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Flowstate: Intrinsic’s app to simplify the creation of robotics applications

Ricardo Téllez 18 Jun 2023

Intrinsic (a spin-off of Google-X) has revealed the product they have been working with the help of the Open Source Robotics Corporation team (among others): Flowstate!

Ranking the best humanoid robots of 2023

Andra Keay 03 Jun 2023

Is Rosie the Robot Maid from the Jetsons here yet? As more and more companies announce their work towards the affordable humanoid robot, I wanted to create a reference chart.

Our future could be full of undying, self-repairing robots – here’s how

The Conversation 01 Feb 2023

Could it be that future AI systems will need robotic “bodies” to interact with the world? If so, will nightmarish ideas like the self-repairing, shape-shifting T-1000 robot from the Terminator 2 movie come to fruition? And could a robot be created that could “live” forever?

Year end summary: Top Robocar stories of 2022

Brad Templeton, Robocars.com 10 Jan 2023

Here's my annual summary of the top stories of the prior year. This time the news was a strong mix of bad and good.

Five ways drones will change the way buildings are designed

The Conversation 02 Jan 2023

It’s crucial that the ways drones are affecting our future are understood by the majority of people. As experts in design futures and mobility, we hope this short overview of five ways drones will affect building design offers some knowledge of how things are likely to change.

Countering Luddite politicians with life (and cost) saving machines

Oliver Mitchell 04 Dec 2022

Beyond aerial tricks, drones are now being deployed in novel ways to fill the labor gap of menial jobs that have not returned since the pandemic.

‘Killer robots’ will be nothing like the movies show – here’s where the real threats lie

The Conversation 19 Oct 2022

Killer robots won’t be sentient humanoid robots with evil intent. This might make for a dramatic storyline and a box office success, but such technologies are many decades, if not centuries, away. It’s much simpler technologies we should be worrying about.

Tesla’s Optimus robot isn’t very impressive – but it may be a sign of better things to come

The Conversation 04 Oct 2022

Musk has now unveiled a prototype of the robot, called Optimus, which he hopes to mass-produce and sell for less than US$20,000 (A$31,000).

RoboCup humanoid league: Interview with Jasper Güldenstein

AIhub and Lucy Smith 20 Sep 2022

We talked to Jasper Güldenstein about how teams transferred developments from the virtual humanoid league to the real-world league.

Peace on Earth (1987): Using telerobotics to check in on a swarm robot uprising on the Moon

Robin Murphy 13 Sep 2022

Read this classic hard sci-fi novel and expand your horizons about robots, teleoperation, and swarms.

Why household robot servants are a lot harder to build than robotic vacuums and automated warehouse workers

The Conversation 09 Sep 2022

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.

A draft open standard for an Ethical Black Box

Alan Winfield 19 May 2022

Within the RoboTIPS project, we have developed and tested several model of Ethical Black Boxes, including one for an e-puck robot, and another for the MIRO robot.

Robots and romance: science fiction and science

Robin Murphy 12 Feb 2022

Here are five recommendations for sci-fi movies with a discussion of the related real-world robotics science.

UN fails to agree on ‘killer robot’ ban as nations pour billions into autonomous weapons research

The Conversation 16 Jan 2022

Given the pace of research and development in autonomous weapons, the U.N. meeting might have been the last chance to head off an arms race.

Robots can be companions, caregivers, collaborators — and social influencers

The Conversation 26 Nov 2021

People are hardwired to respond socially to technology that presents itself as even vaguely social. While this may sound like the beginnings of a Black Mirror episode, this tendency is precisely what allows us to enjoy social interactions with robots and place them in caregiver, collaborator or companion roles.

Ethics is the new Quality

Alan Winfield 30 May 2021

I took part in the first panel at the BSI conference The Digital World: Artificial Intelligence. The subject of the panel was AI Governance and Ethics. My co-panelist was Emma Carmel, and we wer...

On sustainable robotics

Alan Winfield 20 Apr 2021

The climate emergency brooks no compromise: every human activity or artefact is either part of the solution or it is part of the problem.I've worried about the sustainability of consumer electronics f...

One robot on Mars is robotics, ten robots are automation

Andra Keay 02 Mar 2021

The difference between robotics and automation is almost nonexistent and yet has a huge difference in everything from trade shows, marketing, publications to academic conferences and journals. This we...

The future of robotics research: Is there room for debate?

