https://techxplore.com/rss-feed/robotics-news/ en-us The latest news on robotics, robots, robotics sciences and technology science. Soft robotics—machines made of flexible, muscle-like materials—can bend and stretch in fluid ways that put the rigid robots of old sci-fi movies to shame. But the flexibility that lets them pick ripe tomatoes or navigate a search-and-rescue site comes at a cost: Soft robotics are notoriously difficult to control. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-soft-robotics-ai-cousin-reservoir.html Robotics Fri, 22 May 2026 10:20:04 EDT news698663701 Over the past few decades, roboticists worldwide have introduced increasingly advanced robots that can understand human instructions, move in their surroundings and reliably complete basic manual tasks. While they perform well in some scenarios, many of these robots still struggle to translate the instructions of users into precise and executable actions that would allow them to successfully complete desired tasks. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-framework-robots-complex-language-precise.html Robotics Fri, 22 May 2026 09:40:05 EDT news698591508 Cornell engineers have developed a robotic collective that behaves less like a machine and more like a material that flows, reshapes, and adapts to its environment without centralized control. The system, called the Cross-Link Collective, consists of dozens of small robots that have limited mobility individually, but together exhibit coordinated and sustained motion. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-robotic-centralized.html Robotics Thu, 21 May 2026 13:40:06 EDT news698587802 Imagine navigating a city street during rush hour—cars and bikes zipping by, pedestrians hustling down a crowded sidewalk, your eyes adjusting to the shop windows' glare in one moment and a dark underpass the next. Our brain, of course, does all this without us being aware of the complex processes going on in that moment. In real time, our eyes and brain create a three-dimensional, accurate representation of a dynamic scene, constantly calculating distances between objects with myriad shapes, sizes, and surfaces. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-virtual-screen-machines-3d.html Robotics Wed, 20 May 2026 05:00:04 EDT news698398261 In the aftermath of a devastating earthquake, unpiloted aerial vehicles (UAVs) could fly through a collapsed building to map the scene, giving rescuers information they need to quickly reach survivors. But this remains an extremely challenging problem for an autonomous robot, which would need to swiftly adjust its trajectory to avoid sudden obstacles while staying on course. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-source-framework-drones-dodge-obstacles.html Robotics Tue, 19 May 2026 15:20:04 EDT news698422499 As robots enter hospitals and care facilities, questions remain about whether they actually make care easier for the people who give and receive it. A new Cornell Tech-led study approaches that challenge by inviting health care workers, long-term care residents, and community members to help design the robots themselves. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-robots-reveal-health-staff-patients.html Robotics Thu, 14 May 2026 11:36:00 EDT news697977317 It sounds like science fiction, but also strangely familiar: drones buzzing around, inspecting tomatoes in greenhouses, delivering your package or inspecting an industrial site. With all the talk about drone-swarms, development in drones seems to move fast. But their navigation still requires a lot of computing power and memory, making them heavy, expensive and energy-hungry. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-honeybees-drones.html Robotics Wed, 13 May 2026 11:00:24 EDT news697883521 Animals move with a level of precision and adaptability that robots struggle to match. In Carnegie Mellon University's Department of Mechanical Engineering, researchers are developing a new AI-driven approach to uncover how brains and bodies work together. By turning complex biological systems into models that can be tested and refined, the team seeks to understand and replicate animal performance in robotic systems. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-gap-animal-movement-robotic.html Robotics Tue, 12 May 2026 11:40:06 EDT news697804501 Humanoid robots, robotic systems with a body structure that resembles that of humans, could soon assist humans with various tasks in household environments, manufacturing sites, hospitals and other settings. While some humanoid robots already perform well on basic manual tasks, they often struggle with more complex tasks or with missions that require them to reliably manipulate objects while moving in the space around them. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-humanoid-robots-tricky-tasks-higher.html Robotics Tue, 12 May 2026 08:00:02 EDT news697714081 The way bugs and birds flap their wings may look effortless, but the dynamics that keep them aloft are dizzyingly complex and difficult to quantify. Cornell researchers have created a computational model that shows the effect of insects' morphology on stabilizing their flight. The findings could lead to a new way to understand the evolution of animal flight while also providing a blueprint for designing flapping-wing robots. