A research team has shown for the first time that reinforcement learning—i.e., a neural network that learns the best action to perform at each moment based on a series of rewards—allows autonomous vehicles and underwater robots to locate and carefully track marine objects and animals. The details are reported in a paper published in Science … Read more
A new soft robotic gripper is not only 3D printed in one print, it also doesn’t need any electronics to work. The device was developed by a team of roboticists at the University of California San Diego, in collaboration with researchers at the BASF corporation, who detailed their work in Science Robotics. The researchers wanted … Read more
Recent advances in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) have opened exciting new avenues for teleoperation, the remote control of robots to complete tasks in a distant location. This could, for instance, allow users to visit museums from afar, complete maintenance or technical tasks in spaces that are difficult to access or attend … Read more
Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a robotic gripping device that is gentle enough to pick up a drop of water, strong enough to pick up a 6.4 kilogram (14.1 pound) weight, dexterous enough to fold a cloth, and precise enough to pick up microfilms that are 20 times thinner than a human … Read more
A research article exploring the use and interaction of automation technologies and robotics in the environment including in engineering nature has been published in Geoforum. Climate/ecological breakdown and automation are two defining challenges of the current era, yet there is little research on their conjunctural intersection. Across experimental landscapes from agriculture to conservation to mining … Read more
Insects in nature possess amazing flying skills and can attach to and climb on walls of various materials. Insects that can perform flapping-wing flight, climb on a wall, and switch smoothly between the two locomotion regimes provide us with excellent biomimetic models. However, very few biomimetic robots can perform complex locomotion tasks that combine the … Read more
Motion capture (mocap) systems, technologies that can detect and record the movements of humans, animals and objects, are widely used in various settings. For instance, they have been used to shoot movies, to create animations with realistic lip and body movements, in interactive videogame consoles, or even to control robots. Researchers at Skolkovo Institute of … Read more
Modular robots—robotic systems that can adapt their body configuration to change locomotion style or move on different terrains—can be highly advantageous for tackling missions in diverse environments. Over the past decade or so, engineers have developed a wide range of modular robots that rely on different designs and underlying mechanisms. A research team at Westlake … Read more