Traditional robots can have difficulty grasping and manipulating soft objects if their manipulators are not flexible in the way elephant trunks, octopus tentacles, or human fingers can be.
Researchers at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) have recently been exploring a fascinating idea, that of creating humanoid robots that can fly. To efficiently control the movements of flying robots, objects or vehicles, however, researchers require systems that can reliably estimate the intensity of the thrust produced by propellers, which allow them to move through the air.
A novel carbon-based biosensor developed at UTS is set to drive new innovations in brain-controlled robotics.
With the spread of the omicron variant, not everyone can or is eager to travel for the winter break. But what if virtual touch could bring you assurance that you were not alone?
Micro-sized robots could have countless valuable applications, for instance, assisting humans during search-and-rescue missions, conducting precise surgical procedures, and agricultural interventions. Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have recently created a tiny, flying robot based on a class of artificial muscles known as dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs).
Tetraplegic patients are prisoners of their own bodies, unable to speak or perform the slightest movement. Researchers have been working for years to develop systems that can help these patients carry out some tasks on their own. "People with a spinal cord injury often experience permanent neurological deficits and severe motor disabilities that prevent them from performing even the simplest tasks, such as grasping an object," says Prof. Aude Billard, the head of EPFL's Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory. "Assistance from robots could help these people recover some of their lost dexterity, since the robot can execute tasks in their place."
When it comes to robots, bigger isn't always better. Someday, a swarm of insect-sized robots might pollinate a field of crops or search for survivors amid the rubble of a collapsed building.
Across a vast array of robotic hands and clamps, there is a common foe: The heirloom tomato. You may have seen a robotic gripper deftly pluck an egg or smoothly palm a basketball—but, unlike human hands, one gripper is unlikely to be able to do both and a key challenge remains hidden in the middle ground.
A team of researchers affiliated with multiple institutions in Korea has developed a robot hand that has abilities similar to human hands. In their paper published in the journal Nature Communications, the group describes how they achieved a high level of dexterity while keeping the hand's size and weight low enough to attach to a robot arm.
Researchers at Toyota Central R&D Labs have recently created an insect-scale aerial robot with flapping wings, powered using wireless radiofrequency technology. This robot, presented in a paper published in Nature Electronics, is based on a radiofrequency power receiver with a remarkable power-to-weight density of 4,900 W kg-1.
A novel wall climbing robot, built designed and created by Birmingham based HausBots with the help of WMG at the University of Warwick is on the market, and could reduce the number of workplace accidents.
Using autonomous vehicle guidelines, a team of UBC Okanagan researchers has developed a system to improve interactions between people and robots.
Researchers from North Carolina State University have come up with a new design for thermal actuators, which can be used to create rapid movement in soft robotic devices.
Psychologists use mazes to assess the learning capacity of mice or rats. But how about robots? Can they learn to navigate the twists and turns of a labyrinth? Now, researchers at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in the Netherlands and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany, have proven they can. Their robot bases its decisions on the very system humans use to think and act: the brain. The study, which was published in Science Advances, paves the way to exciting new applications of neuromorphic devices in health and beyond.
Engineers at Caltech, ETH Zurich, and Harvard are developing an artificial intelligence (AI) that will allow autonomous drones to use ocean currents to aid their navigation, rather than fighting their way through them.