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No assembly required: Researchers automate microrobotic designs

Assembling a microrobot used to require a pair of needle-nosed tweezers, a microscope, steady hands and at least eight hours. But now researchers have developed a method that requires only a 3D printer and 20 minutes.

April 24, 2019 Read more

Snake-inspired robot slithers even better than predecessor (w/video)

Programmable kirigami metamaterials enable responsive surfaces and smart skins.

April 22, 2019 Read more

Giving robots a better feel for object manipulation (w/video)

Model improves a robot's ability to mold materials into shapes and interact with liquids and solid objects.

April 17, 2019 Read more

Shape-changing robots take on changing terrains

Robots can change directions, speeds and even their colors. But what about changing their shapes? With help from a sculptor's intuition, researchers are on it.

April 11, 2019 Read more

Laying the ground for robotic strategies in environmental protection (w/video)

Sheet pile driving robot autonomously builds erosion barriers from interlocking metal sheets in natural terrain, and robot swarms could be developed to protect threatened areas.

April 8, 2019 Read more

Researchers uncover the power of dynamically rewiring swarm robotic systems

Studies on the collective behavior of a swarm of land robots showed that a specific number of interactions among units is required to produce an optimal collective response.

April 5, 2019 Read more

Dynamic hydrogel used to make 'soft robot' components and LEGO-like building blocks

Using a new type of dual polymer material capable of responding dynamically to its environment, researchers have developed a set of modular hydrogel components that could be useful in a variety of soft robotic and biomedical applications.

March 21, 2019 Read more

Robots enable bees and fish to talk to each other

Through an imaginative experiment, researchers were able to get two extremely different animal species located far apart to interact with each other and reach a shared decision with the help of robots.

March 21, 2019 Read more

Robotic 'gray goo' (w/video)

Researchers create new kind of robot composed of many simple particles with no centralized control or single point of failure.

March 20, 2019 Read more

Robot hand is soft and strong (w/video)

Gripper device inspired by 'origami magic ball' can grasp wide array of delicate and heavy objects.

March 15, 2019 Read more

A robotic leg, born without prior knowledge, learns to walk

New AI algorithms could allow robots to learn to move by themselves, imitating animals.

March 11, 2019 Read more

Faster robots demoralize co-workers

Researchers have found that when robots are beating humans in contests for cash prizes, people consider themselves less competent and expend slightly less effort -- and they tend to dislike the robots.

March 11, 2019 Read more

Mathematics of sea slug movement points to future robots

Frilly surfaces that help slugs move may motivate future energy-efficient, soft-body robots.

March 7, 2019 Read more

These robots are small, shape-shifting, and they adapt to their surroundings

The goal of this lab is to create small, lightweight robots that can reconfigure themselves in response to a need.

March 6, 2019 Read more

Ultra-low power chips help make small robots more capable (w/video)

An ultra-low power hybrid chip inspired by the brain could help give palm-sized robots the ability to collaborate and learn from their experiences. Combined with new generations of low-power motors and sensors, the new application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) - which operates on milliwatts of power - could help intelligent swarm robots operate for hours instead of minutes.