Robots promise to transform our lives in myriad ways. Having already revolutionized the production line, robots are getting smarter, smaller and more capable, and they're walking, rolling and flying out of labs and into homes and businesses at an astonishing rate. With the ability to perform tasks that are considered too menial or impossible for humans, robots are destined to make many aspects of our lives easier. Will they ultimately supplant us? We'll just have to wait and see.
It's often tempting to think that if Apple had its way, iPhone users would be replacing their phones every year. As it is, there are a lot of traded-in iPhones that need recycling – and that's where the company's new Daisy robot comes in.
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The team has been let go. The robots are back in a dusty old warehouse, and MegaBots Inc's dream of an international giant fighting robot league lies in tatters. All that stands between Eagle Prime and oblivion is 200 grand, a handycam, a laptop and one desperate founder.
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Assembling IKEA furniture is perhaps not the most popular of past times, but homemakers could soon gain a helping hand from a dexterous new robot developed at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore that has assembled an IKEA chair in 20 minutes.
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When the elevator is out, firefighters could find themselves having to carry heavy equipment up many flights of stairs. Such a scenario has prompted Trigen Automotive to develop Auberon, a mechanical exoskeleton designed to take the strain out of carrying emergency equipment up to tower-top fires.
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One particularly active area of robotics research involves the exploration of soft parts, which are opening up new possibilities and making machines safer for humans to work around. Now they are gaining a helping hand from the amazing adhesive properties of the gecko.
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Ahead of a major United Nations meeting to address the growing issues surrounding lethal autonomous weapons, a team of leading AI and robotics researchers has called for a boycott of a South Korean university that recently announced the opening of an AI weapons lab.
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A couple of years ago, design firm Carlo Ratti Associati showcased a system in which drones were used to draw images on walls. It was very clever, but perhaps not something that could become a commercial product. The company's Scribit wall-drawing robot, however, is intended to be just that.
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Roam Robotics is on a mission to develop exoskeletons for all kinds of activities, but its first prototype product is aimed at skiers. The new ski exoskeleton Roam is showing off can help bolster your technique and give you more time out on the slopes, without getting in the way of your fun.
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Festo, the German electrical automation company that previously brought us a robotic dragonfly, kangaroo and penguin, is back with a couple of new creations – a spider that can roll like a wheel, and a bat that flies by autopilot.
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Robots are often equipped with vacuum grippers, for holding onto flat objects. Typically, those grippers are powered by compressed air, which has some drawbacks. Now, however, scientists have developed one that instead utilizes an artificial muscle.
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