations range from crowd-sourced vehicles to complex modeling software aimed at driving the development of the next-generation of increasingly sophisticated robots. The President will address the U.S. tomorrow at approximately 11:00 a.m. from Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC).

With the number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits increasing more than expected last week and the State of Pennsylvania seeing the highest jump in claims, the focus of the speech will be the importance of manufacturing to global competitiveness and how collaboration between universities, government, and industry can help jumpstart job creation.

"Whatever your political stance, it is hard to disagree with the fact that collaborations between universities, government, and industry have helped this nation at critical times in our history," Mark Ingebretsen, editor of Robotics Trends noted. "Think of this nation's mastery of manufacturing, which was a deciding factor in winning WWII, and our expertise in aerospace, which helped win the Cold War. The technological innovations housed in U.S. National Labs and universities should now be harvested via collaborative efforts to assure America's economic leadership."

Attendance is by invitation only, but the speech will be available via live stream on the CMU website. Invited guests include top players in robotics, including industry entrepreneurs, academics, heads of robotics trade organizations, and end-users of robotics.