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Engineers have taken the first steps toward building a novel dynamic sonar system inspired by horseshoe bats that could be more efficient and take up less space than current man-made sonar arrays.
May 21st, 2015
Read moreResearchers are developing tests to take full measure of robotic grasping - specifically, the motion and effort that gripping and manipulating entail. Their immediate goal: To provide useful performance-benchmarking tools to support research and innovation leading to ever-more handy capable robot appendages.
May 19th, 2015
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There are many unspoken rules of human interaction, whether that's whether or not to look them in the eyes, the firmness of the handshake, smiling or words of greeting. Little things like this can lead to big judgements about trustworthiness or social acceptability. What if we can use this type of behaviour to help humans and robots interact?
May 15th, 2015
Read moreUsing a smart tablet and a red beam of light, researchers have created a system that allows people to control a fleet of robots with the swipe of a finger.
May 12th, 2015
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To make cars as safe as possible, we crash them into walls to pinpoint weaknesses and better protect the people who use them. That's the idea behind a series of experiments by an engineering team who hacked a next generation teleoperated surgical robot to test how easily a malicious attack could hijack remotely-controlled operations in the future and to make those systems more secure.
May 7th, 2015
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A new programming approach gives robots more 'cognitive' capabilities, enabling humans to specify high-level goals, while a robot performs high-level decision-making to figure out how to achieve these goals.
May 7th, 2015
Read moreEngineers design synthetic gel that changes shape and moves via its own internal energy.
May 5th, 2015
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Mass production and packaging in factories is already highly automated these days, but the same cannot be said for logistics. Movements of raw materials and finished products still depend heavily on manual labour. However, EU-funded research on Automatic Guided Vehicles means this is about to change over the next decade.
Apr 20th, 2015
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Research seeks to make better 'human patient simulators'.
Apr 7th, 2015
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Ability to morph (change shape), propel itself and turn quickly in water (i.e. super-manoeuvrability) efficiently and silently, lending itself to future possibilities in surveillance and inspection.
Apr 2nd, 2015
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New discovery that can make a dielectric elastomer joint bend up and down demonstrates its potential in soft robotic applications as lightweight, energy-efficient flapping wings.
Mar 31st, 2015
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A new virtual reality robotization gaming system called Jointonation, has taken gaming to a new level by allowing the player to discover what it feels like to become a robot. The robotic simulation uses a combination of visual, auditory and tactile sensations to 'transform' the player's arms and legs into metallic limbs.
Mar 25th, 2015
Read moreIn the near future we may have household robots to handle cooking, cleaning and other menial tasks. They will be teachable: Show the robot how to operate your coffee machine, and it will take over from there.
Mar 24th, 2015
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Engineers have taken a leaf out of nature's book by equipping an artificial hand with muscles made from shape-memory wire. The new technology enables the fabrication of flexible and lightweight robot hands for industrial applications and novel prosthetic devices.
Mar 24th, 2015
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Hard-wiring beetles for radio-controlled flight turns out to be a fitting way to learn more about their biology. Cyborg insect research is enabling new revelations about a muscle used by beetles for finely graded turns.
Mar 16th, 2015
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Biorobotics researchers have developed the first aerial robot able to fly over uneven terrain that is stabilized visually without an accelerometer. Called BeeRotor, it adjusts its speed and avoids obstacles thanks to optic flow sensors inspired by insect vision.
Mar 10th, 2015
Read moreWho is the teacher: the student or the machine? By showing a robot how to write letters, children improve their writing skills and gain self-�confidence. This system, called CoWriter, was developed by EPFL researchers.
Mar 4th, 2015
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Scientists have developed a new experimental nursing care robot, ROBEAR, which is capable of performing tasks such as lifting a patient from a bed into a wheelchair or providing assistance to a patient who is able to stand up but requires help to do so.
Feb 23rd, 2015
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