Robots

Researchers have created a new class of robots that can shift between solid and liquid forms on demand. In a series of tests, these new bots could change shape to run obstacle courses, carry objects, or even escape from a jail cell like a Terminator.

While we've heard about a number of "electronic noses," the devices are rarely as sensitive as their natural counterparts. That's why Israeli scientists have taken a new approach, by incorporating a locust antenna into an odor-identifying robot.

One ant is not very smart, but together they can achieve some remarkable things. Inspired by this emergent cooperative behavior, Harvard researchers have built robots that can work together to escape from a “prison,” without needing a specific plan.

The green economy desperately needs huge quantities of battery metals, and they're sitting right there on the deep ocean floor. Here's a device designed to harvest them with the minimum possible impact to one of the world's last untouched ecosystems.

Last year, Hong Kong's MangDang gave programmers the chance to own a small hackable four-legged robot named the Mini Pupper, a kind of baby Spot. Now the team has returned to Kickstarter with a much-improved second generation robo-dog.

Clone Robotics is going to impressive lengths to make sure its "intelligent androids" will have some of the most human-like hands in the business, and watching the way their hydraulic "muscles" move under a transparent skin is absolutely hypnotic.

Robot pets have been a sci-fi staple for decades, and in recent years we’ve seen a glut of them with varying success. The latest is Loona, a quite advanced-looking bot with a lot of tricks up its sleeves and a personality straight out of a Disney movie.

A machine named Cassie has set a Guinness World Record for the 100-meter dash by a bipedal robot, and while it’s far from the blistering pace of the world’s best athletes, it is an impressive demonstration of robotics and engineering.

There are already several autonomous robots that mow grass, and even a few that clear snow. The modular Yarbo robot, however, can tend to both grass and snow, plus it can blow away dead leaves or other debris.

Robotic ships have officially joined the US Navy. The Program Executive Office, Unmanned and Small Combatants announced on July 22 that the Navy's Unmanned Influence Sweep System uncrewed minesweeper has been awarded Initial Operating Capability.

As part of a research effort looking into hands-free charging solutions for EV drivers and autonomous vehicles, Ford has started testing a prototype robot charging station aimed at making the top-up process easier for folks with limited mobility.

Subsurface oceans on moons are some of the most promising places to look for life beyond Earth. NASA is now funding a project to develop a swarm of small swimming robots that would explore these alien oceans for signs of extraterrestrial life.