Robotics news

Robotics

Robots pour cocktails and run marathons, but still can't multitask

They can mix cocktails, run marathons and fold laundry. But humanoid robots are still a long way from doing lots of different jobs on command, whatever the marketing says.

Robotics

Upsampling method sharpens AI vision with up to 16 times less GPU memory

From facial recognition on smartphones to humanoid robots, computer vision technology, which serves as the eyes of artificial intelligence (AI), is widely used in daily life. A joint research team from KAIST and international ...

Robotics

Elephant trunk skin reveals design that could reshape soft robotics

An elephant's trunk is both strong and capable of extremely fine motor movements. With this muscular, boneless structure, an elephant can carry heavy logs—or deftly peel a banana. Lucia Beccai and colleagues studied the skin ...

Robotics

Simple color cue helps people master prosthetic devices faster

Controlling a robotic arm, a prosthetic hand or a rehabilitation device is harder than it looks. Picking up an egg, for example, requires just the right amount of force: too little and it falls, too much and it breaks.

Robotics

Four-legged detection robots for safe firefighting operations

A detection robot developed under the leadership of TU Graz can "sniff out" hazardous substances and support high-risk fire service operations as a remote-controlled advance guard. A recent study shows how fire services can ...

Robotics

Sonar–camera system sees through murky waters

For remotely operated underwater vehicles, cloudy and turbulent waters are often a no-go. When vehicles settle on the seafloor or dig through a sand bed, they can kick up clouds of sediment that make it tough for onboard ...

Robotics

Drone rescue highlights US Navy's autonomous push

The use of a sea drone to rescue two U.S. Army aviators apparently shot down by Iran underscores the growing importance of such vessels in Washington's naval operations, analysts said Wednesday.

Consumer & Gadgets

Can Pepper the robot be a good playmate?

What's it like to play a physical game with or against a robot that both looks and behaves like a person? That's what NTNU researchers wanted to find out when they conducted a controlled laboratory experiment with Pepper, ...

Robotics

Artificial tendons give muscle-powered robots a boost

Our muscles are nature's actuators. The sinewy tissue is what generates the forces that make our bodies move. In recent years, engineers have used real muscle tissue to actuate "biohybrid robots" made from both living tissue ...

Robotics

Robots take center stage at Singapore 'Olympiad'

The World Robot Olympiad opened in Singapore on Wednesday with hundreds of international students, some as young as eight, set to compete using automatons to solve real-world problems.

Robotics

Tactile sensors enable robots to carry unsecured loads

If you've ever moved into a new home, you know the challenge of packing a moving truck—it's like solving a giant, three-dimensional puzzle. Everything needs to fit just right, and nothing can be left loose or unbalanced, ...

Robotics

Innovative underwater exoskeleton boosts diving efficiency

A research team led by Professor Wang Qining from the School of Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics, Peking University, has developed the world's first portable underwater exoskeleton system that assists divers' knee movement, ...