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-insect-flight-stable-wing-robots.html Robotics Mon, 04 May 2026 13:20:09 EDT news697118461 Production of drones and autonomous robots is expected to explode by the late 2030s—by up to 10× for commercial drones and 100× for humanoid and quadruped robots. Publishing in Chem Circularity, researchers estimate how this boost in production could impact US and global supply chains of 18 raw materials used in robots and drones. They predict that incremental demand for rare earth metals and carbon fiber could pose supply problems and recommend that technology developers piggyback off existing capacity from other industries such as electric vehicles to prevent shortages. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-chain-issues-drone-robot-production.html Business Fri, 01 May 2026 11:00:04 EDT news696767222 From driving cars to flying drones, as autonomous robots take on more responsibility, they also face more human-like dilemmas—including what to do when rules collide. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-autonomous-robots-equal.html Robotics Fri, 01 May 2026 09:00:05 EDT news696843961 Robotically assembled building blocks could be a more environmentally friendly method for erecting large-scale structures than some existing construction techniques, according to a new study by MIT researchers published in the journal Automation in Construction. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-robotically-blocks-efficient-sustainable.html Robotics Tue, 28 Apr 2026 14:40:05 EDT news696605161 To reliably complete various manual tasks, robots should be able to handle a variety of objects, ranging from items found in households to tools used in specific professional settings. While many existing robotic systems can now complete basic manual tasks, such as picking up objects and carrying them to a set location, most systems still struggle with tasks that entail the dexterous manipulation of objects. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-fingereye-bridges-vision-robot-contact.html Robotics Tue, 28 Apr 2026 14:00:07 EDT news696596891 It does not take much to confuse some robots. A machine might be great at handling a simple object like a box, yet when it tries to work with a more irregular shape like a banana, it often fails. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-bananas-cups-peelers-robots-fruits.html Robotics Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:40:03 EDT news696519081 Researchers at the Intelligent Biomimetic Design Lab at Peking University have developed a bio-signal framework showing that fish muscles do far more than generate swimming motion. In a series of studies led by Xie Guangming, Professor at the School of Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics, and carried out by twin brothers Waqar Hussain Afridi and Rahdar Hussain Afridi, muscle electrical signals were used to reconstruct body posture, infer surrounding flow conditions, and transfer biological principles to robotic systems. These findings open new directions in biological telemetry, locomotion research, and bio-inspired underwater robotics. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-fish-muscles-blueprints-smarter-underwater.html Robotics Mon, 27 Apr 2026 11:10:01 EDT news696506335 When a knot lets go, it doesn't just fall apart. It snaps. That simple observation led Penn Engineers to rethink what a knot can do. Instead of treating it as something that holds tension, they asked a different question: what happens when you design a knot to release it? The answer is a tiny, soft robot capable of leaping meters into the air, flipping mid-flight, spinning like a propeller or even gliding back to where it started. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-tiny-robots-fly-seeds.html Robotics Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:00:11 EDT news696153677 A paddle-wielding robot is so adept at playing table tennis that it is posing a tough challenge to elite human players and sometimes defeating them, according to a new study that shows how advances in artificial intelligence are making robots more agile. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-ai-powered-table-tennis-robot.html Robotics Wed, 22 Apr 2026 14:08:53 EDT news696085696 When assessing the ripeness of fruit, sight and smell can tell you a lot, but the best indicator is often how the fruit feels. Cornell researchers used stretchable fiber-optic sensors to create a soft robot gripper that can predict the ripeness of strawberries by touch, then gently twist them off their branch or vine without causing any damage. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-soft-robot-gripper-ripe-fruit.html Robotics Mon, 20 Apr 2026 13:00:01 EDT news695908081 A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a show of China's technological leaps. