Humans have always been fascinated by scales different than theirs, from giant objects such as stars, planets and galaxies, to the world of the tiny: insects, bacteria, viruses and other microscopic objects. While the microscope allows us to view and observe the microscopic world, it is still difficult to interact with it directly.
A team of researchers at the University of Toronto has found a way to enhance the visual perception of robotic systems by coupling two different types of neural networks.
Vibrating tiny robots could revolutionize research.
It's easy to believe that robots are stealing jobs from human workers and drastically disrupting the labor market; after all, you've likely heard that chatbots make more efficient customer service representatives and that computer programs are tracking and moving packages without the use of human hands.
At the bottom of the ocean lie lumps of valuable metals such as copper, manganese, nickel and cobalt—materials crucial to accelerating the energy transition.
Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have engineered a virtual reality (VR) remote collaboration system which lets users on Segways share not only what they see but also the feeling of acceleration as they move. Riders equipped with cameras and accelerometers can feedback their sensations to a remote user on a modified wheelchair wearing a VR headset. User surveys showed significant reduction in VR sickness, promising a better experience for remote collaboration activities.
Tactile perception is essential information for humans perceiving the world physically. And tactile sensing plays an important role in improving the performance of planning and control for a robotic manipulator, so as to achieve complex robotic manipulations.
A team of researchers from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Stanford University led by Prof. Katie Driggs-Campbell, have recently developed a new deep reinforcement learning-based method that could improve the ability of mobile robots to safely navigate crowded spaces. Their method, introduced in a paper pre-published on arXiv, is based on the idea of using people in the robot's surroundings as indicators of potential obstacles.
The future of work is here.
Scientific progress is anything but automatic. The path to new discoveries is not a straight line. But while the route to nuclear energy breakthroughs may be circuitous, automated solutions can enhance the efficiency of the research process and get to the innovation a little sooner.
Skoltech researchers have developed an effective—and pretty dramatic—way for positioning a swarm of rescue or research drones. The operator wears a virtual reality helmet and a tactile interface to imitate shooting a bow to guide each drone toward its intended position with a series of shots.
A team of researchers from Korea University, Ajou University and Hanyang University, all in the Republic of Korea, has created a tiny aquabot propelled by fins made of a porous hydrogel imbued with nanoparticles. In their paper published in the journal Science Robotics, the group describes how the hydrogel works to power a tiny boat and reveals how much voltage was required.
Recent technological advancements are opening new and exciting opportunities for communicating with others and visiting places remotely. These advancements include telepresence robots, moving robotic systems that allow users to virtually navigate remote environments and interact with people in these environments.
Australian surf lifesavers are increasingly using drones to spot sharks at the beach before they get too close to swimmers. But just how reliable are they?
Associate Professor of the Department of Information Technologies and Computer Sciences at MISIS University, Ph.D., mathematician and doctor Alexandra Bernadotte has developed algorithms that significantly increase the accuracy of recognition of mental commands by robotic devices. The result is achieved by optimizing the selection of a dictionary. Algorithms implemented in robotic devices can be used to transmit information through noisy communication channels. The results have been published in the peer-reviewed international scientific journal Mathematics.