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Soft-bodied robots: Actuators inspired by muscle
Wyss Institute
01 Jun 2016
To make robots more cooperative and have them perform tasks in close proximity to humans, they must be softer and safer. A new actuator developed by a team led by George Whitesides, Ph.D. — who is a...
‘Robot kindergarten’ trains droids of the future
University of British Columbia
27 May 2016
Less than 100 years from now, robots will be friendly, useful participants in our homes and workplaces, predicts UBC mechanical engineering professor and robotics expert Elizabeth Croft. We will be li...
Airborne tech is coming to the rescue
Horizon Magazine
25 May 2016
by Fintan Burke
‘There’s no real way to determine how safe it is to approach a building, and what is the safest route to do that,’ said Dr Angelos Amditis of the Institute of Communication an...
Using static electricity, RoboBees cling to surfaces
Wyss Institute
24 May 2016
By Leah Burrows, SEAS Communications
In a recent article in Science, Harvard roboticists demonstrate that their flying microrobots, nicknamed the RoboBees, can now perch during flight to save energ...
Robot bees open the lid on hive behaviour
Horizon Magazine
23 May 2016
by Steve Gillman
It’s part of a series of projects where researchers are building robots that mimic evolutionary traits of animals in order to interact with the world in a more efficient way.
...
Fish and ships: artificial lily pads and mussels monitor Europe’s waters
Horizon Magazine
16 May 2016
by Fintan Burke
Europe’s waters have never been busier. Between fishing boats, tourist cruisers, and underwater turbines, marine habitats around the continent have never before needed a more watc...
Ingestible origami robot
MIT News
13 May 2016
By: Larry Hardesty
In experiments involving a simulation of the human esophagus and stomach, researchers at MIT, the University of Sheffield, and the Tokyo Institute of Technology have demonstrated...
Making an autonomous robotic ecosystem: Hortum Machina B
William Victor Camilleri and Danilo Sampaio
13 May 2016
Largely architecture is understood as static. Buildings do not conform to nature, its environment and nor to human beings. We, as architects, feel the need to integrate plants in buildings to the poi...
Protecting European wine: Vinbot rover optimises harvest and quality
Horizon Magazine
13 May 2016
by Fintan Burke
With warmer winters and drier summers, climate change might even be having an effect on your favourite bottle of wine.
Winemakers are already witnessing changes. In...
Nature inspires new generation of robot brains
Horizon Magazine
11 May 2016
by Rex Merrifield
Animals have evolved sophisticated ways of processing sensory data to make sense of their surroundings. Now, robotics researchers are drawing inspiration from biological processes...
The Monospinner: world’s mechanically simplest controllable flying machine
The Monospinner (Fig.1), developed at the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control at ETH Zurich, is the mechanically simplest, controllable, flying machine in existence. It has only one moving part ...
Octopus points to the future for keyhole surgery
Horizon Magazine
02 May 2016
by Rex Merrifield
Keyhole, or minimally invasive, surgery can offer many benefits over more traditional, open operations, including reduced risk of infections, quicker recovery times and less scarrin...
Cable-driven parallel robots: Motion simulation in a new dimension
To date, cable-driven parallel robots have been used in production environments, where they meet high requirements. The systems surpass conventional industrial robots in size and payload by between on...
New startup accelerator looks to enable smart and connected machines
Sabine Hauert
14 Apr 2016
The Kickstart Accelerator program in Switzerland is currently accepting applications from early-stage startups making "smart and connected machines", namely robots....
Why robots need to be able to say ‘No’
Matthias Scheutz
13 Apr 2016
Should you always do what other people tell you to do? Clearly not. Everyone knows that. So should future robots always obey our commands? At first glance, you might think they should, simply because ...
SpaceX nails landing on drone ship
Kassie Perlongo
11 Apr 2016
After several unsuccessful attempts, SpaceX finally made a perfect touchdown with its Falcon 9 rocket on the drone ship, aptly named: 'Of Course I Still Love You.' A historic moment with the help...
3-D printing hydraulically-powered robots, no assembly required
CSAIL MIT
06 Apr 2016
By Adam Conner-Simons | CSAIL
One reason we don’t yet have robot personal assistants buzzing around doing our chores is because making them is hard. Assembling robots by hand is time-consuming, ...
Wireless localizer could mean safer drones and password-free WiFi
CSAIL MIT
01 Apr 2016
By Adam Conner-Simons | CSAIL
We’ve all been there, impatiently twiddling our thumbs while trying to locate a WiFi signal. But what if, instead, the WiFi could locate us?...
