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 ...

Robotics

Robots, like animals, can adapt after injuries

Fish fins and insect wings are amazing pieces of natural engineering capable of efficiently moving their owners through water or air. People creating machines to swim or fly have long looked to animals as their models, designing ...

Business

Korean firm buys control of Philly's Ghost Robotics in $240M deal

LIG Nex1, a South Korean maker of electronic warfare and communications equipment, says it has paid $240 million for a 60% controlling stake in Ghost Robotics, a Philadelphia-based developer of the Vision 60 dog-like four-legged ...

Software

New low-cost technology to prevent drone collision

Using only on-board sensors and cameras, researcher Julián Estévez, from the Computational Intelligence Group (GIC) of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) has developed low-cost, autonomous, navigation technology ...

Robotics

Shape-shifting 'transformer bots' inspired by origami

Inspired by the paper-folding art of origami, North Carolina State University engineers have discovered a way to make a single plastic cubed structure transform into more than 1,000 configurations using only three active ...

Robotics

A robot that survives through self-amputation

Self-amputation may seem like a drastic move, but it's a survival tactic that's proved particularly handy for numerous creatures. Yale roboticists have drawn inspiration from lizards, crabs, and other animals who shed parts ...

Robotics

Trajectory planning could boost safety in medical robotics

Using a newly-devised complex algorithm, the researchers have created a perfectly choreographed "dance" using two robotic arms, continuously retaining a clear space between them—where a patient's body would fit—as well as ...

Robotics

Sea slug feeding structure model informs soft robot design

Carnegie Mellon University researchers at the Biohybrid and Organic Robotics Group (B.O.R.G.) led by Victoria Webster-Wood, in collaboration with researchers at Case Western Reserve University, are studying the sea slug feeding ...