What features does a robotic guide dog need? Ask the blind, say the authors of a recent paper. Led by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a study identifying how to develop robot guide dogs with insights from guide dog users and trainers won a Best Paper Award at CHI 2024: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI).
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.
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.
A team of researchers at Delft University of Technology has developed a drone that flies autonomously using neuromorphic image processing and control based on the workings of animal brains. Animal brains use less data and energy compared to current deep neural networks running on graphics processing units (GPUs).
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.
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 stroke.
A robot, designed to mimic the motion of a snail, has been developed by researchers at the University of Bristol.
Sat in a circle on the nursery floor, a group of Swiss three-year-olds ask a robot called Nao questions about giraffes and broccoli.
Parents spend roughly 300 hours each year cleaning up after their kids. That's nearly two weeks that could be otherwise spent doing anything else. Researchers in Carnegie Mellon University's Department of Mechanical Engineering, in collaboration with Google DeepMind and University of Washington, are hopeful that parents will regain tidying time and then some with LocoMan, a four-legged version of the Jetsons' beloved maid "Rosie the Robot," that could lend a hand in the not-so-distant future.
Would you trust a robot to look after your cat? New research suggests it takes more than a carefully designed robot to care for your cat, the environment in which they operate is also vital, as well as human interaction.
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.
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.
An international group of researchers has created a new approach to imitating human motion by combining central pattern generators (CPGs) and deep reinforcement learning (DRL). The method not only imitates walking and running motions but also generates movements for frequencies where motion data is absent, enables smooth transition movements from walking to running, and allows for adaptation to environments with unstable surfaces.
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 trajectories—or pathways—that are clear of obstacles and doable for the robot.
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.