Robotics news

Robotics

Laden with eggs, robots race up sacred Chinese mountain

Dozens of robots took on more than 3,000 steps up one of China's most famous peaks Monday, carrying eggs and watermelons in a race organizers billed as a test of real-world machine endurance, state media showed.

Robotics

Armored caterpillars offer robot designers lessons in crossing slippery glass

Animals have long been one of the primary sources of inspiration for robotics researchers. This is because they rely on sophisticated biological mechanisms and locomotion strategies that could be artificially reproduced in ...

Robotics

A new flexible foot pad enables this one-legged, hopping robot to go where few robots have gone before

A team of University of Toronto Engineering researchers has developed a flexible foot pad for the "Hopcopter"—a one-legged, hopping robot they developed—significantly enhancing its performance on sand, ice and other difficult ...

Robotics

Self-adjusting drone controls could make for smoother formation flying

A new method for controlling groups of drones, technically known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), could make formation flying smoother and reduce energy consumption and mechanical wear, according to research in the International ...

Robotics

Flexible robot arms learn to predict their next move

A robot arm that bends like an elephant's trunk can slip into tight spaces and handle fragile objects. Controlling it is harder because its smooth bending makes its next move hard to predict. Researchers have now developed ...

Robotics

Secret trigger words could make AI-powered robots dangerous

Large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI's ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude and Google Gemini are increasingly being used to help robots perform tasks, but what if LLMs could be exploited to turn helpful robots into harmful robots?

Robotics

Robot AI predicts future scenes to guide its next moves

A robot artificial intelligence (AI) system has been developed that can understand human instructions, predict what a scene will look like after an action and then carry out the task. Rather than simply translating instructions ...

Robotics

Can you trust a robot in charge?

From monitoring public spaces to responding to requests for help, security robots are beginning to take on roles once held by people. As they gain authority, researchers are asking what it might take for the public to trust ...

Robotics

PhoneBot gives old smartphones a new job on two legs

Smartphones combine cameras, motion sensors and powerful processors in devices that fit inside a pocket. These features could also make them useful components for robots, reducing the need to buy and connect separate sensors, ...

Robotics

How automation is shaping the future of American manufacturing

Labor shortages, supply-chain volatility and growing demand for customized products are forcing a fundamental rethink of how work gets done in U.S. manufacturing. To remain competitive, manufacturers must produce increasingly ...

Consumer & Gadgets

Can you feel sorry for a robot? Research indicates you can

A pitiful sound from tinny speakers, sad virtual eyes, trembling robot arms: It doesn't take much to feel sorry for a robot. This is the conclusion of a study by Marieke Wieringa, who will be defending her Ph.D. thesis at ...

Robotics

Robots learn to perceive objects using acoustic vibrations

Imagine sitting in a dark movie theater wondering just how much soda is left in your oversized cup. Rather than prying off the cap and looking, you pick up and shake the cup a bit to hear how much ice is inside rattling around, ...

Robotics

Three-armed robot conducts German orchestra

A three-armed robot trained to mimic a human orchestra conductor has made its debut in the German city of Dresden, directing music composed specially to complement the device's skills.