The digital and physical worlds are becoming more and more populated by intelligent computer programs called agents. Agents have the potential to intelligently automate many daily tasks such as maintaining an agenda, driving, interacting with a phone or computer, and many more. However, there are many challenges to solve before getting there. One of them is that agents need to recognize and express intentions, Michele Persiani shows in his thesis in computing science at Umeå University.
As robots become increasingly advanced, they are likely to find their way into many real-world settings, including homes, offices, malls, airports, health care facilities, and assisted living spaces. To promote their widespread use and implementation, however, roboticists should ensure that robots are well-perceived and trusted by humans.
When you hear the term "robot," you might think of complicated machinery working in factories or roving on other planets. But "millirobots" might change that. They're robots about as wide as a finger that someday could deliver drugs or perform minimally invasive surgery. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Polymer Materials have developed a soft, biodegradable, magnetic millirobot inspired by the walking and grabbing capabilities of insects.
Advances in technology, in particular artificial intelligence (AI), are impacting our everyday lives in ever more ways—including our sex lives. Sex robots—life-size, lifelike machines powered by AI and used for sexual purposes—are one such emerging technological system. While they remain very niche, those who make, use and study them believe the market offers room for growth.
Recent technological advancements have paved the way for the creation of increasingly sophisticated robotic systems designed to autonomously complete missions in different familiar and unfamiliar environments. Robots meant to operate in uncertain or remote environments could greatly benefit from the ability to actively acquire electrical power from their surroundings.
Skin-like electronics could seamlessly integrate with the body for applications in health monitoring, medication therapy, implantable medical devices, and biological studies.
With recent advances in artificial intelligence and robotics technology, there is growing interest in developing and marketing household robots capable of handling a variety of domestic chores.
Barbara Ribeiro, Robert Meckin, Andrew Balmer and Philip Shapira have published a new paper in Research Policy on the digitalization paradox of everyday scientific labor.
In recent years, roboticists and material scientists worldwide have been trying to create artificial systems that resemble human body parts and reproduce their functions. These include artificial skins, protective layers that could also enhance the sensing capabilities of robots.
People have been fascinated by bird flight for centuries, but exactly how birds can be so agile in the air remains mysterious. A new study, published Sept. 5 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, uses modeling and aerodynamics to describe how gulls can change the shape of their wings to control their response to gusts or other disturbances. The lessons could one day apply to uncrewed aerial vehicles or other flying machines.
The physics of walking for multi-legged animals and robots is simpler than previously thought. That is the finding described by a team of roboticists, physicists and biologists in the Sept. 5 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, in a paper titled "Walking is like slithering: a unifying, data-driven view of locomotion."
Student teams are an underappreciated resource in much of the scientific community. Joining a team working toward a goal while at university, whether for racing solar-powered cars or digging fish ponds in Africa, is an excellent way to sharpen technical and project skills while improving communication and teamwork. The space industry is starting to catch on to these strengths, with student teams developing exciting projects all over the world. A recent entry comes from students at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands—a six-legged robot called Lunar Zebro with a unique take on wheels.
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.