Video: Robotic pets—will your dog save your life?
We've all heard the phrase, "dogs are a human's best friend."
Four-legged robot traverses tricky terrains thanks to improved 3D vision
Researchers led by the University of California San Diego have developed a new model that trains four-legged robots to see more clearly in 3D. The advance enabled a robot to autonomously cross challenging terrain with ease—including stairs, rocky ground and gap-filled paths—while clearing obstacles in its way.
AI unlikely to gain human-like cognition, unless connected to real world through robots, says study
Connecting artificial intelligence systems to the real world through robots and designing them using principles from evolution is the most likely way AI will gain human-like cognition, according to research from the University of Sheffield.
A new AI-based approach for controlling autonomous robots
In the film "Top Gun: Maverick," Maverick, played by Tom Cruise, is charged with training young pilots to complete a seemingly impossible mission—to fly their jets deep into a rocky canyon, staying so low to the ground they cannot be detected by radar, then rapidly climb out of the canyon at an extreme angle, avoiding the rock walls. Spoiler alert: With Maverick's help, these human pilots accomplish their mission.
Mori3: A polygon shape-shifting robot for space travel
By combining inspiration from the digital world of polygon meshing and the biological world of swarm behavior, the Mori3 robot can morph from 2D triangles into almost any 3D object. The EPFL research, which has been published in Nature Machine Intelligence, shows the promise of modular robotics for space travel.
Should robots be given a conscience?
Modern-day society relies intrinsically on automated systems and artificial intelligence. It is embedded into our daily routines and shows no signs of slowing, in fact use of robotic and automated assistance is ever-increasing.
Creating magnetic soft robots using fiber-based processes and unidirectional magnetic fields
A team of material scientists and electronic engineers at MIT, has developed a way to create magnetic soft robots by combining fiber-based fabrication systems with mechanical and magnetic programming methods to provide locomotion under unidirectional magnetic fields. In their paper published in the journal Advanced Materials, the group describes how they overcame problems faced by others attempting to create magnetically controlled soft robots and outline the design of the robots they created.
Team creates modular continuous robot based on origami-folded tubes
In recent years, roboticists have created a growing number of autonomous systems based on different structures and designs. Among these are modular robots, which are composed of different elements or "modules" that can be reconfigured to carry out specific tasks more effectively.
Teaching robots to tidy up based on user preferences using large language models
Different people tend to have unique needs and preferences—particularly when it comes to cleaning or tidying up. Home robots, especially robots designed to help humans with house chores, should ideally be able to complete tasks in ways that account for these individual preferences.
ChatGPT designs its first robot
Poems, essays and even books—is there anything the open AI platform ChatGPT can't handle? These new AI developments have inspired researchers at TU Delft and the Swiss technical university EPFL to dig a little deeper: For instance, can ChatGPT also design a robot? And is this a good thing for the design process, or are there risks? The researchers published their findings in Nature Machine Intelligence.
Sponge helps robotic arms grasp delicate objects
A simple sponge has improved how robots grasp, scientists from the University of Bristol have found.
Swarming microrobots self-organize into diverse patterns
A research collaboration between Cornell and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems has found an efficient way to expand the collective behavior of swarming microrobots: Mixing different sizes of the micron-scale 'bots enables them to self-organize into diverse patterns that can be manipulated when a magnetic field is applied. The technique even allows the swarm to "cage" passive objects and then expel them.
Will AI robots take middle-class jobs?
Our newsfeeds are filled with talk about the rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in software such as ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion, which can quickly—albeit haphazardly—generate works such as essays and photographs from a text prompt. Reading these, you might be excused for thinking that writers and photographers are soon to go the way of the elevator operator, automated out of existence.
A novel technique to improve the learning ability of robots that perform repetitive tasks
Learning from one's past mistakes is not limited to humans. Computers do it, too. In industries, this is done via computer-based control systems that help operate production systems. For industrial robots that perform specific tasks in batches, say producing clothing, computer chips, or baked goods, the most commonly used control technique is iterative learning control (ILC). Most industries still rely on ILC systems that use a learning strategy called the proportional-type update rule (PTUR). This technique improves the performance of ILC systems by repeating the same task over and over and updating its control input based on errors encountered in previous iterations.
A plant-inspired controller that could facilitate the operation of robotic arms in real-world environments
Many existing robotics systems draw inspiration from nature, artificially reproducing biological processes, natural structures or animal behaviors to achieve specific goals. This is because animals and plants are innately equipped with abilities that help them to survive in their respective environments, and that could thus also improve the performance of robots outside of laboratory settings.