Robotics, AI and SmartTech News – Latest Headlines

NIST launches national competition to make robots more agile

Manufacturers, robot suppliers and researchers, here's your chance to get in on the ground floor of an upcoming national competition intended to help make robots handier and nimbler performers on the factory floor.

January 21, 2016 Read more

Microbots individually controlled using 'mini force fields'

Researchers are using a technology likened to 'mini force fields' to independently control individual microrobots operating within groups, an advance aimed at using the tiny machines in areas including manufacturing and medicine.

January 12, 2016 Read more

Robot scientists discuss European research road maps

From 12 to 15 January, about 100 leaders from science and industry come to University of Twente's campus to discuss public-private partnerships in robotics. At the end of the week, there will be the kick-off of an innovative project, led by UT, about robots that will improve biopsy for cancer diagnostics.

January 11, 2016 Read more

Robots learn by watching how-to videos

Researchers are teaching robots to watch instructional videos and derive a series of step-by-step instructions to perform a task. You won't even have to turn on the DVD player; the robot can look up what it needs on YouTube.

December 18, 2015 Read more

Continuous adaptation makes for more natural interactions between robots and humans in shared tasks

A robot's role in a shared task could be continuously adjusted during the activity, thanks to a new adaptive robot control system that can sense whether a human operator wants to lead or follow.

December 16, 2015 Read more

Improved robotic testing systems

New mathematical models can give us better and cheaper robotic systems.

December 14, 2015 Read more

Roboticists learn to teach robots from babies

A collaboration between University of Washington developmental psychologists and computer scientists has demonstrated that robots can 'learn' much like kids - by amassing data through exploration, watching a human perform a task and determining how best to carry out that task on its own.

December 1, 2015 Read more

Computer scientists achieve breakthrough in pheromone-based swarm communications in robots (w/video)

An innovative, effective and low-cost system which replicates in robots the pheromone-based communication of insect swarms is now being made available to robotics and artificial intelligence researchers after an important breakthrough.

November 26, 2015 Read more

Research into pub communication with robot James

A robotic bartender has to do something unusual for a machine: It has to learn to ignore some data and focus on social signals. Researchers investigated how a robotic bartender can understand human communication and serve drinks socially appropriately.

November 25, 2015 Read more

Robots: the curiosity of the body

A new learning rule could help robots to acquire new movements and explain how people develop sensorimotor intelligence.

November 24, 2015 Read more

A row-bot that loves dirty water

Taking inspiration from water beetles and other swimming insects, researchers have developed the Row-bot, a robot that thrives in dirty water. The Row-bot mimics the way that the water boatman moves and the way that it feeds on rich organic matter in the dirty water it swims in.

November 23, 2015 Read more

Strategy based on human reflexes may keep legged robots from tripping

Trips and stumbles too often lead to falls for amputees using leg prosthetics, but a robotic leg prosthesis being developed now promises to help users recover their balance by using techniques based on the way human legs are controlled.

November 18, 2015 Read more

Reading the signs

Technology for fast and efficient detection of hand poses could lead to enhanced human-computer interactions.

November 4, 2015 Read more

Robots learn to walk (w/video)

Researchers have developed a robot whose gait comes closer than ever before to that of humans. The results of their study could also be used to develop better prostheses.

October 27, 2015 Read more

Robot bees fly and swim, soon they'll have laser eyes

The flying insects, designed for agriculture and disaster relief, will rely on technology used by driverless cars.

October 21, 2015 Read more

Tiny dancers: Can ballet bugs help us build better robots? (w/video)

When it's time to design new robots, sometimes the best inspiration can come from Mother Nature. Take, for example, her creepy, but incredibly athletic spider crickets.

October 20, 2015 Read more

Soft robot changes color as it grips and walks (w/video)

Scientists report a way to make elastic material for soft robots that changes color when it stretches. They say this process opens the door to robot camouflage, new ways to deliver medicines and other applications.

October 14, 2015 Read more

Bio-inspired robotic finger looks, feels and works like the real thing

Most robotic parts used to today are rigid, have a limited range of motion and don't really look lifelike. Inspired by nature and biology, a scientist has designed a novel robotic finger using shape memory alloy, a 3-D CAD model of a human finger, a 3-D printer and a unique thermal training technique. This bio-inspired robotic finger could ultimately be adapted to use as a prosthetic device, like a prosthetic hand.

October 8, 2015 Read more