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-humanoid-robot-sprints-victory-beijing.html Robotics Sun, 19 Apr 2026 10:07:50 EDT news695812047 Breaking away from conventional robots that perform only predefined functions once fabricated, researchers have developed a next-generation artificial muscle that can change its shape in real time, recover from damage, and even be reused. The study is published in Science Advances. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-slime-artificial-muscle-reshapes-robot.html Robotics Fri, 17 Apr 2026 13:40:01 EDT news695651927 When it comes to teamwork, we could all learn something from ants. These relatively simple, small-brained animals are famous for their ability to collectively build massive, intricate, climate-controlled structures, despite having neither a blueprint nor a worksite foreman. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-simple-robots-ants-excavate.html Robotics Fri, 17 Apr 2026 09:20:03 EDT news695635862 In today's manufacturing environments, upgrading a robot fleet often means starting from scratch—not only replacing hardware, but also reprogramming tasks. Even when two robots are built to perform similar jobs, different joint arrangements or movement limits mean that a task programmed for one robot often can't be used on another. Enabling skills to transfer directly between robots could make these systems more sustainable and cost-efficient. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-kinematic-intelligence-robots-task-safely.html Robotics Wed, 15 Apr 2026 16:20:02 EDT news695486842 Snake-like robots represent the future of rescue. Their slender bodies allow them to navigate narrow spaces, uneven terrain, and water surfaces, entering places that would be hazardous for humans. This could potentially save lives in earthquake-prone areas, like Japan. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-ai-snakebot-power.html Robotics Wed, 15 Apr 2026 09:20:04 EDT news695462521 A KAIST research team has developed quadrupedal robot technology that not only enables walking by estimating terrain without visual information, but also allows the robot to perceive its surroundings through cameras and LiDAR sensors and make its own decisions while walking, much like animals that visually examine terrain and adjust their steps. This technology is also expected to be extended to various robotic platforms such as wheeled-legged robots and humanoid robots. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-robot-danger-route-powers-obstacles.html Robotics Mon, 13 Apr 2026 09:20:08 EDT news695290202 Muscles are remarkably effective systems for generating controlled force, and engineers developing hardware for robots or prosthetics have long struggled to create analogs that can approach their unique combination of strength, rapid response, scalability, and control. But now, researchers at the MIT Media Lab and Politecnico di Bari in Italy have developed artificial muscle fibers that come closer to matching many of these qualities. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-electrofluidic-fiber-muscles-enable-silent.html Robotics Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:20:01 EDT news694959583 With their ability to shapeshift and manipulate delicate objects, soft robots could work as medical implants, deliver drugs inside the body and help explore dangerous environments. But the squishy machines are often limited by rigid mechanical parts or external systems that provide power or help them move. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-origami-robot-built-printable-polymers.html Robotics Thu, 09 Apr 2026 12:00:05 EDT news694954021 Guide dogs are powerful allies, leading the visually impaired safely to their destinations, but they can't talk with their owners—until now. Using large language models, a team of researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York has created a talking robot guide dog system that determines an ideal route and safely guides users to their destination, offering real-time feedback along the way. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-ai-powered-dogs-dont.html Robotics Wed, 08 Apr 2026 13:20:01 EDT news694872782 In some settings and when completing some collaborative tasks, humans are required to coordinate their movements or actions with those of others. A clear example of this is musical performance, particularly instances in which two or more musicians play their instruments together. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-wearable-robots-pairs-violin-players.html Robotics Tue, 07 Apr 2026 12:10:06 EDT news694777673 Picture a futuristic swarm of robots deployed on a time-sensitive task, like cleaning up an oil spill or assembling a machine. At first, adding robots is advantageous, since many hands make light work. But a tipping point comes when too many crowd the space, getting in each other's way and slowing the whole task down. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-cooks-robots-goldilocks-randomness-robot.html Robotics Mon, 06 Apr 2026 16:00:01 EDT news694708981