Robotics, AI and SmartTech News – Latest Headlines

RSS Subscribe to our Robotics, AI & SmartTech News feed

Herb, the robot butler, uses arms, location and more to discover objects (w/video)

A robot can struggle to discover objects in its surroundings when it relies on computer vision alone. But by taking advantage of all of the information available to it - an object's location, size, shape and even whether it can be lifted - a robot can continually discover and refine its understanding of objects, say researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute.

May 6th, 2013

Read more

Oxygen-sensing microrobots

When the retina's supply of blood and oxygen runs low, physicians have to react quickly to preserve a patient's eyesight. But up until now there have been no methods sensitive enough to measure how well the eye is oxygenated. A microrobot invented by ETH researchers may come to the rescue.

May 6th, 2013

Read more

Controlling robots with your thoughts

Facial grimaces generate major electrical activity (EEG signals) across our heads, and the same happens when Angel concentrates on a symbol, such as a flashing light, on a computer monitor. In both cases the electrodes read the activity in the brain. The signals are then interpreted by a processor which in turn sends a message to the robot to make it move in a pre-defined way.

May 4th, 2013

Read more

Robots Flobi and Nao take part in a space simulation

The two robots Flobi and Nao worked full time for three weeks in an isolation study in Cologne. Scientists from Bielefeld University's Research Institute for Cognition and Robotics (CoR-Lab) were studying how these intelligent assistance systems can help astronauts to keep fit - both physically and mentally.

May 3rd, 2013

Read more

Seahorse's armor gives engineers insight into robotics designs

The tail of a seahorse can be compressed to about half its size before permanent damage occurs, engineers at the University of California, San Diego, have found. The tail's flexibility is due to its structure, made up of bony, armored plates, which slide past each other. Researchers are hoping to use a similar structure to create a flexible robotic arm, which could be used in medical devices, underwater exploration and unmanned bomb detection and detonation.

May 1st, 2013

Read more

Robots able to reach through clutter with whole-arm tactile sensing (w/ video)

Whether reaching for a book out of a cluttered cabinet or pruning a bush in the backyard, a person's arm frequently makes contact with objects during everyday tasks. Animals do it too, when foraging for food, for example. Much in the same way, robots are now able to intelligently maneuver within clutter, gently making contact with objects while accomplishing a task. This new control method has wide applications, ranging from robots for search-and-rescue operations to assistive robotics for people with disabilities.

Apr 30th, 2013

Read more