Debates on the Future of Robotics Research 22 Jan 2021

By Brian Wang, Sarah Tang, Jaime Fernandez Fisac, Felix von Drigalski, Lee Clement, Matthew Giamou, Sylvia Herbert, Jonathan Kelly, Valentin Pertroukhin, and Florian Shkurti As the field of robotic...

Shaping the UK’s future with smart machines: Findings from four ThinkIns with academia, industry, policy, and the public

Sabine Hauert 18 Dec 2020

The UK Robotics Growth Partnership (RGP) aims to set the conditions for success to empower the UK to be a global leader in Robotics and Autonomous Systems whilst delivering a smarter, safer, more pros...

Should robots be gendered? comments on Alan Winfield’s opinion piece

Silicon Valley Robotics and Andra Keay 10 Dec 2020

The gendering of robots is something I’ve found fascinating since I first started building robots out of legos with my brother. We all ascribe character to robots, consciously or not, even when we u...

30 women in robotics you need to know about – 2020

Women In Robotics 13 Oct 2020

It’s Ada Lovelace Day and once again we’re delighted to introduce you to “30 women in robotics you need to know about”! From 13 year old Avye Couloute to Bala Krishnamurthy who worked alongsid...

CES 2020: A smart city oasis

Oliver Mitchell 26 Jan 2020

Like the city that hosts the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) there is a lot of noise on the show floor. Sifting through the lights, sounds and people can be an arduous task even for the most experienc...

The 5G report card: Building today’s smart IoT ecosystem

Oliver Mitchell 07 Dec 2019

The elephant in the room loomed large two weeks ago at the inaugural Internet of Things Consortium (IoTC) Summit in New York City. Almost every presentation began apologetically with the refrain, R...

Engaging the public in robotics: 11 tips from 5,000 robotics events across Europe

SPARC 21 Nov 2019

Europe is focussed on making robots that work for the benefit of society. This requires empowering future roboticists and users of all ages and backgrounds. In its 9th edition, the European Robotics W...

Summer travel diary: Reopening cold cases with robotic data discoveries

Oliver Mitchell 14 Aug 2019

Traveling to six countries in eighteen days, I journeyed with the goal of delving deeper into the roots of my family before World War II. As a child of refugees, my parents’ narrative is missing...

My top three policy and governance issues in AI/ML

Alan Winfield 22 Jun 2019

In preparation for a recent meeting of the WEF global AI council, we were asked the question: What do you think are the top three policy and governance issues that face AI/ML currently?...

Joining forces to boost AI adoption in Europe

SPARC 21 Jun 2019

Europe is gearing up to launch an Artificial Intelligence Public Private Partnership (AI PPP) that brings together AI, data, and robotics. At its core is a drive to lead the world in the development a...

The social animals that are inspiring new behaviours for robot swarms

The Conversation 12 May 2019

By Edmund Hunt, University of Bristol From flocks of birds to fish schools in the sea, or towering termite mounds, many social groups in nature exist together to survive and thrive. This cooperativ...

An updated round up of ethical principles of robotics and AI

Alan Winfield 12 May 2019

This blogpost is an updated round up of the various sets of ethical principles of robotics and AI that have been proposed to date, ordered by date of first publication....

Robots guarded Buddha’s relics in a legend of ancient India

The Conversation 28 Apr 2019

By Adrienne Mayor As early as Homer, more than 2,500 years ago, Greek mythology explored the idea of automatons and self-moving devices. By the third century B.C., engineers in Hellenistic Alexandr...

Automate 2019 startup showdown recap

Oliver Mitchell 21 Apr 2019

It’s been two years since the last time I judged the Automate Startup Competition. More than any other trade show contest, this event has been an oracle of future success. In following up with t...

AI for society: creating AI that supports equality, transparency, and democracy

The Royal Society 27 Feb 2019

By Jessica Montgomery, Senior Policy Adviser The Royal Society’s artificial intelligence (AI) programme explores the frontiers of AI technologies, and their implications for individuals, communit...

What do California disengagement reports tell us?

Brad Templeton, Robocars.com 19 Feb 2019

California has released the disengagement reports the law requires companies to file and it's a lot of data. Also worth noting is Waymo's own blog post on their report where they report their miles ...

The news from CES is there wasn’t much news from CES

Brad Templeton, Robocars.com 25 Jan 2019

My feet are aching, as usual, after 3 days on the CES show floor, and the question people always ask others there is "what have you seen that was interesting?" I won't say I didn't see anything int...