https://techxplore.com/rss-feed/robotics-news/ en-us The latest news on robotics, robots, robotics sciences and technology science. When a doctor taps just below your kneecap, your lower leg kicks forward automatically. This knee-jerk reflex is one example of the reflexes that play an essential role in human motor control. Now, researchers at Tohoku University have developed a reflex module for musculoskeletal robots that works without electronic sensors or circuits. Using this module, the team reproduced the knee-jerk reflex in a robot and generated bipedal walking. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-11-electronics-free-artificial-reflex-knee.html Robotics Wed, 04 Nov 2026 09:20:01 EST news713006102 Manipulating an object with one hand is a balancing act. Fingers must release and renew their grip while keeping the object from slipping away, even with the palm facing downward. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-11-robot-nimble.html Software Tue, 03 Nov 2026 14:30:05 EST news712935178 A genetically optimized fuzzy logic controller for robotic arms is described in the International Journal of Automation and Control. The system improves accuracy and resilience in simulations of a three-degree-of-freedom robotic arm. Moreover, it outperforms alternative control systems when the device is exposed to disturbances and changes in the system parameters. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-11-optimized-fuzzy-logic-average-robotic.html Robotics Tue, 03 Nov 2026 12:20:06 EST news712930458 For more than a hundred years, quadcopters have been built according to the same basic principle. Four arms, each with a propeller, extend from a rigid central body. This design is ideal for precise, agile flight, but it has one major weakness—the drones are highly sensitive to unexpected contact with their surroundings. If they bump into a wall or another obstacle, they can become destabilized or even break apart. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-11-flexible-drone-collisions-sacrificing-agility.html Robotics Tue, 03 Nov 2026 09:20:01 EST news712919493 A humanoid AI system has been developed that learns jointly from separately collected locomotion and object-manipulation data to perform multiple stages of a task in sequence. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-11-humanoid-ai-task-sequences.html Robotics Mon, 02 Nov 2026 16:00:26 EST news712856761 Dozens of robots took on more than 3,000 steps up one of China's most famous peaks Monday, carrying eggs and watermelons in a race organizers billed as a test of real-world machine endurance, state media showed. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-11-laden-eggs-robots-sacred-chinese.html Robotics Mon, 02 Nov 2026 05:00:09 EST news712817944 A moth-shaped robot used an artificial circulatory system to deliver chemical building blocks through its body and grow a light sensor where UV light struck. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-robot-moth-uv-sensor-artificial.html Robotics Fri, 30 Oct 2026 13:00:01 EDT news712583401 For decades, event cameras, which emulate the biological retina by continuously monitoring changes in light intensity, have promised to revolutionize how robots perceive the world by allowing them to react faster and operate more reliably than conventional cameras permit. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-fast-feature-field-link-event.html Robotics Fri, 30 Oct 2026 11:20:10 EDT news712577402 Animals have long been one of the primary sources of inspiration for robotics researchers. This is because they rely on sophisticated biological mechanisms and locomotion strategies that could be artificially reproduced in robots to equip them with desired capabilities. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-armored-caterpillars-robot-lessons-slippery.html Robotics Fri, 30 Oct 2026 10:40:14 EDT news712572109 A new method for controlling groups of drones, technically known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), could make formation flying smoother and reduce energy consumption and mechanical wear, according to research in the International Journal of Systems, Control and Communications. The work combines fuzzy logic processing with a self-adjusting control system, known as a self-coupling proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-adjusting-drone-smoother-formation-flying.html Robotics Wed, 28 Oct 2026 16:40:15 EDT news712423322 A team of University of Toronto Engineering researchers has developed a flexible foot pad for the "Hopcopter"—a one-legged, hopping robot they developed—significantly enhancing its performance on sand, ice and other difficult terrain. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-flexible-foot-pad-enables-legged.html Robotics Wed, 28 Oct 2026 11:40:04 EDT news712405682 Flying insects, such as fruit flies, bees, dragonflies and mosquitoes, can dart through narrow spaces and survive collisions with various objects. In contrast, many flying robots fall, suffer damage or even break down when they hit nearby surfaces or objects. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-insect-flying-robot-collisions.html Robotics Wed, 28 Oct 2026 07:40:01 EDT news712229150 Researchers have covered robotic fingers with a new artificial skin that allows the hand to grasp fragile pencil lead and pull away from a needle before it punctures the covering. Both actions depend on more than sensitive sensors. The robot must also receive and interpret their signals quickly enough to respond. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-artificial-skin-robots-grasp-pencil.html Robotics Tue, 27 Oct 2026 07:10:02 EDT news712216487 Humanoid robots, robotic systems with a body shape that resembles that of humans, could tackle various chores and everyday manual tasks. To successfully complete these tasks, however, the robots should be able to reliably coordinate their movements, posture and how they touch or grasp different objects. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-wearable-captures-human-robot.html Robotics Sat, 24 Oct 2026 12:00:06 EDT news711722540 A robot arm that bends like an elephant's trunk can slip into tight spaces and handle fragile objects. Controlling it is harder because its smooth bending makes its next move hard to predict. Researchers have now developed a method that keeps computer predictions of the arm's motion on track, even when the arm moves faster than the model was trained for. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-flexible-robot-arms.html Robotics Fri, 23 Oct 2026 17:00:02 EDT news711968096 Lab-grown skeletal muscle tissue can contract, but the movement is often so slight that it is barely visible. This poses a problem for biohybrid robots designed to move using living muscles. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now demonstrated that it is not just the amount of muscle tissue that matters, but above all how the muscle and the artificial scaffold interact. