Category: robotics

This virtual robotics camp is launching just in time for summer

[ad_1] When campers sign up for a week, they get a  UKIT robotics building kit to keep that includes servos, connectors, a main control box, and 300-500+ pieces. They’ll also receive 10-plus hours of live virtual instruction from experienced educators. Campers can choose from basics in robotics, coding, and engineering to more advanced camps in […]

Scientists can 3D print insect-like robots in minutes

[ad_1] It might soon be relatively trivial to make soft robots — at least, if you have a 3D printer handy. UC San Diego researchers have devised a way to 3D-print insect-like flexible robots cheaply, quickly and without using exotic equipment. The trick was to print “flexoskeletons,” or rigid materials 3D-printed on to flexible and […]

Scientists created living robots out of stem cells

[ad_1] “These are novel living machines,” says Joshua Bongard, a computer scientist and robotics expert at UVM who co-led the new research. “They’re neither a traditional robot nor a known species of animal. It’s a new class of artifact: a living, programmable organism.” To determine the best design for this new life form, researchers from […]

Watch a herd of MIT’s Mini Cheetah robots frolic in the fall leaves

[ad_1] Really, this illustrates how the Mini Cheetah project is moving forward. Now that the bot is proven to work, MIT is building a fleet to lend out examples for research projects. Demos like this are a step toward improvements in robot locomotion and other scientific pursuits. Whatever creepiness you see here could lead to […]

MIT and Ford help delivery robots navigate to your doorstep

[ad_1] The clues can be described in general terms, like “front door” or “garage.” As MIT explains, the robot might be trained to know that a driveway often leads to a sidewalk which likely leads to the front door. “Even if a robot is delivering a package to an environment it’s never been to, there […]

BILL-E is a cute robot that builds structures block by block

[ad_1] The team calls their creation BILL-E, short for Bipedal Isotropic Lattice Locomoting Explorer — and, yes, it’s named after WALL-E. Each one looks like a small arm, with a hinge at the middle that gives the robot its signature inchworm-like gait. At both ends of the arm, BILL-E features tools for clamping down on […]

Toyota is using VR to train robots as in-home helpers

[ad_1] The VR training system allows human teachers to see what the robot is seeing live, in 3D, from its sensors. The teacher can instruct the robot and annotate the 3D scene, for instance adding a note on how to grasp a handle. This allows human trainers to teach robots arbitrary tasks with a variety […]

A mind-controlled exoskeleton helped a paralyzed man walk again

[ad_1] As part of a study with the University of Grenoble Alpes in France, the patient, who goes by Thibault, agreed to have two five-centimeter discs of his skull replaced with brain sensors, each with 64 electrodes. The researchers mapped Thibault’s brain to determine which areas become active when he thinks about walking or moving […]

Harvard’s noodly robot fingers are great at grabbing jellyfish

[ad_1] Jellyfish are about 95 percent water, and the remaining five percent of their body is incredibly delicate. At the moment, most of the tools used to capture jellyfish in their natural habitat were developed for the marine oil and gas industries, and they often shred jellyfish to pieces when they attempt to capture them. […]

Sphero acquires LittleBits and eyes international growth

[ad_1] Combined, Sphero and LittleBits have sold more than $500 million in robots and electronics. They’ve reached over six million students globally. And with this acquisition, Sphero now has over 140 patents in robotics, electronics, software and IoT. This isn’t the first time Sphero has branched out beyond robotics. Last year, it acquired Specdrums, and […]