Robotics news

Robotics

Sheepdogs reveal a better way to guide robot swarms

Sheepdogs, bred to control large groups of sheep in open fields, have demonstrated their skills in competitions dating back to the 1870s. In these contests, a handler directs a trained dog with whistle signals to guide a ...

Robotics

Swapping batteries for hydrogen gives drones a whole new range

Researchers have built a drone that runs on hydrogen, to replace battery-powered drones that are too heavy and have too short a range. This technology could help fix power outages faster and replace dangerous helicopter missions ...

Robotics

4D printing technology uses waste sulfur to enable self-actuating soft robots

A joint research team led by Dr. Dong-Gyun Kim of the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Professor Jeong Jae Wie of Hanyang University, and Professor Yong Seok Kim of Sejong University report the world's ...

Robotics

New chip lets robots see in 4D by tracking distance and speed simultaneously

Current vision systems for robots and drones rely on 3D sensors that, although powerful, do not always keep up with the fast-paced, unpredictable movement of the real world. These systems often struggle to measure speed instantly ...

Robotics

Hybrid AI planner turns images into robot action plans

MIT researchers have developed a generative artificial intelligence-driven approach for planning long-term visual tasks, like robot navigation, that is about twice as effective as some existing techniques. Their method uses ...

Robotics

Robot hands so sensitive they can grab a potato chip

A new type of robotic hand developed at The University of Texas at Austin demonstrates such sensitive touch that it can grasp objects as fragile as a potato chip or a raspberry without crushing them. The technology, called ...

Robotics

Poultry processing robotics advances with ChicGrasp

What started out as a response to labor shortages in poultry processing plants during the COVID-19 pandemic has turned into a robotics system that can learn by imitating human movements to handle chickens. Using an advanced ...

Robotics

One image is all robots need to find their way

While the capabilities of robots have improved significantly over the past decades, they are not always able to reliably and safely move in unknown, dynamic and complex environments. To move in their surroundings, robots ...

Robotics

Dancing isn't enough: Industry pushes for practical robots

Humanoid robots danced, somersaulted, dealt blackjack and played ping-pong at the Consumer Electronics Show this week, but some in the industry are impatient for them to become more useful, not just a promise of things to ...

Robotics

Grasshopper wings inspire gliding robot design

A collaboration between Princeton University engineers and entomologists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign began with the researchers chasing grasshoppers in a hot parking lot. Their eventual focus on the hindwings ...

Robotics

Hyundai and Boston Dynamics unveil humanoid robot Atlas at CES

Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics publicly demonstrated its humanoid robot Atlas for the first time Monday at the CES tech showcase, ratcheting up a competition with Tesla and other rivals to build robots that look like people ...

Robotics

The origami wheel that could explore lunar caves

Beneath the moon's cratered surface lie networks of lava tubes and deep pits, natural caves that could shelter future lunar bases from cosmic radiation and wild temperature swings. These underground structures represent some ...

Business

UPS buys hundreds of robots to unload trucks in automation push

United Parcel Service Inc. will invest $120 million in 400 robots used to unload trucks, according to people familiar with the matter, revealing new details on the logistics giant's $9 billion automation plan that aims to ...