Robotics news

Robotics

Meet Plantolin, the tree-planting robot pangolin built by student

A robot pangolin designed to plant trees is the winner of the 2023 Natural Robotics Contest, which rewards robot designs inspired by nature. As the winning entry, the pangolin—dubbed "Plantolin"—has been brought to life ...

Robotics

Engineers teach a quadruped robot to climb standard ladders

A team of robotics engineers at ETH Zurich, Robotics Systems Lab, has modified an ANYbotics ANYMal quadruped robot to allow it to easily and effectively climb a standard ladder. The group has written a paper describing their ...

Robotics

Using Turing patterns to enhance soft pneumatic technology

According to a recent study in Scientific Reports, Turing patterns can be used to develop a new method for designing and producing fabric-based soft pneumatic actuators (FSPAs).

Robotics

LiDAR-based system allows unmanned aerial vehicle team to rapidly reconstruct environments

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, have proved to be highly effective systems for monitoring and exploring environments. These autonomous flying robots could also be used to create detailed maps and ...

Robotics

Q&A: Teaching robots to touch and interact like humans

Robots are widely used in the automotive industry and have started entering new application domains such as logistics in the last few years. However, current robots still face many limitations. They typically perform a single ...

Robotics

Team develops versatile knee exoskeletons for safer lifting

A set of knee exoskeletons, built with commercially available knee braces and drone motors at the University of Michigan, has been shown to help counteract fatigue in lifting and carrying tasks. They helped users maintain ...

Robotics

Teaching robots to use color in moving objects

Research at Michigan State University is focused on teaching robots to use colors to perceive, visualize, and interpret interactions when manipulating objects. A force-interpreting optical system is being developed so robots ...

Robotics

Versatile microscale robots can fold into 3D shapes and crawl

Cornell University researchers have created microscale robots less than 1 millimeter in size that are printed as a 2D hexagonal "metasheet," but with a jolt of electricity, morph into preprogrammed 3D shapes and crawl.

Robotics

Bipedal robots ace dynamic walking on stepping stones

If bipedal robots are expected to successfully carry out intended tasks of search and rescue and disaster relief, then scientists and engineers will have to watch the robots' steps. It is built into the situation that the ...

Robotics

Flying DRAGON robot can slip through tight spaces

A team of researchers at JSK Lab at the University of Tokyo has created a new type of drone called DRAGON, which is shaped like a snake. The team has written a paper describing their robot and recently presented it at the ...

Robotics

Personalized 'deep learning' equips robots for autism therapy

Children with autism spectrum conditions often have trouble recognizing the emotional states of people around them—distinguishing a happy face from a fearful face, for instance. To remedy this, some therapists use a kid-friendly ...

Robotics

Closing the loop for robotic grasping

Roboticists at QUT have developed a faster and more accurate way for robots to grasp objects, including in cluttered and changing environments, which has the potential to improve their usefulness in both industrial and domestic ...

Robotics

Nozzle-rich firefighter is a robot, resembles dragon

Japan's engineers and technologists continue working to solve problems in handling various types of disasters—earthquakes, tsunamis, any unforeseen calamity causing extreme damage to property and human lives. This is ...

Robotics

Aerial robot that can morph in flight

French researchers have drawn inspiration from birds to design an aerial robot capable of altering its profile during flight. To reduce its wingspan and navigate through tight spaces, it can reorient its arms, which are equipped ...

Robotics

Iimproved integration of living muscles into robots

The new field of biohybrid robotics involves the use of living tissue within robots, rather than just metal and plastic. Muscle is one potential key component of such robots, providing the driving force for movement and function. ...

Robotics

How to get robots to learn the way humans do

Matthew Hutson, a freelance writer, has published a Feature article in the journal Science outlining progress in getting computers to learn and to think more like human beings. In his article, he suggests that a lot of problems ...

Robotics

Why we programmed a robot to act like a sheepdog

Have you watched a sheepdog gather sheep on a hillside? The sheep move in waves and pulse back and forth, the dog weaving behind and around them. Squint a bit and it's like watching iron filings on a piece of paper being ...

Robotics

When the top stunt-worthy acrobat is a robot

Human performers have developed impressive acrobatic techniques that never fail to draw gasps, blinks and open-mouthed children. They watch a body swing through the air and in the process even twist and flip. Can robots ...