Robotics - General News

[publiusr]

Still slower than Fido

Why can't robots outrun animals?

Robotics engineers have worked for decades and invested many millions of research dollars in attempts to create a robot that can walk or run as well as an animal. And yet, it remains the case that many animals are capable of feats that would be impossible for robots that exist today.

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Look out

Study explores why human-inspired machines can be perceived as eerie

Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms and robots are becoming increasingly advanced, exhibiting capabilities that vaguely resemble those of humans. The growing similarities between AIs and humans could ultimately bring users to attribute human feelings, experiences, thoughts, and sensations to...

techxplore.com

Automated machine learning robot unlocks new potential for genetics research

University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers have constructed a robot that uses machine learning to fully automate a complicated microinjection process used in genetic research.

phys.org

Built-in bionic computing: Researchers develop method to control pneumatic artificial muscles

Creating robots to safely aid disaster victims is one challenge; executing flexible robot control that takes advantage of the material's softness is another. The use of pliable soft materials to collaborate with humans and work in disaster areas has drawn much recent attention. However...

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Robotic nerve 'cuffs' could help treat a range of neurological conditions

Researchers have developed tiny, flexible devices that can wrap around individual nerve fibers without damaging them.

medicalxpress.com

People, not design features, make a robot social

It takes a village to nurture social robots. Researchers who develop social robots—ones that people interact with—focus too much on design features and not enough on sociological factors, like human-to-human interactions, the contexts where they happen, and cultural norms involving robots...

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Sub-aquatic drones?

Underwater robot pioneers new energy-efficient buoyancy control

A remotely operated underwater robot built by a team of Rice University engineering students pioneers a new way to control buoyancy via water-splitting fuel cells. The device, designed and constructed at the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen over the course of a year-long senior design capstone...

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[publiusr]

The body electric sings?

Organic electrochemical transistors: Scientists solve chemical mystery at the interface of biology and technology

Researchers who want to bridge the divide between biology and technology spend a lot of time thinking about translating between the two different "languages" of those realms.

phys.org

Marriage of synthetic biology and 3D printing produces programmable living materials

Scientists are harnessing cells to make new types of materials that can grow, repair themselves and even respond to their environment. These solid "engineered living materials" are made by embedding cells in an inanimate matrix that's formed in a desired shape. Now, researchers report in ACS...

phys.org

Bacteria 'nanowires' could help develop green electronics

Engineered protein filaments originally produced by bacteria have been modified by scientists to conduct electricity. In a study published recently in the journal Small, researchers revealed that protein nanowires—which were modified by adding a single compound—can conduct electricity over short...

phys.org

For inspection

A miniature wireless robot that can effectively move through tubular structures

Robots have already proved to be promising tools to complete complex and demanding maintenance tasks. While engineers have developed a wide range of robots that could help to maintain and repair infrastructure, many of these robots need to be plugged into external power sources, which limits...

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Random robots are more reliable: New AI algorithm for robots consistently outperforms state-of-the-art systems

Northwestern University engineers have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm designed specifically for smart robotics. By helping robots rapidly and reliably learn complex skills, the new method could significantly improve the practicality—and safety—of robots for a range of...

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Leveraging robots to help make wind turbine blades

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have successfully leveraged robotic assistance in the manufacture of wind turbine blades, allowing for the elimination of difficult working conditions for humans and the potential to improve the...

techxplore.com

An affordable miniature car-like robot to test control and estimation algorithms

The development and testing of algorithms for robotics applications typically requires evaluations in both simulated and physical environments. Some algorithms, however, can be difficult to deploy in simple hardware experiments, due to the high costs of robotics hardware or to difficulties...

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Computational workflow engine, matched with robotic platform, used to drive experiments for the first time

Computational and experimental methods in materials science are often described as entirely separate affairs. On one side, computer simulations are used to explain and predict the properties of materials, including novel ones that were not yet synthesized. On the other, experiments test the...

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Stretchable e-skin could give robots human-level touch sensitivity

A first-ever stretchy electronic skin could equip robots and other devices with the same softness and touch sensitivity as human skin, opening up new possibilities to perform tasks that require a great deal of precision and control of force.

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Sea slugs inspire highly stretchable biomedical sensor

The revolution in personalized medicine is well underway—with wearable devices and DIY home testing, it's easier than ever to track everything from heart rate, to glucose levels, to microbiome diversity.

medicalxpress.com

Robots can't outrun animals. A new study explores why

The question may be the 21st century's version of the fable of the tortoise and the hare: Who would win in a foot race between a robot and an animal?

phys.org

Trotting robots reveal emergence of animal gait transitions

A four-legged robot trained with machine learning by EPFL researchers has learned to avoid falls by spontaneously switching between walking, trotting, and pronking—a milestone for roboticists as well as biologists interested in animal locomotion.

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A six-armed robot for precision pollination

Over the past decades, dozens of animal species have become extinct, while thousands of others are now at risk of disappearing. Endangered species include various pollinators, including bees and some types of moths, butterflies, and flies.

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Tractor-trailers with no one aboard? The future is near for self-driving trucks on US roads

On a three-lane test track along the Monongahela River, an 18-wheel tractor-trailer rounded a curve. No one was on board.

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[shin_getter]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5mdW1yPXIg

 

[publiusr]

The Moravec Barrier is shattering.

The video above makes me understand the reason early sci-fi heroes were philologists, from Morbius to C. S. Lewis characters.

Where Tegmark thinks everything is math—I think everything is language.

