Robotics Research News

April 25, 2024

Top Headlines

An Ink for 3D-Printing Flexible Devices Without Mechanical Joints

Apr. 18, 2024 — Researchers are targeting the next generation of soft actuators and robots with an elastomer-based ink for 3D printing objects with locally changing mechanical properties, eliminating the need for cumbersome mechanical ...

Octopus Inspires New Suction Mechanism for Robots

Apr. 18, 2024 — A new robotic suction cup which can grasp rough, curved and heavy stone, has been developed by ...

How 3D Printers Can Give Robots a Soft Touch

Apr. 17, 2024 — Soft skin coverings and touch sensors have emerged as a promising feature for robots that are both safer and more intuitive for human interaction, but they are expensive and difficult to make. A recent study demonstrates that soft skin pads doubling ...

Star Trek's Holodeck Recreated Using ChatGPT and Video Game Assets

Apr. 11, 2024 — Star Trek's Holodeck is no longer just science fiction. Using AI, engineers have created a tool that can generate 3D environments, prompted by everyday ...

Latest Headlines

updated 1:22pm EDT

Novel Robotic Training Program Reduces Physician Errors Placing Central Lines

Apr. 17, 2024 — More than five million central lines are placed in patients who need prolonged drug delivery, such as those undergoing cancer treatments, in the ...

Engineers Design Soft and Flexible 'Skeletons' for Muscle-Powered Robots

Apr. 8, 2024 — Engineers designed modular, spring-like devices to maximize the work of live muscle fibers so they can be harnessed to power biohybrid ...

'Smart Swarms' of Tiny Robots Inspired by Natural Herd Mentality

Apr. 3, 2024 — Researchers gave nanorobots a trait called adaptive time delay, which allows them to better work ...

Elastocaloric Cooling: Refrigerator Cools by Flexing Artificial Muscles

Apr. 2, 2024 — There is room for just one small bottle in the world's first refrigerator that is cooled with artificial muscles made of nitinol, a nickel-titanium alloy. But the mini-prototype is groundbreaking: it ...

Intelligent Liquid

Apr. 3, 2024 — Researchers have developed a programmable meta-fluid with tunable springiness, optical properties, viscosity and even the ability to transition between a Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluid. The ...

Revolutionary Biomimetic Olfactory Chips to Enable Advanced Gas Sensing and Odor Detection

Mar. 28, 2024 — A research team has addressed the long-standing challenge of creating artificial olfactory sensors with arrays of diverse high-performance gas ...

Robot, Can You Say 'Cheese'?

Mar. 27, 2024 — What would you do if you walked up to a robot with a human-like head and it smiled at you first? You'd likely smile back and perhaps feel the two of you were genuinely interacting. But how does a ...

Engineering Household Robots to Have a Little Common Sense

Mar. 25, 2024 — Engineers aim to give robots a bit of common sense when faced with situations that push them off their trained path, so they can self-correct after missteps and carry on with their chores. The team's ...

Universal Controller Could Push Robotic Prostheses, Exoskeletons Into Real-World Use

Mar. 20, 2024 — A team of researchers has developed a universal approach to controlling robotic exoskeletons that requires no training, no calibration, and no ...

Advance for Soft Robotics Manufacturing, Design

Mar. 18, 2024 — Engineers propose a new quantitative framework to account for and predict the impact of temperature on the curing speed of platinum-catalyzed silicone elastomers. The findings could maximize ...

Robotic Metamaterial: An Endless Domino Effect

Mar. 20, 2024 — If it walks like a particle, and talks like a particle... it may still not be a particle. A topological soliton is a special type of wave or dislocation which behaves like a particle: it can move ...

Two Artificial Intelligences Talk to Each Other

Mar. 18, 2024 — Performing a new task based solely on verbal or written instructions, and then describing it to others so that they can reproduce it, is a cornerstone of human communication that still resists ...

Advanced Army Robots More Likely to Be Blamed for Deaths

Mar. 14, 2024 — Advanced killer robots are more likely to blamed for civilian deaths than military machines, new research has revealed. The study shows that high-tech bots will be held more responsible for ...

