ROBOTICS TODAYRobots, automation, and the ideas moving them forward. Direct from the source.
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In-home assistive robots could clean and organize a home while the owner is away, but without enhanced memory capabilities, they could cause more problems than they solve. They could, for example, cause a major inconvenience if they move important objects like wallets and keys b…
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An octopus can bend one part of an arm around an obstacle while another reaches into a small crevice to grab an object. Reproducing that local control in a soft robot requires multiple actuators—components that turn energy into movement—together with their mounting hardware and…
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"One of the biggest reasons we are winning against robotics companies is because we are not a robotics company."
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For a service robot moving through an office, recognizing "furniture" is useful. When the robot has to plan a route or interact with objects, it also needs finer detail, such as whether that furniture is a chair, table or bookcase, and whether an opening is a door or a window. T…
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We are used to seeing images of humanoid robots clumsily walking, stumbling over objects and awkwardly freezing in place. Struggling with real-world movement is one of the biggest drawbacks of current robotics. But now a team of researchers has come up with a new system to make…
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A quick search of humanoid robot videos will deliver demonstrations of two-legged robots playing soccer, dancing, jumping several feet in the air, even competing in kickboxing matches. It is all dazzling, certainly. But roboticist Aaron Ames, the Booth-Kresa Leadership Chair and…
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Swimming can take a lot of muscle. But as MIT engineers have found, even a single layer of muscle cells can power through water if designed right. In a paper published Sept. 28 in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, the team presents a design for a thin, muscle-powered sw…
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A Venus flytrap closes its leaves to trap prey when it senses a stimulus. Taking inspiration from this plant, KAIST researchers have combined the roles of skin that senses approaching objects and muscle that grasps them in a single soft material. When an electrically charged obj…
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MIT engineers’ new aquabot offers a way to design small, efficient “biohybrid” robots.
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Building useful robots starts with understanding the people who use them. For Charlie Kemp, cofounder and chief technology officer of Hello Robot, that means developing assistive robots that can help people with everyday tasks and support greater independence. In this Robots Gui…
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