Autonomous robotic locomotion investigates how robots perceive, plan, and execute movement in complex, often unstructured environments with minimal human intervention. Work in this area spans legged, wheeled, aerial, amphibious, and soft robots, emphasizing bio-inspired control strategies, neuromechanics, and learning-based methods for gait adaptation, trajectory modulation, and slip prevention. Research also addresses navigation and mapping, kinematic and impedance control, and human–robot collaboration, enabling robots to perform tasks such as construction, waste collection, manipulation, and agile behaviors like parkour, badminton, and swarm-based assembly.
Engineering
When it comes to snow groomers, excavators or crane vehicles, how can their operation be optimized even in difficult conditions and made safer for people in and around the vehicle? An international research team, including ...
May 28, 2026
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Energy & Green Tech
A research team at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has deployed AI agents with the potential to accelerate the recovery of critical minerals from real-world industrial waste in days instead ...
May 28, 2026
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Robotics
Symmetry is everywhere in nature, from the bilateral form of vertebrates to the radial geometry of starfish. For decades, roboticists have tried to copy these shapes and their abilities with bodies that look like humans, ...
May 27, 2026
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Engineering
Researchers have drawn inspiration from armadillos to create a protective structure that responds to external threats by curling into a protective ball to protect electronic devices or other payloads. The structure is designed ...
May 27, 2026
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Robotics
There's a delicate art to teaching robots, even when you're preparing them for predictable environments like factories, where they'll repeat the same tasks a little differently depending on the obstacles they face. Whether ...
May 25, 2026
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Robotics
Over the past few decades, roboticists worldwide have introduced increasingly advanced robots that can understand human instructions, move in their surroundings and reliably complete basic manual tasks. While they perform ...
Robotics
Cornell engineers have developed a robotic collective that behaves less like a machine and more like a material that flows, reshapes, and adapts to its environment without centralized control. The system, called the Cross-Link ...
May 21, 2026
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Robotics
Even advanced technology can struggle when the real world becomes unpredictable. In April 2026, a Waymo robotaxi in San Antonio, Texas, drove into a flooded lane during severe weather, prompting the company to recall about ...
May 20, 2026
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Robotics
In the aftermath of a devastating earthquake, unpiloted aerial vehicles (UAVs) could fly through a collapsed building to map the scene, giving rescuers information they need to quickly reach survivors. But this remains an ...
May 19, 2026
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Robotics
As robots enter hospitals and care facilities, questions remain about whether they actually make care easier for the people who give and receive it. A new Cornell Tech-led study approaches that challenge by inviting health ...
May 14, 2026
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