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-lab-grown-mouse-muscles-enable.html Robotics Thu, 22 Oct 2026 15:40:19 EDT news711901442 It's important for a robot not just to learn a task optimally, but to complete it without going off the rails of reasonable expectations. Until now, roboticists could have one or the other. Aerospace engineering researchers in The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, combined reinforcement learning with control theory to guarantee robot stability and improve tracking performance by up to 15% compared with existing methods. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-wheeled-flying-legged-robots-stay.html Robotics Wed, 21 Oct 2026 15:20:10 EDT news711814381 Large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI's ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude and Google Gemini are increasingly being used to help robots perform tasks, but what if LLMs could be exploited to turn helpful robots into harmful robots? https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-secret-trigger-words-ai-powered.html Robotics Tue, 20 Oct 2026 16:40:14 EDT news711732961 Technology developed by an Australian engineer to explore wombat burrows has been sent to eastern Türkiye to join in the search for the biblical Noah's Ark. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-wombat-burrows-noah-ark-robot.html Robotics Mon, 19 Oct 2026 22:40:01 EDT news711621381 A robot artificial intelligence (AI) system has been developed that can understand human instructions, predict what a scene will look like after an action and then carry out the task. Rather than simply translating instructions into physical movements, the technology also uses the anticipated outcomes of those actions to control the robot. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-robot-ai-future-scenes.html Robotics Mon, 19 Oct 2026 17:20:01 EDT news711647401 A research team at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has developed an Embodied Sensorimotor Robotic Arm (EmArm) capable of whole-arm tactile sensing and adaptive manipulation. By embedding a soft optical tactile skin directly into a robotic skeleton and integrating it with a real-time decision-making algorithm, EmArm can perceive and analyze contact information across its upper and lower arms, enabling human-like tactile perception and adaptive object manipulation. The system can also distinguish between different touch interactions, such as tickling and patting, respond in real time and avoid obstacles through tactile feedback, opening new possibilities for the development of embodied intelligent robots. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-team-embodied-robotic-arm-emarm.html Robotics Sat, 17 Oct 2026 07:00:13 EDT news711366390 Timothy Wong didn't suspect it at the time, but his dives off the coast of Rockport and the hours he spent studying the wheels and gears of robotics were leading to one mission: figuring out a way to get unwanted sea matter off giant ships in need of cleaning. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-giant-ship-roomba-robots-magnetic.html Robotics Thu, 15 Oct 2026 14:40:07 EDT news711292051 What does it take for an autonomous robot to be faster around a course than human drone pilots? At these dizzying speeds, humans need lightning-fast reflexes. Researchers at Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands) have developed an AI system that enables a racing drone to navigate demanding courses at extreme speed using only a single camera. It outperformed even former world champion human drone pilots in a race. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-ai-drone-outpaces-world-champions.html Robotics Wed, 14 Oct 2026 14:00:07 EDT news711124285 From monitoring public spaces to responding to requests for help, security robots are beginning to take on roles once held by people. As they gain authority, researchers are asking what it might take for the public to trust them. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-robot.html Robotics Wed, 14 Oct 2026 07:20:21 EDT news711178995 Researchers from the Shenyang Institute of Automation (SIA) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed an electrohydraulically actuated soft robotic fish that can swim at high speeds and perform agile three-dimensional (3D) maneuvers. The soft robotic fish addresses a longstanding design challenge by combining a rigid–flexible coupled propulsion system with dynamic buoyancy regulation. This allows for fast propulsion without sacrificing maneuverability. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-soft-robotic-fish-combines-high.html Robotics Tue, 13 Oct 2026 15:40:04 EDT news711124270 Researchers have developed a technology that lets a user move a small robot by bending and straightening a finger. The user can also pick up and move objects while checking the images and contact information that the robot sends back. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-beetle-soft-robot-finger-relay.html Robotics Tue, 13 Oct 2026 10:40:14 EDT news711104490 Humans can move their limbs very rapidly and coordinate their movements with high precision to tackle specific manual tasks. While robots have become increasingly advanced in recent years, many of them remain less agile than humans and struggle to interact with moving objects of different shapes, weights and textures. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-armed-robot-balls-human-movements.html Robotics Fri, 09 Oct 2026 09:40:04 EDT news710671638 Smartphones combine cameras, motion sensors and powerful processors in devices that fit inside a pocket. These features could also make them useful components for robots, reducing the need to buy and connect separate sensors, processors or other electronics. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-phonebot-smartphones-job-legs.html Robotics Thu, 08 Oct 2026 16:20:06 EDT news710689127 Labor shortages, supply-chain volatility and growing demand for customized products are forcing a fundamental rethink of how work gets done in U.S. manufacturing. To remain competitive, manufacturers must produce increasingly complex parts with fewer workers, shorter lead times and greater flexibility than ever before. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-automation-future-american.html Robotics Thu, 08 Oct 2026 07:00:10 EDT news710654402 Researchers have created an aquatic soft robot inspired by marine invertebrates called feather stars. The feather star robot is able to move through the water in all three dimensions, powered by only two actuators. The paper, "Minimal-Actuation Feather Star–Inspired Soft Swimmers for Multimodal 3D Maneuverability," is published in the journal Science Advances. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-feather-star-underwater-robot-3d.html Robotics Wed, 07 Oct 2026 14:00:40 EDT news710515263