Robotics, AI and SmartTech News – Latest Headlines

Innovative image processing for service robots

Fraunhofer IPA presents new technologies for 3D environment perception and object recognition.

March 17, 2014 Read more

Soft robotic fish moves like the real thing (w/video)

A new robotic fish can change direction almost as rapidly as a real fish.

March 13, 2014 Read more

If you want to trust a robot, look at how it makes decisions

Robots, and autonomous systems in general, can cause anxiety and uncertainty, particularly as their use in everyday tasks becomes a more immediate possibility. In order to lessen at least some of that anxiety, we should shift our focus from the decisions robots could make on our behalf to how they actually make them in the first place. In some ways, they may be more trustworthy than a human.

March 11, 2014 Read more

University of Nevada, Reno joins with NevadaNano for flying robot sensor project

New US Army contract funds initial phase of development of innovative autonomous aerial system.

March 6, 2014 Read more

Robotic prosthesis turns drummer into a three-armed cyborg (w/video)

Invention gives amputee more control and creativity

March 6, 2014 Read more

NASA tests new robotic refueling technologies (w/video)

NASA has successfully concluded a remotely controlled test of new technologies that would empower future space robots to transfer hazardous oxidizer - a type of propellant - into the tanks of satellites in space today.

March 6, 2014 Read more

Helping robots learn to walk

A two-legged robot can learn to walk on different surfaces thanks to computer code that mimics the natural adaptability of humans.

February 28, 2014 Read more

Robotic technology in the service of fashion

Two companies receiving support from the Business Incubator in Universidad Carlos III in Madrid's Science Park are innovating the field of fashion by using technology based in robotics. Samsamia is launching a mobile application - Dresscovery - that identifies a bag just by taking a photo of it, while beMee is creating a system, called Proximus, that locates people visiting a shopping mall in order to better serve them.

February 27, 2014 Read more

Rise of the compliant machines

MIT spinout Meka Robotics, recently acquired by Google, creates 'sociable' humanoids that could help advance human-robot interaction.

February 20, 2014 Read more

Robotic construction crew needs no foreman (w/video)

Inspired by termites' resilience and collective intelligence, a team of computer scientists and engineers has created an autonomous robotic construction crew. The system needs no supervisor, no eye in the sky, and no communication: just simple robots - any number of robots - that cooperate by modifying their environment.

February 19, 2014 Read more

Quest for jellyfish robot leads to discovery of bending rules for animal wing, fin tips

A project to design a biologically inspired, swimming jellyfish robot has led scientists to the surprising discovery of common bending rules for the tips of wings, fins, flukes, mollusk feet, and other propulsors across a broad range of animal species.

February 18, 2014 Read more

Robotic fish aids understanding of how animals move

The weakly electric black ghost knifefish of the Amazon basin has inspired Northwestern University's Malcolm MacIver to develop agile fish robots that could lead to a vast improvement in underwater vehicles used to study fragile coral reefs or repair damaged deep sea oil rigs.

February 16, 2014 Read more

Herding robots (w/video)

A new system combines simple control programs to enable fleets of robots - or other 'multiagent systems' - to collaborate in unprecedented ways.

February 12, 2014 Read more

Robot may accelerate trials for stroke medications

Robot protocol able to cut time and cost of Phase III drug trials by 70 percent.

February 11, 2014 Read more

Micro-robotic advance in 3-D printing and tissue engineering technology

Researchers announced a unique micro-robotic technique to assemble the components of complex materials.

February 11, 2014 Read more

Maybe robots should, like, hedge a little

Before long, robots will be giving us helpful advice, but we don't want them to be snippy about it. Research at Cornell and Carnegie Mellon universities suggests that if they sound a little less sure of themselves and throw in a few of the meaningless words humans are fond of, listeners will have a more positive response.

February 10, 2014 Read more

Prostheses with sensory feedback

An artificial limb that enables amputees to grasp at an object and feel it as though they were using their real hand.

February 6, 2014 Read more

'Friendly' robots could allow for more realistic human-android relationships

Two 'friendly' robots, including a 3D-printed humanistic android, are helping scientists to understand how more realistic long-term relationships might be developed between humans and androids.

February 6, 2014 Read more