[ad_1] Last week a lot of people got their first taste of an in-the-wild encounter between organic human life and one of Boston Dynamics’ advanced robots. In Northern Ontario, Canada @bloodtear noticed the Spot robot walking down the street and had an encounter that wouldn’t have been odd if it had been with a real […]
Category: robot
NASA delays its Titan drone mission by another year
[ad_1] It’s an ambitious project. This will represent NASA’s first multi-rotor science vehicle on another celestial body, and the first of any kind to carry its full science payload between multiple areas. The drone will spend nine years flying relatively regular missions to collect samples and study both the habitability of Titan as well as […]
Electronic skin reacts to pain like a human
[ad_1] Electronic skins can already react to touch, but they’re not much good at reacting to the jabs and burns that cause pain. That’s a problem for prosthetics and robots that are supposed to have human-like responses. They may be more sensitive in the future, though. RMIT University researchers have developed an artificial skin (via […]
This cardboard Wolfenstein 3D setup invites you to punch Nazis remotely
[ad_1] We’ve seen Wolfenstein — and usually Doom — ported to all kinds of platforms before, but this cardboard version of iD Software’s classic FPS is unique. Through the magic of telepresence, players control a tiny robot that is actually driving through a tiny maze, knocking over cardboard Nazis as they go. If you want […]
Harvard and Sony built a tiny surgery robot inspired by origami
[ad_1] In a microscopic tracing test, the researchers found that the mini-RCM was 68 percent more accurate than a hand-controlled tool. The robot also successfully completed a mock version of a precise procedure in which a surgeon inserts a needle through an eye to “inject therapeutics into the tiny veins at the back of the […]
This tiny robotic beetle travels for two hours without a battery
[ad_1] The system’s “catalytic artificial micro-muscle” is made with a nickel-titanium (NiTi) shape-memory alloy (SMA), a wire that shrinks and expands with temperature changes. That wire is coated with platinum, and when the platinum interacts with RoBeetle’s methanol fuel, a combustion reaction generates heat. The temperature changes cause a tiny vent to slide back and […]
Pepper the robot can politely suggest you wear a damn mask
[ad_1] Using an image recognition AI and Single Shot Detector, Pepper can scan the faces of up to five people at once. On Pepper’s tablet, a green circle will appear around an image of anyone wearing a mask, and a red circle will appear around the image of anyone without a mask. Pepper can thank […]
AI helps drone swarms navigate through crowded, unfamiliar spaces
[ad_1] An additional tracking controller, Neural-Swarm, helps the drones compensate for aerodynamic interactions, such as the downwash from a robot flying overhead. It’s already more reliable than a “commercial” controller that doesn’t account for aerodynamics, with far smaller tracking errors. This could be useful for drone light shows, of course, but it could also help […]
A life-size Gundam statue will be completed outside of Japan in 2021
[ad_1] You won’t have to visit Japan to see a life-size Gundam statue in the months ahead, although you may still have to book a lengthy trip. Our Engadget Chinese colleagues report that Bandai Namco will debut an 18-meter (about 59ft) Freedom Gundam statue at the LaLaport Mall in Jinqiao, Shanghai, China sometime in 2021. […]
Researchers trained a quadruped robot to cross a balance beam
[ad_1] While four-legged robots can achieve impressive feats, like pulling an airplane or climbing a fence, they still have a few limitations. In most cases, they need a fairly large surface to walk on. A team of Italian robotics researchers is looking to change that. They’ve created a robotic controller that allows a quadruped robot […]