robots
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Watch VFX bring Westworld's dystopian LA to life
Watch how VFX team DNEG created the dystopian land of 'Westworld.'
Harvard shrank its insect-inspired microrobot to the size of a penny
Harvard researchers have made the tiny Harvard Ambulatory Microrobot (HAMR) even tinier. The next-gen HAMR-JR is one of the smallest and fastest microrobots to date.
MIT gives soft robots a better sense of touch and spatial awareness
Researchers from MIT give robotic grippers a better sense what they’re gripping and how much force to use.
South Korean cafe uses robotic baristas to comply with social distancing
A cafe in Daejeon, South Korea, is using robots to prepare drinks and deliver them to customers.
Hitting the Books: Do we really want our robots to have consciousness?
Although I argue for self-awareness, I do not believe that we need to worry about consciousness. Let’s first try to build some interesting robots without consciousness and see how far we get.
Sphero spins off a new company to make robots for police, military use
Robotic toy maker Sphero is spinning its public safety division into a new company focused on robots for first responders, government and defense.
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.
NASA crowdsourcing helps build a better Moon digging robot
NASA has picked the winners from a challenge that asked the public to improve its Moon digging robot.
Soft robots can now run like cheetahs and swim like marlins
The days of sedate soft robots could soon come to an end thanks to a novel robo-spine developed by researchers at North Carolina State University.
Grab Shark's IQ self-emptying robot vacuum for $170 off at Wellbots
Shark's IQ robot vacuum is on sale for $429, well under its usual $599 price.
Save $300 on the Roomba i7+ vacuum robot at Best Buy
Typically, you have to spend $1,000 to get the Roomba i7+, so this is compelling sale on an otherwise expensive device.
Muscle sensors may let you control a drone by clenching your fist
MIT has developed a system that uses muscle sensors to control robots more intuitively.
UPS will use drones to deliver prescriptions to retirees in Florida
Residents of The Villages, Florida will soon be able to get their drug prescriptions delivered to them partly by air.
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.
AI transforms 'The Great British Bakeoff' into a horror show
Artificial intelligence (AI) can do astonishing things when given specific jobs, but it's terrible at understanding context -- something we've seen before in this series. Thanks to a new experiment inspired by The Great British Bakeoff (GBBO), we can again witness the tragedy of AI stepping outside its lane. Researcher Janelle Shane trained NVIDIA's StyleGan 2 system on images of the show's bakers, pastries and tents, along with "random squirrels," and the results were decidedly not charming and sweet.
Tesla's Autopilot could soon detect traffic lights
It looks like Tesla's Autopilot feature will soon be able to recognize traffic lights. A video shared on Twitter, shows a Tesla cruising through several green lights and slowing to a stop when it detects a red light. There is some speculation that Tesla will include the feature in its next Autopilot update.
The Morning After: Reviewing the iPad Pro (2020)
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous. I spent the last few days talking with Huawei, listening to Huawei and (briefly) playing with its new flagship P40 Pro phone. If you've been following the company's progress over recent years, you'll know it really hit its groove making aggressively high-specced smartphones with incredible cameras and imaging tricks. But hopes of becoming the de facto Android phone maker (and kicking Samsung aside) were crushed when the US government took aim at Huawei, and Google had to stop providing Android services (as you know 'em) for Huawei devices. The P40 is its first P series phone since that bombshell, and it doesn't have the Google Play app store, Chrome or Google Maps. Making things worse, Huawei's app store is still severely lacking, despite huge teams of software engineers and an outreach program to the biggest app developers both globally and in specific countries. So, what do I think of the P40? It feels like a Galaxy phone, to be honest, all curves and sloping sides. It comes with a 5X optical zoom, backed by a huge imaging sensor that would be more at home in a compact camera than a phone. The specs are to die for, but the reality of using it is a dull one. I'll be carrying around the P40 for a little longer -- even if there's really not many places to go at this moment in time. Hey, at least Nintendo is ensuring there's no shortage of games for me to play. -- Mat
Engineers test a powered 'ankle exoskeleton' to make running easier
Ankle exoskeletons could help you run longer and faster and even serve as a new mode of transportation, according to a team of Stanford University engineers. The engineers tested a motorized exoskeleton rig that attaches around the ankle and foot and found that it made running 15 percent easier. They explained that when the exoskeleton's motor is switched on, it reduces the energy cost of running and allows the user to run longer than they're usually capable of. The device can also boost a runner's speed by as much as 10 percent.
The terrible, fantastic life of AbleGamers COO Steven Spohn
When Twitch streamer DrDisrespect won the Trending Gamer prize at the 2017 Game Awards, there was a tiny riot on Twitter. There's always a buzz of hashtag activity after a winner is announced as people congratulate or disagree with the pick, but this time around, there was a small yet clear consensus: Steven Spohn should have won. As the Chief Operating Officer of AbleGamers, a charity working to make video games more accessible to people with disabilities, Spohn was the face of positive change in the industry. He regularly shared insightful affirmations on Twitter, as well as deeply personal stories about the realities of living with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a disease that was progressively destroying his motor neurons and muscles. Meanwhile, DrDisrespect was best known for wearing a mullet wig and mocking his teammates with racist accents in Fortnite streams.
Lifting weights in a Panasonic exosuit destined for the Tokyo Olympics
Exosuits, exoskeletons and power-assist suits are mostly a thing of science fiction, used for battling alien menaces or lifting extremely heavy obstacles. Mostly. Now companies like Panasonic are making the case for actually using one. The reality is less about batting away threats and more about supporting workers with physically demanding or repetitive jobs and tasks. That was why Panasonic's Atoun Model Y was meant to go to the Tokyo Olympics, right?
