Robotics news

Robotics

Robot learns to lip sync by watching YouTube

Almost half of our attention during face-to-face conversation focuses on lip motion. Yet, robots still struggle to move their lips correctly. Even the most advanced humanoids make little more than muppet mouth gestures—if ...

Robotics

Underwater robots inspired by nature are making progress, but hurdles remain

Underwater robots face many challenges before they can truly master the deep, such as stability in choppy currents. A new paper published in the journal npj Robotics provides a comprehensive update of where the technology ...

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

Humanoid robots go for knockout in high-tech Vegas fight night

Two robots the size of schoolchildren stepped into the ring at BattleBots Arena.

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 ...

Robotics

Simplified wrist mechanism gives robots a hand

Give robots a specific job—say, placing a can on a conveyor belt in a factory—and they can be extremely efficient. But in less-structured environments with varied tasks, even seemingly simple things like unscrewing a ...

Robotics

Climate-optimized construction with robots

A straight wall is not necessarily a climate-optimized wall. Depending on the wall's exposure to sun and shade, there is an ideal angle for individual bricks. The calculations come from a digital design configurator—and ...

Robotics

Muscle-inspired sheet-like robot navigates the tightest spaces

A POSTECH research team has developed a thin, flexible robotic actuator inspired by human muscle proteins. As thin as paper, yet capable of generating strong forces, this robot can maneuver through tight spaces and manipulate ...

Robotics

Designing drones that can fly in air ducts

New research published in npj Robotics addresses the challenge of flying small quadrotors in air ducts as small as 35 cm (14 inches). This research, led by a team of researchers from Inria, CNRS, Université de Lorraine, ...

Robotics

Humanoid robots embodiment of China's AI ambitions

Serving craft beer, playing mahjong, stacking shelves and boxing, the dozens of humanoid robots at Shanghai's World AI Conference (WAIC) this weekend were embodiments of China's growing AI prowess and ambition.