Robotics

Marine aquaculture pens have to be regularly checked for holes, plus the fish need to be inspected for parasites. And although the job is typically performed by human divers, it turns out that a robotic sea turtle may be a better choice for the task.

Engineers at Stanford have developed motorized exoskeletons that strap to a user’s legs to make running easier. It's not something you’d wear down to the park for a jog, but it could eventually find use as a form of last-mile transportation.

Scientists at Stanford University and University of California, Santa Barbara have put forward a particularly interesting soft robot design, showing off an inflatable machine that can change shape and roll in controllable directions while untethered.

When we pick up an object, we can adjust our grip if that object proves to be a slippery customer. ETH researchers have developed a sensor that could help robot grippers to do the same.

Boston Dynamics and OTTO Motors have teamed up to demonstrate where warehouse automation is headed. In a newly released video, a Boston Dynamics Handle robot picks boxes and builds pallets atop an OTTO Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) platform.

Scientists working with microfluids as part of biotechnology research often rely on large, clunky machines to manage the samples, but this tinkering could one day be handled by tiny robots that make the process far more efficient.

Shimon the robot is a marimba-mashing musical maestro we first saw back in 2017. Now he’s learned to sing, dance, write lyrics and compose his own melodies – and he’s about to go on tour to promote his first album.

Researchers at Northwestern University have come up with a new congestion-busting control algorithm for autonomous vehicles, demonstrating its capabilities via a swarm of tiny robots that can assemble into desired shapes within 60 seconds.

Engineers from Johns Hopkins have looked to how snakes move around to inform the design of a nimble new robot. It is hoped that the development could lead to search and rescue bots able to tackle all kinds of obstacles with ease.

Boston Dynamics put its nimble four-legged robot called Spot up for sale in September last year, and its unique abilities are catching the attention of oil companies looking toward a future of automation.

Robots move along in all kinds of different ways. Some walk on legs, others roll on wheels, and some crawl on tracks. At some point though, they'll encounter an obstacle and the RCTR tackles this by rising up and trundling on over.

Scientists in Korea are touting their newly unveiled robotic hand as the world’s strongest, with an ability to handle objects three times its own weight but also to take on delicate tasks like playing a piano or serving a glass of water.