Robotics news

Robotics

AI robots fill in for weed killers and farm hands

Oblivious to the punishing midday heat, a wheeled robot powered by the sun and infused with artificial intelligence carefully combs a cotton field in California, plucking out weeds.

Robotics

Robotic probe quickly measures semiconductor properties to accelerate solar panel development

Scientists are striving to discover new semiconductor materials that could boost the efficiency of solar cells and other electronics. But the pace of innovation is bottlenecked by the speed at which researchers can manually ...

Robotics

Reflected Wi-Fi signals could enable robots to find and manipulate hidden objects

A new imaging technique developed by MIT researchers could enable quality-control robots in a warehouse to peer through a cardboard shipping box and see that the handle of a mug buried under packing peanuts is broken.

Consumer & Gadgets

Cities are unprepared for social and economic impact of robots, according to study

From delivering food in restaurants to cleaning airports, robots are becoming increasingly common in society—but are our policies ready to keep up?

Robotics

Using generative AI to help robots jump higher and land safely

Diffusion models like OpenAI's DALL-E are becoming increasingly useful in helping brainstorm new designs. Humans can prompt these systems to generate an image, create a video, or refine a blueprint, and come back with ideas ...

Robotics

The physics of popping: Building better jumping robots

Inspired by a simple children's toy, a jumping popper toy, researchers have unlocked a key to designing more agile and predictable soft robots. Soft robots, made from flexible materials, hold immense promise for delicate ...

Robotics

Customizable soft robot modules allow for new haptic interactions

EPFL researchers have developed a customizable soft robotic system that uses compressed air to produce shape changes, vibrations, and other haptic, or tactile, feedback in a variety of configurations. The device holds significant ...

Robotics

Tiny robots could help fix leaky water pipes

Micro-robots that can inspect water pipes, diagnose cracks and fix them autonomously—reducing leaks and avoiding expensive excavation work—have been developed by a team of engineers led by the University of Sheffield.