An international team led by researchers at the RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research (CPR) has engineered a system for creating remote controlled cyborg cockroaches, equipped with a tiny wireless control module that is powered by a rechargeable battery attached to a solar cell. Despite the mechanic devices, ultrathin electronics and flexible materials allow the insects to move freely. These achievements, reported in the scientific journal npj Flexible Electronics on September 5, will help make the use of cyborg insects a practical reality.
A team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, working with a pair of colleagues from the Harbin Institute of Technology, has developed a tiny actuated gearbox that can be used to give very tiny robots more power. In their paper published in the journal Science Robotics, the group describes how their gearbox works and the power improvements observed in several types of tiny robots.
A small robot with a clip-like hand and enough smarts to know which drinks are popular is part of an effort to make convenience stores even more convenient.
Robots can be better at detecting mental well-being issues in children than parent-reported or self-reported testing, a new study suggests.
Nature has provided great support for the development of robots. Inspired by manta rays, a team from the State Key Laboratory of Robotics at the Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed a bionic swimming robot that is actuated by cultured skeletal muscle tissue and controlled by circular distributed multiple electrodes (CDME). The robot can be efficiently propelled by only one muscle tissue.
The thermal radiation emitted by the human body is predominantly in the long-wave infrared region (8–14 μm), which is characterized by low photon energy and low power intensity.
Everybody could use a third arm sometimes, but for some it would be particularly helpful.
In recent years, deep learning algorithms have achieved remarkable results in a variety of fields, including artistic disciplines. In fact, many computer scientists worldwide have successfully developed models that can create artistic works, including poems, paintings and sketches.
Underwater robots are being widely used as tools in a variety of marine tasks. The RobDact is one such bionic underwater vehicle, inspired by a fish called Dactylopteridae known for its enlarged pectoral fins. A research team has combined computational fluid dynamics and a force measurement experiment to study the RobDact, creating an accurate hydrodynamic model of the RobDact that allows them to better control the vehicle.
Researchers University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), Université de Montréal and Mila have recently developed a hierarchical reinforcement learning framework to improve the precision of quadrupedal robots in soccer shooting. This framework, introduced in a paper pre-published on arXiv, was deployed on a Unitree A1, a quadruped robot developed by UnitreeRobotics.
In recent years, roboticists have developed a wide variety of robotic systems with different body structures and capabilities. Most of these robots are either made of hard materials, such as metals, or soft materials, such as silicon and rubbery materials.
A scientist from the Graduate School of Engineering at Osaka University proposed a numerical scale to quantify the expressiveness of robotic android faces. By focusing on the range of deformation of the face instead of the number of mechanical actuators, the new system can more accurately measure how much robots are able to mimic actual human emotions. This work, published in Advanced Robotics, may help develop more lifelike robots that can rapidly convey information.
Carnegie Mellon researchers have developed an open-source software that enables more agile movement in legged robots.
In recent years, roboticists have been trying to improve how robots interact with different objects found in real-world settings. While some of their efforts yielded promising results, the manipulation skills of most existing robotic systems still lag behinds those of humans.
Researchers at RWTH Aachen University in the team of Prof. Sebastian Trimpe and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) Stuttgart have recently developed the Wheelbot a symmetric reaction wheel unicycle that can autonomously jump onto its wheels from any initial position. This unique robot, introduced in a paper published in the IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters was fabricated using a combination of off-the-shelf and 3D printed components.