LLM to provide proprioception? Who would have thought?

Maybe Boston Dynamics needs to quit kicking them.

Robots are patient—for now…

In the news

A better way to control shape-shifting soft robots

Imagine a slime-like robot that can seamlessly change its shape to squeeze through narrow spaces, which could be deployed inside the human body to remove an unwanted item.

techxplore.com

Teaching robots to move by sketching trajectories

Getting robots to perform even a simple task requires a great deal of behind-the-scenes work. Part of the challenge is planning and executing movements, everything from turning wheels to lifting a robotic arm. To make this happen, roboticists collaborate with programmers to develop a set of...

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Robotic system feeds people with severe mobility limitations

Cornell researchers have developed a robotic feeding system that uses computer vision, machine learning and multimodal sensing to safely feed people with severe mobility limitations, including those with spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis.

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Scientists create robot snails that can move independently using tracks or work together to climb

A team of roboticists at the Chinese University of Hong Kong has created a robot snail with a helmet-like shell that moves by rolling around on bulldozer-like tracks. They have published a paper on their research in Nature Communications.

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Engineers create a caterpillar-shaped robot that splits into segments, reassembles, hauls and crawls

Engineers at Princeton and North Carolina State University have combined ancient paper-folding and modern materials science to create a soft robot that bends and twists through mazes with ease.

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Team compares robot-assisted language learning systems and human tutors in English conversation lessons

Advancements in large language models, robotics, and software such as text-to-speech, have made it possible to develop robots that can understand language, interact physically, and communicate verbally. These breakthroughs have opened up possibilities for robots to be used for educational...

phys.org

Video shows how swarms of miniature robots simultaneously clean up microplastics and microbes

When old food packaging, discarded children's toys and other mismanaged plastic waste break down into microplastics, they become even harder to clean up from oceans and waterways. These tiny bits of plastic also attract bacteria, including those that cause disease.

techxplore.com

Multiplexed neuron sets make smaller optical neural networks possible

Seeking to improve the practicality of optical neural networks that use wavelength division multiplexing, a research team developed a structure called multiplexed neuron sets and a corresponding backpropagation training algorithm.

techxplore.com

 

[shin_getter]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzX1qOIO1bE


The pricetag is the surprising part in a world of intense competition in this domain. Light weight is also neat.

 

[publiusr]

Robo-vancements

Robotic 'superlimbs' could help moonwalkers recover from falls

Need a moment of levity? Try watching videos of astronauts falling on the moon. NASA's outtakes of Apollo astronauts tripping and stumbling as they bounce in slow motion are delightfully relatable.

phys.org

Biohybrid robotic hand may help unravel complex sensation of touch

Brain-machine interfaces are devices that enable direct communication between a brain's electrical activity and an external device such as a computer or a robotic limb that allows people to control machines using their thoughts.

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New compound eye design could provide inexpensive way to give robots insect-like vision

A team of engineers and roboticists at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has developed an electronic compound eye design to give robots the ability to swarm efficiently and inexpensively.

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Physicists propose path to faster, more flexible robots

In a May 15 paper released in the journal Physical Review Letters, Virginia Tech physicists revealed a microscopic phenomenon that could greatly improve the performance of soft devices, such as agile flexible robots or microscopic capsules for drug delivery.

phys.org

Scientists develop a soft robot that mimics a spider's leg

Researchers Indrek Must and Kadri-Ann Valdur of the Institute of Technology of the University of Tartu have created a robot leg modeled after the leg of a cucumber spider. The soft robot created in cooperation with the Italian Institute of Technology could, in the future, move where humans cannot.

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Researchers uncover how jelly sea creatures might shape modern robotics

Scientists at the University of Oregon have discovered that colonies of gelatinous sea animals swim through the ocean in giant corkscrew shapes using coordinated jet propulsion, an unusual kind of locomotion that could inspire new designs for efficient underwater vehicles.

phys.org

Artificial tactile system study: Robots' sense of touch could be as fast as humans

Research at Uppsala University and Karolinska Institutet could pave the way for a prosthetic hand and robot to be able to feel touch like a human hand. Their study has been published in the journal Science. The technology could also be used to help restore lost functionality to patients after a...

techxplore.com

New snail-inspired robot can climb walls

A robot, designed to mimic the motion of a snail, has been developed by researchers at the University of Bristol.

techxplore.com

Biohybrid robot made from flour and oats could act as a biodegradable vector for reforestation

Researchers at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT-Italian Institute of Technology) in collaboration with the University of Freiburg have developed a biohybrid robot, which consists of a flour-based capsule created using 3D microfabrication techniques, and two natural appendages from oat fruit...

phys.org

Retrofitting robotics increases efficiency of neutron experiments

Robots revolutionized the manufacturing industry by automating assembly lines. Now, more and more, they are being used to expedite the pace of scientific discovery.

phys.org

A better way to control shape-shifting soft robots

Imagine a slime-like robot that can seamlessly change its shape to squeeze through narrow spaces, which could be deployed inside the human body to remove an unwanted item.

techxplore.com

 

[Grey Havoc]

Watch The W1 Quadruped Robot Evolving To Stand And Walk Upright

LimX Dynamics, a robotics company based in China, has unveiled a remarkable advancement in their W1 quadruped robot. Originally designed with four leg

wonderfulengineering.com

 

[publiusr]

Centaur-bots are what comes next…part Terminator, part Cossack.

Heavy equipment in the back to counter-balance the clawed, four armed torso up front.