Robotics, AI and SmartTech News – Latest Headlines

Robots help teach social skills to kids with autism spectrum disorder

Scientists are working with a team of autism experts and robotics designers at the company Robokind to create Robots4Autism. This program uses an artificially intelligent robot with a full range of facial expressions to interact with children who have ASD.

May 2, 2014 Read more

MOOC course 'Autonomous Navigation for Flying Robots'

Set to be launched on May 6th on the edX platform, the new Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) of the Technische Universität München (TUM) will teach participants how to navigate these convenient aircraft. The 8-week 'Autonomous Navigation for Flying Robots' course consists of weekly presentations of learning videos, while participants themselves can complete interactive practice exercises with a quadrotor.

May 2, 2014 Read more

Robots may need to include parental controls

Older adults' fears that companion robots will negatively affect young people may create design challenges for developers hoping to build robots for older users.

April 30, 2014 Read more

Crowdfunding camapign for mosquito-dissecting robot to automate malaria vaccine production (w/video)

Biotechnology company Sanaria Inc.aims to raise at least $250,000 in a crowdfunding campaign. Funds will be dedicated to the development of SporoBot, a robot that will dissect mosquito salivary glands. By replacing manual microdissection of mosquito salivary glands, Sporobot will automate a key step in the manufacturing process of Sanaria PfSPZ Vaccine against malaria.

April 30, 2014 Read more

Snake-like robot advances automated assembly of aircraft wings

Even today, aircraft wings are still assembled manually; but this process could soon be automated thanks to a novel snake-like robot capable of tightening bolts in even the most difficult-to-access cavities of the wing structure.

April 30, 2014 Read more

Scientists create circuit board modeled on the human brain (w/video)

Stanford scientists have developed faster, more energy-efficient microchips based on the human brain - 9,000 times faster and using significantly less power than a typical PC. This offers greater possibilities for advances in robotics and a new way of understanding the brain.

April 28, 2014 Read more

The way of the future: 'swarming' robots

EVOLVINGROBOT is a European research project which has developed an artificial intelligence system to control tiny robots, enabling them to replicate the 'swarming' behaviour seen in insects such as bees or ants, or even in birds and fish. It is an innovation which could have far-reaching implications for a range of human activities, from medical to industrial, military and disaster relief.

April 25, 2014 Read more

Robot scouts rooms people can't enter

Researchers are creating a room-mapping system that can be used to map rooms in three-dimensional space.

April 23, 2014 Read more

Fruit fly research could help design small bio-inspired flying robots (w/video)

Caltech researchers uncover a mechanism for how fruit flies regulate their flight speed, using both vision and wind-sensing information from their antennae.

April 16, 2014 Read more

Look who's evolving now: Using robots to study evolution

Researchers have successfully used a colony of rodent-like robots to watch different mating strategies evolve. The work not only generated interesting and unexpected results, but it has also helped validate the use of robots in the study of evolution.

April 14, 2014 Read more

Eye of the beholder - improving the human-robot connection (w/video)

Researchers are programming robots to communicate with people using human-like body language and cues, an important step toward bringing robots into homes.

April 11, 2014 Read more

Startup creates underwater robotics with a human touch (w/video)

It should be just as easy to use a robotic arm as it is to use your own hand. That's the thinking behind University of Washington startup BluHaptics, which is taking telerobotics - controlling robots from a distance - to a new level: underwater.

April 8, 2014 Read more

As fast as their tiny 'bot' legs will carry them (w/video)

Micro-robots, smaller than a penny, could one day swarm to the rescue.

April 7, 2014 Read more

Orienteering for robots

Algorithm for determining orientation of objects could aid robots in navigation, scene understanding.

April 4, 2014 Read more

EU funding for robots that learn and think for themselves

An EU-funded project, SMEROBOTICS, seeks to develop SME-suitable robots that are sufficiently agile to enable companies to change processes and robot assignments without having to call in specialists.

April 1, 2014 Read more

Mobile robots support airplane manufacturers

In production facilities, robots, and people will soon be working side-by-side. A new mobile assistant is intended to support technicians in the airplane manufacturing industry when applying sealant, measuring, and testing - without putting them at risk.

April 1, 2014 Read more

IPAnema - cable-driven robot for intralogistics

Their very large workspaces, good mobility and high payload capacity allow cable-driven robots to meet high requirements. The IPAnema cable-driven robot is an innovative robot system featuring state-of-the-art control techniques and proven components.

March 27, 2014 Read more

XPRIZE and TED announce a global competition to advance artificial intelligence

XPRIZE announces today the creation of a prize competition presented by TED, the nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, for the development of artificial intelligence (AI) so advanced that it could deliver a compelling TED Talk with no human involvement.

March 27, 2014 Read more