Robotics

Rise of the cute robots

The red eye that refuses to be extinguished, the metal body that cannot be crushed—for many of us the word "robot" conjures one image: the Terminator.

Robotics

Grasping the future with a robotic arm-hand combo

Reaching into your pocket to retrieve your phone seems like no big deal. For a robot, however, it is. Like many routine gestures that we take for granted, it's actually very complex. Doing so requires large movements from ...

Business

Amazon spending $3.9 bn in expanding health care push

Amazon is buying US primary health care provider One Medical for $3.9 billion, the companies announced Thursday, in a big step for the online retail giant's move into the medical sector.

Robotics

Need help building IKEA furniture? This robot can lend a hand

As robots increasingly join forces to work with humans—from nursing care homes to warehouses to factories—they must be able to proactively offer support. But first, robots have to learn something we know instinctively: ...

Robotics

What will it take for us to trust a robot?

A robotic vacuum cleaner is easy to trust. We really need a lot more confidence in a robot that might be performing vital surgery on our body.