All posts by Robotics News - Robot News, Robotics, Robots, Robotics Sciences

The former head of Google's robotics division has unveiled a new robot named Stretch that he hopes will prove to be an economical and handy assistant around the home.

Picking up a can of soft drink may be a simple task for humans, but this is a complex task for robots—it has to locate the object, deduce its shape, determine the right amount of strength to use, and grasp the object without letting it slip. Most of today's robots operate solely based on visual processing, which limits their capabilities. In order to perform more complex tasks, robots have to be equipped with an exceptional sense of touch and the ability to process sensory information quickly and intelligently.

Researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology developed a tiny plastic robot, made of responsive polymers, which moves under the influence of light and magnetism. In the future this 'wireless aquatic polyp' should be able to attract and capture contaminant particles from the surrounding liquid or pick up and transport cells for analysis in diagnostic devices. The researchers published their results in the journal PNAS.

Ground robots will be trained to receive demonstration commands—instead of verbal commands—to interpret, follow, recall and apply in similar contexts as part of a new Army research project starting this month with the University of Texas at Austin.

Medicated chewing gum has been recognized as a new advanced drug delivery method but currently there is no gold standard for testing drugs released from chewing gum in vitro. New research has shown a chewing robot with built-in humanoid jaws could provide opportunities for pharmaceutical companies to develop medicated chewing gum.

Medicated chewing gum has been recognized as a new advanced drug delivery method but currently there is no gold standard for testing drugs released from chewing gum in vitro. New research has shown a chewing robot with built-in humanoid jaws could provide opportunities for pharmaceutical companies to develop medicated chewing gum.

The ability to become transparent is a considerable evolutionary advantage, as it allows animals to blend in with their environment, avoid predators and mask their movements. Robots with similar capabilities could be of great value for a number of applications, for instance, aiding surveillance and research that involves observing animals in their natural habitat.

For humans, it can be challenging to manipulate thin flexible objects like ropes, wires, or cables. But if these problems are hard for humans, they are nearly impossible for robots. As a cable slides between the fingers, its shape is constantly changing, and the robot's fingers must be constantly sensing and adjusting the cable's position and motion.

Robots that can cook—from flipping burgers to baking bread—are in growing demand as virus-wary kitchens try to put some distance between workers and customers.

Kitchen robots are a popular vision of the future, but if a robot of today tries to grasp a kitchen staple such as a clear measuring cup or a shiny knife, it likely won't be able to. Transparent and reflective objects are the things of robot nightmares.

Over the past few years, researchers have been trying to apply quantum physics theory to a variety of fields, including robotics, biology and cognitive science. Computational techniques that draw inspiration from quantum systems, also known as quantum-like (QL) models, could potentially achieve better performance and more sophisticated capabilities than more conventional approaches.

To Jianguo Zhao, the octopus is one of nature's most elegant machines: nimble, shape-shifting and soft, squeezing through tight spaces with the quick contraction of a muscle.

Neurons, specialized cells that transmit nerve impulses, have long been known to be a vital element for the functioning of the human brain. Over the past century, however, neuroscience research has given rise to the false belief that neurons are the only cells that can process and learn information. This misconception or 'neurocomputing dogma' is far from true.

Nature is one of the most valuable sources of inspiration for researchers developing new robots and computational techniques. Over the past few decades, technological advances have enabled the creation of increasingly sophisticated systems replicating naturally occurring processes and phenomena, such as animal behaviors and biological mechanisms.

To assist humans in completing manual chores or tasks, robots must efficiently grasp and manipulate objects in their surroundings. While in recent years robotics researchers have developed a growing number of techniques that allow robots to pick up and handle objects, most of these only proved to be effective when tackling very basic tasks, such as picking up an object or moving it from one place to another.