Robotics

For the millions of Americans who live with a mobility issue, making a pizza can be a lot more challenging than just choosing between pepperoni or sausage. Now Virginia Tech researchers have developed a robotic arm with novel assistive grippers that can help those with disabilities accomplish complex everyday tasks,... Read more

New research published in npj Robotics addresses the challenge of flying small quadrotors in air ducts as small as 35 cm (14 inches). This research, led by a team of researchers from Inria, CNRS, Université de Lorraine, and Aix-Marseille Université, opens a new way of accessing and inspecting highly-confined environments.... Read more

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) scientists have built the world's first automated cyborg insect "factory line." This new prototype robotic system automates the attachment of miniature electronic backpacks on the backs of Madagascar hissing cockroaches, turning them into insect-hybrid robots.... Read more

Future robots could soon have a lot more muscle power. Northwestern University engineers have developed a soft artificial muscle, paving the way for untethered animal- and human-scale robots. The new muscles, or actuators, provide the performance and mechanical properties required for building robotic musculoskeletal systems.... Read more

The robot invasion is coming to Los Angeles neighborhoods.... Read more

Serving craft beer, playing mahjong, stacking shelves and boxing, the dozens of humanoid robots at Shanghai's World AI Conference (WAIC) this weekend were embodiments of China's growing AI prowess and ambition.... Read more

In an office at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), a soft robotic hand carefully curls its fingers to grasp a small object. The intriguing part isn't the mechanical design or embedded sensors—in fact, the hand contains none. Instead, the entire system relies on a single camera that... Read more

When a multimillion-dollar extraterrestrial vehicle gets stuck in soft sand or gravel—as did the Mars rover Spirit in 2009—Earth-based engineers take over like a virtual tow truck, issuing a series of commands that move its wheels or reverse its course in a delicate, time-consuming effort to free it and continue... Read more

For robots to be successfully introduced in a wider range of real-world settings, they should be able to safely and reliably navigate rapidly changing environments. While roboticists and computer scientists have introduced a wide range of computational techniques for robot navigation over the past decades, many of them were found... Read more

A new review paper on the latest trends and advancements in intuitive Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) using bio-potential and bio-impedance has been published in the journal Nature Reviews Electrical Engineering. The joint research team was led by Professor Jung Kim of KAIST Department of Mechanical Engineering and Professor Min-kyu Je of... Read more

A new slip-prevention method has been shown to improve how robots grip and handle fragile, slippery or asymmetric objects, according to a University of Surrey–led study published in Nature Machine Intelligence. The innovation could pave the way for safer, more reliable automation across industries ranging from manufacturing to health care.... Read more

Whether strawberries, asparagus or apples: when it comes to harvesting, skilled workers are often in short supply. Many researchers are therefore working on harvesting robots that could provide welcome support to agricultural businesses in the future.... Read more

Nature has long served as inspiration for cutting-edge engineering—especially in the realm of underwater propulsion.... Read more

A research team from the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a new method to enhance the efficiency of dynamics modeling for industrial robots, tackling long-standing bottlenecks in real-time torque computation.... Read more

While the advent of robotic systems that can complete household chores has been widely anticipated, those commercially released so far are primarily robot vacuums that autonomously clean the floor. In contrast, robots that can reliably clean surfaces, tidy up, cook or perform other tasks in home environments are either too... Read more