A team of engineers at Singapore University of Technology and Design has created a truly unique robot—one that can roll around like a drum, then take off and fly like a spinning wheel. In their paper published in The International Journal of Robotics Research, the group describes their goals in developing the robot and how they were achieved, along with a description of how it works.
Bees, ants and termites don't need blueprints. They may have queens, but none of these species breed architects or construction managers. Each insect worker, or drone, simply responds to cues like warmth or the presence or absence of building material. Unlike human manufacturing, the grand design emerges simply from the collective action of the drones—no central planning required.
Professor Peng Lu and his team from the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Faculty of Engineering at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), have achieved a milestone in aerial manipulation technology. Their innovative Aerial Elephant Trunk (AET), a novel aerial continuum manipulator, has demonstrated unparalleled capability in performing complex aerial manipulation tasks, marking a significant leap forward for the development of the low-altitude economy.
A new, densely annotated 3D-text dataset called 3D-GRAND can help train embodied AI, like household robots, to connect language to 3D spaces. The study, led by University of Michigan researchers, was presented at the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) Conference in Nashville, Tennessee on June 15, and published on the arXiv preprint server.
In the critical 72 hours after an earthquake or explosion, a race against the clock begins to find survivors. After that window, the chances of survival drop sharply.
Vision-language models (VLMs) are advanced computational techniques designed to process both images and written texts, making predictions accordingly. Among other things, these models could be used to improve the capabilities of robots, helping them to accurately interpret their surroundings and interact with human users more effectively.
Thanks to artificial intelligence, robots can already perform many tasks that would otherwise require humans. In this interview, Edoardo Milana, a junior professor of soft machines in the Department of Microsystems Engineering at the University of Freiburg, explains how improved design and innovative mechanics are broadening the range of applications for these machines.
Over the past few decades, robots have gradually started making their way into various real-world settings, including some malls, airports and hospitals, as well as a few offices and households.
Scientists have developed a low-cost, durable, highly sensitive robotic "skin" that can be added to robotic hands like a glove, enabling robots to detect information about their surroundings in a way that's similar to humans. The results are reported in the journal Science Robotics.
Over the past decades, roboticists have developed increasingly advanced systems that can emulate some human capabilities and effectively tackle various real-world tasks. To reliably grasp, manipulate and utilize objects in their surroundings, robots should be able to detect and process tactile information, replicating the processes underpinning the human sense of touch.
An autonomous drone carrying water to help extinguish a wildfire in the Sierra Nevada might encounter swirling Santa Ana winds that threaten to push it off course. Rapidly adapting to these unknown disturbances inflight presents an enormous challenge for the drone's flight control system.
A team of roboticists at the University of Canberra's Collaborative Robotics Lab, working with a sociologist colleague from The Australian National University, has found humans interacting with an LLM-enabled humanoid robot had mixed reactions. In their paper published in the journal Scientific Reports, the group describes what they saw as they watched interactions between an LLM-enabled humanoid robot posted at an innovation festival and reviewed feedback given by people participating in the interactions.
The advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) has ushered in a new era of automated robotics that are adaptive to their environments.
A research team has developed a novel auditory technology that allows the recognition of human positions using only a single microphone. This technology facilitates sound-based interaction between humans and robots, even in noisy factory environments.
Researchers at Rice University have developed a soft robotic arm capable of performing complex tasks such as navigating around an obstacle or hitting a ball, guided and powered remotely by laser beams without any onboard electronics or wiring. The research could inform new ways to control implantable surgical devices or industrial machines that need to handle delicate objects.