At the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland, the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL) is testing a prototype passive support system called Third Arm, which evenly distributes the weight of heavy weapons, allowing soldiers to use them with less fatigue and greater accuracy.
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Why start from scratch when nature has already designed better robot materials and parts than ours? Japanese researchers have now developed a new way to integrate living muscle tissue onto a robotic skeleton, and make it move in a realistic way that takes some of the strain off.
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If robots are ever going to earn their keep, they’ll need to learn on the job. AI researchers from Nvidia have now demonstrated a system that lets robots do just that, learning how to perform a specific task by watching someone do it just once.
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Hydrogels could make for robots that are more flexible, safer to be around and simpler to build and use. Now researchers at Rutgers University have developed a smart gel that can be 3D printed into a variety of shapes, and electrically-activated to make it “walk” underwater, grab and move objects.
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MIT engineers have built a hybrid robotic glider that enjoys the best of both the aerial and on-water worlds. Their Albatross glider soars like a bird and skims the water like a sail craft, yet requires less wind than an albatross needs to stay aloft, and can travel 10 times faster than a sailboat.
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Engineers at Caltech and ETH Zurich have created a swimming robot that’s powered by material deformation. That means that it’s made using materials that change shape in response to temperature swings, and that deformation pushes the device through water.
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Every few months, Boston Dynamics reveals a video illustrating yet another impressive ability from its quickly evolving line of robots. The latest clips show its Atlas robot taking a casual jog in the woods and SpotMini autonomously taking an exploratory mission around an office building.
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The UK's Royal Navy has taken delivery of its first robotic minesweeper system. The demonstrator system is not only intended to hunt and clear traditional mines without placing sailors in harm's way, but can also deal with the more sophisticated modern digital mines.
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Misty Robotics reckons it's arrived at the point when its personal robot will go from development dream to widespread adoption. The bot has been designed to be relatively inexpensive and easy to access for those new to programming, while capable enough for seasoned roboticists to experiment with.
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When it comes to underwater robots, there are two kinds – Autonomous Underwater Vehicles that gather data while cruising along by themselves, and Remotely Operated Vehicles that perform tasks while being controlled in real time. Houston Mechatronics is combining them, in the form of the Aquanaut.
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