[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 […]
Category: robotics
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 […]
MIT researchers create robotic gripper that can untangle thin cables
[ad_1] MIT researchers approached the problem from a different angle, building a two-fingered gripper that’s meant to more closely resemble human fingers. The fingers are outfitted with high resolution tactile sensors, known as “GelSight” sensors, made of soft rubber with embedded cameras and mounted on a movable robot arm. The system has two controllers: one […]
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 […]
Autonomous robot uses UVC light to disinfect warehouses
[ad_1] The researchers believe the approach could be used to autonomously disinfect other environments, like factories, restaurants, supermarkets and schools. The system is capable of mapping a given space, and it can navigate between waypoints and other specified areas. “As we drive the robot around the food bank, we are also researching new control policies […]
AI robot ‘Erica’ will star in $70 million sci-fi movie ‘b’
[ad_1] It was up to Ishiguro and Ogawa to “teach” Erica how to act, which they did by applying the principles of method acting to artificial intelligence. Speaking to Hollywood Reporter, the film’s visual effects supervisor and producer Sam Khoze, explained, “In other methods of acting, actors involve their own life experiences in the role. […]
Qualcomm’s latest 5G-powered RB5 robotics platform is aimed at drone makers
[ad_1] Since the chip is geared towards machine vision and robotics applications, it can process up to 8K or 4K HDR video and 200 megapixel photos while dealing with up to seven cameras at once. On the software side, it comes with SDKs for neural processing, machine vision, localization, feature recognition and obstacle detection. To […]
Harvard shrank its insect-inspired microrobot to the size of a penny
[ad_1] Kaushik Jayaram/Harvard SEAS “The wonderful part about this exercise is that we did not have to change anything about the previous design,” said Kaushik Jayaram, first author of the paper on HAMR-JR. “We proved that this process can be applied to basically any device at a variety of sizes.” The researchers also wanted to […]
Bipartisan Senate bill aims to invest $100 billion in technology R&D
[ad_1] “The coronavirus pandemic has shown the science and technology gap between the United States and the rest of the world is closing fast and that threatens our long-term health, economic competitiveness, and national security,” Senator Schumer said in a statement. “America cannot afford to continue our decades-long underinvestment and expect to lead the world […]
Sphero spins off a new company to make robots for police, military use
[ad_1] Sphero has brought four million robots to market, including programmable tank robots, and it’s experience in mobility could come in handy. We’ve also seen it make wearables. Though so far, those have been used to create music, not keep users safe. It’s not entirely surprising that Sphero would see an opportunity in the military […]