An elephant's trunk is both strong and capable of extremely fine motor movements. With this muscular, boneless structure, an elephant can carry heavy logs—or deftly peel a banana. Lucia Beccai and colleagues studied the skin of the trunk, hoping to understand its properties and derive lessons for the next generation of advanced soft robotics. The authors obtained a trunk from a single adult Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) that died of natural causes at Zurich Zoo, Switzerland, in 2020.
A bird bursting from the ocean or a mobula ray launching skyward makes the transition from water to air look effortless. For unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, it's one of the hardest maneuvers to replicate.
Controlling a robotic arm, a prosthetic hand or a rehabilitation device is harder than it looks. Picking up an egg, for example, requires just the right amount of force: too little and it falls, too much and it breaks.
The Social Robotics Group of the Robotics Lab at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) has developed an AI-based methodology that allows a pet-type assistive robot to recognize the people it interacts with. The prototype, named Mía, is being tested in Madrid City Council day centers for the personalized affective stimulation of elderly people with cognitive decline.
A detection robot developed under the leadership of TU Graz can "sniff out" hazardous substances and support high-risk fire service operations as a remote-controlled advance guard. A recent study shows how fire services can bring the high-tech helper into the team.
A new type of gamma-ray sensor developed by NASA, called AstroPix, will take part in a robotic arm demonstration on the agency's upcoming Fly Foundational Robots mission, set to launch in late 2027.
What's it like to play a physical game with or against a robot that both looks and behaves like a person? That's what NTNU researchers wanted to find out when they conducted a controlled laboratory experiment with Pepper, a social robot designed to interact with humans.
For remotely operated underwater vehicles, cloudy and turbulent waters are often a no-go. When vehicles settle on the seafloor or dig through a sand bed, they can kick up clouds of sediment that make it tough for onboard cameras to see through. Often, the only thing to do is wait until the marine dust settles before a vehicle can safely proceed.
As robots increasingly move out of factories and into workplaces, hospitals, warehouses and public spaces, a simple challenge becomes increasingly important: helping people understand what those machines are about to do.
As robots increasingly move out of factories and into workplaces, hospitals, warehouses and public spaces, a simple challenge becomes increasingly important: helping people understand what those machines are about to do.
The use of a sea drone to rescue two U.S. Army aviators apparently shot down by Iran underscores the growing importance of such vessels in Washington's naval operations, analysts said Wednesday.
Beijing cleaner Lin Meiqiong found her work a little easier the day she was paired with an unlikely new colleague—a tall, wheeled robot with AI-powered tidying skills.
In her tiny apartment in South Korea, where she lives alone, 78-year-old Bang Chun-ja spends her days with a childlike AI-powered doll she says she prefers to people.
KAIST researchers solved a key challenge in the commercialization of physical AI by developing a new technology that enables AI to learn human judgment criteria on its own from just a few videos.
German industrial giant Bosch said Wednesday it will step up efforts in the field of humanoid robotics as its traditional auto parts business comes under increasing pressure.