https://techxplore.com/rss-feed/robotics-news/ en-us The latest news on robotics, robots, robotics sciences and technology science. The effort to "align" AI with human values is falling dangerously short in robotic systems, according to researchers from Penn Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and the University of Oxford. In a new paper appearing in Science Robotics, the researchers highlight the need to develop more thorough frameworks for ensuring that AI-enabled robots embody a core principle famously articulated by science fiction author Isaac Asimov: "A robot may not injure a human being." https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-ai-enabled-robots-safer.html Robotics Wed, 29 Apr 2026 16:26:50 EDT news696698762 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 Operations underground, for example in underground stations, tunnels or mines, are risky and difficult for rescue teams. This is especially true if the technical infrastructure has collapsed due to explosions or fire, and there are no mobile phone signals, electricity, light, Wi-Fi or GNSS, while smoke, debris and damaged paths make orientation even more difficult. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-underground-teams.html Robotics Thu, 23 Apr 2026 15:00:08 EDT news696170556 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 A blue-eyed humanoid robot carefully opens a box and places a tool inside as a crowd of visitors watch the demonstration of "physical AI" skills at a major industrial trade fair in Germany. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-ai-powered-robots-german-factories.html Robotics Wed, 22 Apr 2026 04:40:01 EDT news696050290 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 humanoid robot about the size of a primary school student had something to share in Hong Kong—it sang songs and spoke to people in Mandarin and English, answering whatever questions they posed and delighting the audience around it. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-humanoid-robots-language-skills-hong.html Robotics Mon, 13 Apr 2026 11:00:05 EDT news695295813 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 SMU researchers have created an electromagnetic coil system that can control microrobots without requiring continuous visual tracking of their position—a significant advancement that could enable microrobots to operate inside the body, within industrial pipes and other places that aren't always visible with a camera. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-magnetic-setup-microrobots.html Robotics Tue, 07 Apr 2026 14:00:01 EDT news694777898 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 To be safely and reliably deployed in outer space, underwater and in other extreme environments, robots need to be able to withstand harsh conditions without breaking. In addition, they should be able to promptly and rapidly adapt to dynamic changes in their surroundings. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-resilient-actuator-potential-space-ready.html Robotics Sun, 05 Apr 2026 10:00:03 EDT news694354306 While technology has made the world "smaller," it has also pulled individuals apart, thanks to mobile phones and other devices that command our attention. Cornell University researchers are using technology, in the form of a mirror-equipped robot, to help bring people together. Members of the Architectural Robotics Lab, led by Keith Evan Green, have built a four-foot-tall robot—dubbed MirrorBot—with dual mirrors that, when placed in front of a pair of strangers, let each participant see themself in one mirror and the other person in the other. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-mirrorbot-robot-foster-human.html Robotics Thu, 02 Apr 2026 17:00:10 EDT news694366621 From birds flying in formation to students working on a group project, the functioning of a group requires not only coordination and communication but also trust—each member must be confident in the others. The same is true for networks of connected machines, which are rapidly gaining momentum in our modern world—from self-driving rideshare fleets, to smart power grids. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-framework-networks-robots-vehicles-safer.html Robotics Thu, 02 Apr 2026 14:20:01 EDT news694354745 Researchers at Arizona State University are developing bio-inspired robotic "muscles" that will enable robots to operate in boiling water, survive abrasive surfaces, bypass impediments that keep their motorized counterparts benched, and still lift up to 100 times their own weight. The new heavyweight champions of robotics will be lighter, smaller, and disconnected from a power source. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-air-powered-artificial-muscles-robots.html Robotics Thu, 02 Apr 2026 11:20:06 EDT news694343881 A LEGO brick is not smart. It doesn't compute. It doesn't plug in. It just fits. A team of Georgia Tech researchers has applied that logic to robotics. Bolei Deng, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech's Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, and Xinyi Yang, an aerospace engineering Ph.D. student, build swarms of tiny robotic particles that latch, release, and reorganize without a single electronic component. No sensors, no processors, and no code. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-robotic-swarm-electronics-batteries-brains.html Robotics Wed, 01 Apr 2026 10:00:02 EDT news694255561 Over the past few decades, robotics researchers have developed a wide range of increasingly advanced robots that can autonomously complete various real-world tasks. To be successfully deployed in real-world settings, such as in public spaces, homes and office environments, these robots should be able to make sense of instructions provided by human users and adapt their actions accordingly. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-combining-robot-llms-natural-language.html Robotics Wed, 01 Apr 2026 08:10:01 EDT news694094773 We often imagine robots as machines with rigid arms, rotating joints, and targeted mechanical movements. The famous Optimus Prime and Bumblebee from the "Transformers" movies appear to fit these criteria. However, such robots would be unable to function in environments that are too confined and cramped. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-framework-flexible-robots-tight-spaces.html Robotics Tue, 31 Mar 2026 17:40:06 EDT news694195441