Gestures improve communication – even with robots
Frontiers in Psychology
31 Mar 2016
By: Abigail Pattenden
In the world of robot communication, it seems actions speak louder than words. Scientists in the UK have discovered that by getting robot avatars to “talk with their hands,...
Robots grow up: Building the emotional machine
Angelica Lim and Footnote
29 Mar 2016
From the sci-fi classic “Bladerunner” to the recent films “Her” and “Ex Machina,” pop culture is filled with stories demonstrating our simultaneous fascination with and fear of artificial ...
Why making robots is still hard
SPARC
23 Mar 2016
Making robots is no easy task. If you talk to roboticists, they will tell you that it took years before the last robot they built or programmed was any good at performing a specific task. And although...
Interview: Billion dollar brain with Professor Alois Knoll
Robotics and Automation News
23 Mar 2016
By: Abdul Montaqim
Professor Knoll, one of the most influential roboticists in Europe, is currently the co-ordinator of the European Clearing House for Open Robotics Development (Echord), and one of...
Robotics narratives: Birth of the bots
UW-Madison Science Narratives
15 Mar 2016
UW-Madison Science Narratives and partners have joined together to create a 5-month video and audio adventure, exploring the work of Dr Bilge Mutlu and colleagues as they craft robots from a human per...
Talking Machines: Machine learning in healthcare and the AlphaGo matches
Talking Machines
14 Mar 2016
In episode five of season two, Ryan walks us through variational inference. We put some listener questions about Go and how to play it to Andy Okun, president of the American Go Association (who is in...
Applying direct transcription methods to robot motion planning
NCCR Robotics
08 Mar 2016
When you walk across a room or down a path, your brain is making thousands of decisions on how best to move. For example, how best to use your weight, scanning for any obstacles or uneven surfaces, ...
Testing the lifetime of human-machine interfaces in a few days
Fraunhofer IPA and Martin Haegele
07 Mar 2016
Thousands of repetitions in the space of just a few days: while manually impossible, this can be accomplished by a newly developed robot system from Fraunhofer IPA. Whether it’s a matter of pressing...
Could we make a moral machine?
Alan Winfield
02 Mar 2016
Could we make a moral machine? A robot capable of choosing or moderating its actions on the basis of ethical rules?
This was how I opened my IdeasLab talk at the World Economic Forum 2016. Th...
3 types of robot singularities and how to avoid them
Alex Owen-Hill and Robotiq Inc.
02 Mar 2016
If you are interested in science, "singularity" probably makes you think of a black hole. Black holes are popular in the media right now since the LIGO lab in America proved the existence of gravitat...
Workshop robots controlled by touch
Horizon Magazine
29 Feb 2016
by Fintan Burke
The era of robots that can be controlled by designers rather than engineers will enable Europe’s small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to compete more effectively against oft...
New electrical film that is both solid and liquid
NCCR Robotics
29 Feb 2016
As soft robotics increases in both scope and popularity, it is becoming more and more vital that each element of the electrical circuits contained within are also soft and elastic and able to continue...
A new quadrupedal robot, the ANYmal
NCCR Robotics
25 Feb 2016
ANYmal is a quadrupedal robot designed for autonomous operation in difficult terrains. It is capable of running and climbing, and with its incorporated laser sensors and cameras, the robot can perce...
Enabling human-robot rescue teams
MIT News
18 Feb 2016
By Larry Hardesty, MIT CSAIL
Autonomous robots performing a joint task send each other continual updates: “I’ve passed through a door and am turning 90 degrees right.” “After advancing 2 fe...
Creating a synthetic “second skin” with soft pneumatic actuators
NCCR Robotics
17 Feb 2016
Soft pneumatic actuators (SPAs) are an up and coming solution to the contradictory design criteria that many robotic systems have – high torque/force often means greater weight and volume, which is ...
ROSCon 2015 recap and videos – part 1
Open Source Robotics Foundation
13 Feb 2016
ROSCon is an annual conference focused on ROS, the Robot Operating System. Every year, hundreds of ROS developers of all skill levels and backgrounds, from industry to academia, come together to teach...
What’s new in robotics this week? Chameleon robot blends in with its surroundings
Emmet Cole and Robotiq Inc.
12 Feb 2016
Soft bots; record-breaking North American robot sales; robots saving refugees; chameleon robot blends in with its surroundings; Robot Law and more....
Drones recognise and follow forest trails in search of lost people
NCCR Robotics
10 Feb 2016
A team of Swiss researchers have taught drones to recognise and follow forest trails. This research unlocks applications of drones for search and rescue in wilderness....
