Robots

Keeping on top of weed growth can be an onerous task for farmers raising large-scale crops for harvest. A new robot could help them keep on top of things, however, by hunting down and killing unwanted plants with zaps of electricity.

Coming home to see your cat still lying in the same spot it was when you left that morning, it’s easy to assume they’re pretty happy with nothing to do. But they do get bored and need exercise. Enter Ebo, a new cat companion robot now on Kickstarter.

A wheeled robot designed to roll along on the underside of the ice cap is to be tested in the Antarctic. Dubbed BRUIE, the rover is part of a project to develop technology for studying the icy moons of the outer solar system.

Foosball tables are a common sight at hip, trendy tech startups, even though they're actually very low-tech devices. Perhaps RoboSoccer might be more appropriate, as it's an attempt to bridge the gap between physical and digital gaming.

A human-sized robot has been equipped with 1,260 cells to create what is claimed to be the first autonomous humanoid robot with artificial skin covering its entire body.

The Window Wizard robot is designed to autonomously move across the glass while cleaning it.

This week DARPA kicks off a competition called the Subterranean Challenge, where hordes of robots are unleashed into caves and tunnels to test how well they can autonomously navigate these environments. One team's designs could lead to robots that explore caves on other planets.

Robot arms are getting smarter and smarter all the time, and now a team from Georgia Tech has taught them how to make their own tools. These resourceful robots are first taught to match form and function, then let loose on a series of everyday objects to build what they need to complete a given job.

Back in March, the first Tokyo 2020 Robot Project helpers were revealed. Now Toyota has pulled back the curtain on its full line-up, with mascot bots, full-sized humanoids and field support bots joining the delivery and human support robots already announced.

A team of engineers in Germany has created a tiny jellyfish-inspired robot, which can not only swim, but transport objects, mix fluids and even bury itself. It's hoped the five millimeter tetherless "jellyfishbot" could help us understand the survivability of baby jellyfish in changing environments.

​We've been following the exploits of Harvard's tiny Robobee for a few years now. Until recently, it's been powered via a wire tether, but researchers have cut the cord by installing teeny solar panels on the little robotic insect.​

Fieldwork Robotics – a spinout company from the University of Plymouth in the UK – has announced the successful completion of early field trials of a raspberry-harvesting robot. If commercialized, the system could help make up for a shortage of human fruit pickers in the country.