Robotics

Humanoids may be winning marathons and getting factory jobs, but after spending a few days with around 100 different robots of all shapes and sizes, one thing was clear: There's a chasm separating viral demonstration hype and reality.

A bipedal humanoid might not be the best design for operation in microgravity. A four-armed robot from an offshoot of ETH Zurich brings four arms into the equation – one pair to anchor Helios to surfaces while the other pair gets to work.

A Silicon Valley startup wants to put a trainable humanoid robot on every developer's bench for under $3,000 – and the first production batches of Domo are already being prepared for early customers.

The first humanoid training school for bots of all shapes and sizes opens soon, bringing together more than 100 different models with the one goal – to learn real-world skills, and help future "students" get up to speed even faster. What a timeline.

Thanks to researchers at Georgia Tech, humanoid robots have taken new steps towards replacing human labor – and not simply for dangerous tasks such as mining the depths of the Earth, or difficult tasks such as high-speed mass-assembly of cars.

The next time you fly through Tokyo's Haneda Airport, your luggage might be taken care of by the dexterous hands of a humanoid robot. It's part of a pilot program to address a shortage of ground support staff in Japan.

"Ancient Japanese Art Brings Spineless Robot To Life!" Sounds very much like a movie summary. In reality, it describes the recent work of engineers who have created a robot that moves without a single motor, using the principles of origami instead.

A field of robots competing in a half marathon demonstrated how frighteningly fast the technology has developed in 12 months. Even if one bot had a race to forget, smashing into pieces at the starting line, Honor's Lightning instead smashed records.

This ain't teleoperation. Chinese researchers have tested a new, much quicker and easier method of teaching robots to play tennis, and the results look like a breakthrough in machine learning and real-world AI.

Texas Instruments has teamed up with NVIDIA to link technologies designed to "accelerate the path from simulation to the safe deployment of humanoid robots in the real world." The partnership fuses real-world sensing tech with massive computing power.

If someone asked you to move like a robot and you responded with the fluid art of ballet, your audience would be baffled, yet technically, you would be right. Robots are famous for their characteristic rigid movement, which is useful in some applications but can hinder adaptability. Now, researchers have developed a robotic wing that moves like no other.

BMW is expanding its investigation of humanoid robotic workers at its factories. The automaker has just announced that it will trial a set of physical AI bots made by Hexagon for the first time at one of its European plants.

Less than two years since it was founded, San Francisco-based startup Weave Robotics is accepting pre-orders for its first home robot, which promises to do one thing well: fold your laundry. But it might still need remote human help.

Researchers have developed an electronic skin that allows humanoid robots to distinguish everyday touch from damaging force. That ability, once reserved for living nervous systems, could reshape how robots interact with the physical world and with humans.

Shanghai robotics startup DroidUp has launched what it calls "a beautifully designed and expressive bionic robot" that is touted as "the world's first highly bionic robot that deeply integrates human aesthetics and advanced humanoid movement."