Robotics
The latest news and reporting on robotics, from cutting-edge research to robovacs.
Latest
Apple is developing personal robots for your home, Bloomberg says
According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple is working on at least two robots at the moment.
Agility's Digit warehouse robot understands natural language commands thanks to AI smarts
Agility Robotics shared a demo video Wednesday of one of its Digit robots upgraded with AI smarts. Although that may conjure images in your mind of sentient sci-fi machines taking over the world, the demo video reveals much more plodding, if not boring, work.
Amazon says its new AI-powered robots reduce fulfilment time by 25 percent
The company claims the technology will also improve safety, though robots in their warehouses have been previously linked to more injuries.
GE Aerospace is developing a robotic worm to inspect and repair jet engines
GE Aerospace has demonstrated a worm-like robot that could one day inspect and repair jet engines. The Sensiworm (Soft ElectroNics Skin-Innervated Robotic Worm) is designed to serve as “extra sets of eyes and ears” for service engineers and mechanics as they examine the insides of engines.
Apptronik’s Apollo is the latest humanoid robot to beat Tesla to market
Apptronik unveiled a new workforce robot today. Named Apollo, the machine is designed to “work in environments designed for, and directly alongside, humans.” The android is initially intended to move and carry cases and totes in logistics and manufacturing settings. But the Austin-based Apptronik sees Apollo expanding into “construction, oil and gas, electronics production, retail, home delivery, elder care” and more. Apollo follows Xiaomi’s reveal of the CyberOne robot last year, which looked remarkably similar to the still-unreleased Tesla Bot.
The JumpMod haptic backpack makes virtual leaps more realistic
The untethered device provides a more convincing illusion of vertical movement than today's best VR visual tricks alone.
Robosen’s auto-transforming Grimlock will set you back about a mortgage payment
Robosen announced a new auto-converting Transformer today. After launching its self-transforming Optimus Prime in 2021, the company set its sights on Grimlock, the Autobot-allied leader of the Dinobots who changes from a robot into a mechanical T-Rex. However, its $1,699 sticker price (a mere $1,499 for pre-orders) also allows it to transform your finances for the worse.
Students create robot death machine for invasive spotted lanternflies
The spotted lanternfly may look innocent, but these ravenous creatures have been known to decimate crops, causing more than $500 million in damages to various fruit trees since being accidentally introduced to this country nearly a decade ago. Students at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute have developed a plan to battle the insects via a robot death machine that targets eggs.
A robot puppet rolled through San Francisco singing Vanessa Carlton hits
In 2002, pop star Vanessa Carlton and her piano "made their way downtown" through Newbury Park in Los Angeles. Twenty-one years later, a team of hobbyist roboticists have brought Carlton’s music to the streets of San Francisco.
The next-gen ‘Digit’ robot gets a head and hands
Agility Robotics announced an updated version today of its bipedal Digits warehouse robot. Designed to take on repetitive or injury-risking tasks, the new version adds a head and hands, and it can handle a wider variety of demanding workloads than its predecessor.
MIT’s new modular lunar robot has ‘worms’ for arms
MIT engineers have designed a walking lunar robot cleverly inspired by the animal kingdom. The “mix-and-match” system is made of worm-like robotic limbs astronauts could configure into various “species” of robots resembling spiders, elephants, goats and oxen. The team won the Best Paper Award last week at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Aerospace Conference.
The Ghostwriter typewriter brings generative AI to the printed page
"I wanted Ghostwriter to evoke warm feelings and make people comfortable playing with it," Sanjeev told Engadget. "I chose the mental model of the typewriter for this reason."
FDA clears Wandercraft's exoskeleton for stroke patient rehab
Wandercraft's exoskeleton has received FDA clearance to help stroke patients recover their gait.
German Bionic debuts its lightest powered exosuit to date at CES 2023
German Bionic, the robotic exoskeleton startup behind the Cray X, will be showing off two new posture-protecting products at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada this week.
Robots are learning to brace themselves against walls to avoid falling
Robots are learning to prevent falls by propping against a wall, much like a human.
Hitting the Books: How Dave Chappelle and curious cats made Roomba a household name
Lowen Liu explores the development of iRobot's Roomba vacuum and its unlikely feline brand ambassadors.
Boston Dynamics sues rival Ghost Robotics for allegedly copying its robot dog (updated)
Boston Dynamics is suing Ghost Robotics for allegedly duping the design of its robot dog.
MIT solved a century-old differential equation to break 'liquid' AI's computational bottleneck
On Tuesday, MIT researchers announced that they have devised a solution to a vexing computational bottleneck, not by widening the data pipeline, but by solving a differential equation that has stumped mathematicians since 1907.
Tiny robotic fingers let humans interact with insects
Researchers have built robotic 'microfingers' that would let you safely touch insects.
VR-controlled robots are being designed to treat injured soldiers
UK researchers envision a future where medical technicans send telepresence robots into harm's way.
