Robotics

IBM's Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS400) has set sail across the Atlantic ocean without a crew or human control. The autonomous trimaran left Plymouth, England and en route to Plymouth, Massachusetts on a journey expected to take about three weeks.

Robots are great explorers, but one environment that’s tricky for them to navigate is through the ground. Now, engineers at UCSB and Georgia Tech have developed a snake-like robot that uses a range of methods to burrow through soft sand or soil.

As if the ray fishes weren't unusual enough already, it turns out that their sperm is also unique. Scientists have now created a robot inspired by those sperm, which may someday lead to smaller descendants that swim within the human body.

Besides being known for their cube-shaped droppings, wombats are also subject to the disease sarcoptic mange. In order to understand how the mange-causing mites are able to spread between wombats, scientists have developed a burrow-exploring robot.

According to Pennsylvania State University's Asst. Prof. Long He, the mushroom-farming industry is currently experiencing a labor shortage. His team has thus set about addressing that problem, by developing a mushroom-picking robot.

If you smiled at someone and they didn't smile back, you'd probably find it off-putting. Well, that's what usually happens if you smile at a humanoid robot … but not in the case of the expression-mirroring EVA.

MIT scientists have developed a finger-like sensor with the ability to dig into granular media like sand or gravel to get a sense of objects buried beneath the surface, which could lead to better ways of detecting and disarming land mines.

Paramecium and certain other microbes move through liquid by whipping back and forth hairlike appendages known as cilia. Scientists have now developed a new type of synthetic cilia, which could find use in micro-robots and more.

Though Sphero is probably best known for the BB-8 droid it released in 2015, more recently the focus has been on helping to kickstart future coders with educational bots. Now the indi robocar becomes the company's first robot aimed at early learners.

Robots are invading our homes more and more, but (so far at least) their intentions seem nice. Enabot’s latest home robot Ebo looks to give video calls a bit more mobility, letting remote users drop in, roam around and chat.

If you're looking for some robotic help when it comes to keeping your home clean and tidy, Roborock is one of the biggest names in the business, and the S7 is the newest model from the brand – a robovac that we've been extensively testing in recent weeks.

Australian researchers have cooked up a creative partial solution to the problem of labor shortages in the fruit-picking sector, developing a robot that can harvest apples from orchards at high speed.