New Shape-Changing Robots Take on Changing Terrains
Robots can change directions, speeds and even their colors. But what about changing their shapes? With help from a sculptor’s intuition, Yale researchers are on…
Robotics
“Particle Robots” Form Large Groups to Complete Tasks
Taking a cue from biological cells, researchers from MIT, Columbia University, and elsewhere have developed computationally simple robots that connect in large groups to move…
Researchers Train AI Bot to Recognize Galaxies
Researchers have taught an artificial intelligence program used to recognise faces on Facebook to identify galaxies in deep space. The result is an AI bot…
‘Robotic Skins’ Turn Inanimate Objects Into Multifunctional Robots
Developed in the lab of Yale’s Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio, NASA-inspired robotic skins enable users to turn soft objects – a stuffed animal or a foam tube,…
Artificial Intelligence Helps Track Mysterious Cosmic Radio Bursts
Artificial intelligence is invading many fields, most recently astronomy and the search for intelligent life in the universe, or SETI. Researchers at Breakthrough Listen, a…
Newly Developed “Variable Friction” Fingers Enable Better Robot Hands
Picking up a pen off a desk and writing with it might seem easy to you, but it’s no small feat to a robot. For…
Engineers Develop Multifunctional Flexible Robots Using MORPH System
Roboticists are envisioning a future in which soft, animal-inspired robots could be safely deployed in difficult-to-access environments, such as in delicate surgical procedures in the…
Listen to the Sounds of Robots That Help Shape the Future of Space Exploration
The Robotic Operations Center (ROC) at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is full of whirring and buzzing machines that share a purpose: to help robots get…
Machine-Learning Models Capture Subtle Variations in Facial Expressions
Personalized machine-learning models capture subtle variations in facial expressions to better gauge how we feel. MIT Media Lab researchers have developed a machine-learning model that…
Scientists Create Smallest Robots Yet That Can Sense Their Environment
Researchers at MIT have created what may be the smallest robots yet that can sense their environment, store data, and even carry out computational tasks….
New Low-Power Chip Will Help Miniature Drones Navigate
Researchers at MIT, who last year designed a tiny computer chip tailored to help honeybee-sized drones navigate, have now shrunk their chip design even further,…
Engineers Develop Soft Robot That Can Carry Its Own Power Supply
For their work on a soft robotic system that can lift more than 200 times its weight, Adam Bilodeau, Prof. Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio, and two collaborators…
Engineers Create 3D-Printed Smart Gel That Walks Underwater, Moves Objects
Rutgers University-New Brunswick engineers have created a 3D-printed smart gel that walks underwater and grabs objects and moves them. The watery creation could lead to…
MIT Engineers Develop Autonomous Glider That Can Fly and Sail
MIT engineers have designed a robotic glider that can skim along the water’s surface, riding the wind like an albatross while also surfing the waves…
New Approach Helps Autonomous Underwater Vehicles Explore
Observing the world’s oceans is increasingly a mission assigned to autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) — marine robots that are designed to drift, drive, or glide…
NASA Explores Visionary Ideas That Could Transform the Future
NASA is investing in technology concepts that include meteoroid impact detection, space telescope swarms, and small orbital debris mapping technologies that may one day be used…
Machine Learning Algorithm Personalizes Control Strategies for Wearable Exosuits
When it comes to soft assistive devices — like the wearable exosuit being created by the Harvard Biodesign Lab — the wearer and the robot…
This Four Millimeter Long Millirobot Can Walk, Crawl and Roll Through Difficult Terrain
Tiny robots need not fear obstacle courses in the future: Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart have developed a minuscule,…