Robot ANYmal Can Do Parkour and Walk Across Rubble

Mar. 13, 2024 — The quadrupedal robot ANYmal went back to school and has learned a lot. Researchers used machine learning to teach it new skills: the robot can now climb over obstacles and successfully negotiate ...

Opening New Doors in the VR World, Literally

Mar. 13, 2024 — Recreating the action of opening doors in the virtual world requires engineering ways in which to provide the equivalent haptic feedback and steer users away from walls in the real world. A research ...

Straightening Teeth? AI Can Help

Mar. 13, 2024 — A new tool will help orthodontists correctly fit braces onto teeth. Using artificial intelligence and virtual patients, the tool predicts how teeth will move, so as to ensure that braces are neither ...

You Don't Need Glue to Hold These Materials Together -- Just Electricity

Mar. 13, 2024 — Is there a way to stick hard and soft materials together without any tape, glue or epoxy? A new study shows that applying a small voltage to certain objects forms chemical bonds that securely link ...

Robotic Interface Masters a Soft Touch

Mar. 11, 2024 — Researchers have developed a haptic device capable of reproducing the softness of various materials, from a marshmallow to a beating heart, overcoming a deceptively complex challenge that has ...

Method Rapidly Verifies That a Robot Will Avoid Collisions

Mar. 7, 2024 — A new safety-check technique can prove with 100 percent accuracy that a planned robot motion will not result in a collision. The method can generate a proof in seconds and does so in a way that can ...

Robotic-Assisted Surgery for Gallbladder Cancer as Effective as Traditional Surgery

Mar. 5, 2024 — Each year, approximately 2,000 people die annually of gallbladder cancer (GBC) in the U.S., with only one in five cases diagnosed at an early stage. With GBC rated as the first biliary tract cancer ...

A Key to the Future of Robots Could Be Hiding in Liquid Crystals

Mar. 4, 2024 — Robots and cameras of the future could be made of liquid crystals, thanks to a new discovery that significantly expands the potential of the chemicals already common in computer displays and digital ...

New Dressing Robot Can 'Mimic' the Actions of Care-Workers

Mar. 4, 2024 — Scientists have developed a new robot that can 'mimic' the two-handed movements of care-workers as they dress an ...

AI Outperforms Humans in Standardized Tests of Creative Potential

Mar. 1, 2024 — In a recent study, 151 human participants were pitted against ChatGPT-4 in three tests designed to measure divergent thinking, which is considered to be an indicator of creative ...

AI-Enabled Atomic Robotic Probe to Advance Quantum Material Manufacturing

Mar. 1, 2024 — Scientists have pioneered a new methodology of fabricating carbon-based quantum materials at the atomic scale by integrating scanning probe microscopy techniques and deep neural networks. This ...

Building Bionic Jellyfish for Ocean Exploration

Feb. 29, 2024 — Researchers show how biohybrid robots based on jellyfish could be used to gather climate science data from deep in the Earth's ...

First Metamaterial Developed to Enable Real-Time Shape and Property Control

Feb. 28, 2024 — Engineers have unveiled an encodable multifunctional material that can dynamically tune its shape and mechanical properties in real ...

New AI Model Could Streamline Operations in a Robotic Warehouse

Feb. 28, 2024 — Researchers applied deep-learning approaches from vehicle routing to streamline planning trajectories for robots in an e-commerce warehouse. Their method breaks the problem down into smaller chunks ...

Method Identified to Double Computer Processing Speeds

Feb. 21, 2024 — Scientists introduce what they call 'simultaneous and heterogeneous multithreading' or SHMT. This system doubles computer processing speeds with existing hardware by simultaneously using ...

Treating Liver Cancer With Microrobots Piloted by a Magnetic Field

Feb. 14, 2024 — Researchers have developed a novel approach to treat liver tumors using magnet-guided microrobots in an MRI ...

Why Insects Navigate More Efficiently Than Robots

Feb. 12, 2024 — Engineers have studied how insects navigate, for the purpose of developing energy-efficient ...