Bio-machine hybrid robots (BHRs) represent a new generation of micro-aerial vehicles that be controlled by building an interface between biological and artificial systems. In contrast to conventional bionic robots, they are free of complex mechanical structures, and due to the direct adoption of the animal body, they have superior movement characteristics and lower energy demand. Thus, BHRs can be applied in many important scenarios, such as urban and wilderness rescue operations, environmental monitoring and hazardous area surveys.
Taking inspiration from music streaming services, a team of engineers at the University of Michigan, Google and Georgia Tech has designed the simplest way for users to program their own exoskeleton assistance settings.
Implantation of a total artificial heart offers a solution for patients with severe heart failure, but existing artificial hearts have major limitations, which means there is a need for a better alternative. Through his doctoral research, Luuk van Laake has contributed to the development of a future artificial heart based on soft robotics.
Robotic prosthetic ankles that are controlled by nerve impulses allow amputees to move more "naturally," improving their stability, according to a new study from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Amazon will soon make prescription drugs fall from the sky when the e-commerce giant becomes the latest company to test drone deliveries for medications.
Now that improvements in technology mean that some robots work alongside humans, there is evidence that those humans have learned to see them as team-mates—and teamwork can have negative as well as positive effects on people's performance.
Anyone who has ever tried to pack a family-sized amount of luggage into a sedan-sized trunk knows this is a hard problem. Robots struggle with dense packing tasks, too.
Researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have proposed a soft-packaged and portable rehabilitation glove with fine movement training. It is expected to serve the fine motor rehabilitation and daily living assistance for tens of millions of patients with hand dysfunction around the world.
Service robots have started to appear in various daily tasks such as parcel delivery, as guide dogs for the visually impaired, as public servants at airports, or as seen in Joensuu: in the inspection of construction works. Robots are able to move in different ways: on legs, on wheels or by flying. They know the shortest or easiest route to the destination. A guide dog can search for bus schedules or even order a taxi when needed.
A 12-ton fishing boat weighs anchor three kilometers off the port of Adelaide. A small crew huddles over a miniature submarine, activates the controls, primes the explosives, and releases it into the water. The underwater drone uses sensors and sonar to navigate towards its pre-programmed target: the single, narrow port channel responsible for the state's core fuel supply.
Australian researchers have designed an algorithm that can intercept a man-in-the-middle (MitM) cyberattack on an unmanned military robot and shut it down in seconds.
In 2013, researchers carried a Microsoft Kinect camera through houses in Japan's Fukushima Prefecture. The device's infrared light traced the contours of the buildings, making a rough 3D map. On top of this, the team layered information from an early version of a hand-held gamma-ray imager, displaying the otherwise invisible nuclear radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident.
On any given day, Richards Hall on Northeastern University's Boston campus is filled with the sound of students' shuffling feet or energetic class discussions, but this week you might have heard something else: a whip cracking.
The ocean has always been a force to be reckoned with when it comes to understanding and traversing its seemingly limitless blue waters. Past innovations such as deep-sea submersibles and ocean-observing satellites have helped illuminate some wonders of the ocean though many questions still remain.
The findings of new biomechanics research could be used to develop more effective rehabilitation techniques for patients with musculoskeletal injuries.