Robotics
The latest news and reporting on robotics, from cutting-edge research to robovacs.
Latest
Watch a Boston Dynamics robot herd sheep in New Zealand
New Zealand-based robotics company Rocos shared a video of Boston Dynamics' Spot herding sheep across grassy pastures.
Christine Fisher05.19.2020
This virtual robotics camp is launching just in time for summer
I found an interesting possibility though, at least for my 8-year old: virtual robotics camp. More Zoom, yes, but Zoom with Robots! While UBTECH’s Camp:Aspire is an interesting stay-at-home STEM option, it’s not the only game in town.
Alyssa Walker05.18.2020
Boston Dynamics’ robot dog is chipping in to help COVID-19 patients
Boston Dynamics' four-legged robot is allowing healthcare providers to remotely triage COVID-19 patients at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Christine Fisher04.23.2020
Scientists can 3D print insect-like robots in minutes
3D-printed 'flexoskeletons' make it possible to build a soft robot in less than two hours without extravagant costs.
Jon Fingas04.11.2020
Google algorithm lets robots teach themselves to walk
There's no question that robots will play an increasingly central role in our lives in the future, but to get to a stage where they can be genuinely useful there are still a number of challenges to be overcome -- including navigation without human intervention. Yes, we're at a stage where algorithms will allow a robot to learn how to move around, but the process is convoluted and requires a lot of human input, either in picking up the robot when it falls over, or moving it back into its training space if it wanders off. But new research from Google could make this learning process a lot more straightforward.
Rachel England03.02.2020
Scientists created living robots out of stem cells
Scientists have created a new life form that's something between a frog and a robot. Using stem cells scraped from frog embryos, researchers from the University of Vermont (UVM) and Tufts University assembled "xenobots." The millimeter-wide blobs act like living, self-healing robots. They can walk, swim and work cooperatively. Refined, they could be used inside the human body to reprogram tumors, deliver drugs or scrape plaque out of arteries.
Christine Fisher01.15.2020
I skipped breakfast, but Samsung had a robot make me a salad
Normally when I miss breakfast, it's by choice. Today, it was because I was in a rush to get to Samsung's booth on the CES show floor and see if I could get any face time with the company's cute new rolling robot. (That, uh, didn't go so great.) The trip was still well worth it, though, because I got to eat a tofu salad partially made by a pair of robotic arms slung from the bottom of some kitchen cabinets.
Chris Velazco01.07.2020
Reachy is an expressive, open-source robot
Seems like everybody's getting into the AI and robotics game -- at least the companies and research institutions that can afford to build their platforms from the ground up are. France's Pollen Robotics, on the other hand, aims to kickstart the robotics revolution with its open-source system, Reachy.
Andrew Tarantola01.05.2020
Watch a herd of MIT's Mini Cheetah robots frolic in the fall leaves
MIT wants to show that its Mini Cheetah robots aren't just solitary creatures. The school's Biomimetics department has posted a video of nine of the bots frolicking in the fall leaves, showing just what these pet-sized quadrupeds can do. The remote-controlled machines can backflip out of leaf piles, kick a soccer ball and have friendly tussles... well, if a bodyslam can be considered friendly. There's even some eerie coordinated dancing, in case you want to know how robots will socialize once the robopocalypse is over.
Jon Fingas11.10.2019
MIT and Ford help delivery robots navigate to your doorstep
In order for delivery robots to drop your takeout, package or meal-kit at the door, they'll need to be able to find the door. In most cases, that requires mapping a location in advance so that the robot knows where to go. But to do that on a large scale is challenging and raises security and privacy concerns. Now, a team of engineers from MIT and Ford Motor Company think they might have an answer. They've created a technique that allows robots to navigate via clues, rather than maps.
Christine Fisher11.04.2019
BILL-E is a cute robot that builds structures block by block
A new robotics breakthrough could revolutionalize how we build everything from airplanes to bridges and even massive superstructures. A team of researchers at the Massachusettes Institute of Technology's Center for Bits and Atoms have created a new type of robot.
Igor Bonifacic10.16.2019
Girl Scouts can earn five STEM badges through Microsoft partnership
As part of its ongoing campaign to foster STEM education, the Girl Scouts of the USA has partnered with one of the biggest names in tech: Microsoft. Moving forward, Girl Scouts troop members will be able to earn five separate badges by taking part in free workshops held at Microsoft Stores across the US.
Igor Bonifacic10.14.2019
Ubtech’s latest educational, dancing robot is bigger and more lifelike
There are plenty of educational coding robots, but few have moves like UBTECH's dancing robot MeeBot. UBTECH launched the JIMU build-your-own-bot kit for MeeBot in 2016. Today, the company unveiled MeeBot 2.0.
Christine Fisher10.10.2019
Toyota is using VR to train robots as in-home helpers
Home robots could make all of our lives easier, and perhaps most importantly, they could allow seniors to live more independently. But training robots to operate in homes is difficult because each home is unique and filled with so many objects in different combinations and layouts. Toyota Research Institute (TRI) may have a solution: using virtual reality to change the way we train robots.
Christine Fisher10.04.2019
A mind-controlled exoskeleton helped a paralyzed man walk again
A paralyzed man regained the ability to walk with the help of a robotic exoskeleton that he controlled with his mind. Unlike other, more invasive mind-controlled robotics, this one used electrodes implanted above the brain's outer membrane, not in the brain itself. That could reduce the risk of infection and other obstacles that have limited the success of mind-controlled robotics.
Christine Fisher10.04.2019
Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robot is now a gymnast
The latest footage from Boston Dynamics is, unsurprisingly, both impressive and terrifying. Over the past few years we've seen Atlas navigate uneven terrain and even jump around a parkour course. This is on another level, though. The bipedal robot does a handstand, rolls around and even does a few jumping twists -- all without losing its balance.
Marc DeAngelis09.24.2019
Sphero Mini Activity Kit offers a mini-bot and 15 lessons for $80
For years, Sphero has pushed to bring robotics into the classroom. Now, the company wants to bring robotics and coding lessons to the living room, too. Today, the company unveiled the Sphero Mini Activity Kit: 15 step-by-step activities that can be done at home, as well as app updates aimed at budding coders.
Christine Fisher09.06.2019
These engineers and tech execs want to create a peaceful lunar settlement
A group of Silicon Valley tech executives and engineers want to create a peaceful, multinational lunar settlement. According to Bloomberg, the San Francisco-based Open Lunar Foundation plans to invest in hardware "to accelerate the exploration and settlement of the moon." And it's committed to creating a kind of cooperative that wouldn't be tied to one particular country or billionaire.
Christine Fisher09.05.2019
The company behind AR battle robots MekaMon is shutting down
So long, MekaMon. Reach Robotics, the company behind the customizable and kid-friendly spider robots, is closing its doors. In a LinkedIn blog post, co-founder and chief executive Silas Adekunle said the "consumer robotics sector is an inherently challenging space" and that the company, "in its current form at least," would not be moving forward. MekaMon, if you need a refresher, were gaming robots that battled each other and purely-digital enemies through an AR mobile app. The player's phone was both a controller and window into the otherwise invisible arena and blaster fire.
Nick Summers09.04.2019
Harvard's noodly robot fingers are great at grabbing jellyfish
Robots can be a bit heavy-handed. Their forceful grip might not be a problem when they're moving boxes in a warehouse, but they can damage fragile marine creatures like jellyfish. Researchers may have a solution. They've created a robotic hand with a squishy grabber and a gentle grip that uses "fettuccini-like silicone fingers" to catch and release fragile, gelatinous jellyfish.
Christine Fisher08.28.2019