Robotics Research News

January 13, 2025

Top Headlines

Using Robots in Nursing Homes Linked to Higher Employee Retention, Better Patient Care

Jan. 8, 2025 — Facing high employee turnover and an aging population, nursing homes have increasingly turned to robots to complete a variety of care tasks, but few researchers have explored how these technologies ...

Electrohydraulic Wearable Devices Create Unprecedented Haptic Sensations

Jan. 8, 2025 — Scientists have invented compact wearable devices that deliver rich, expressive, and pleasant tactile sensations that go far beyond the buzzing vibrations of today's consumer ...

Wind Sensing by Biomimetic Flexible Flapping Wing With Strain Sensors

Dec. 26, 2024 — Bio-inspired wind sensing using strain sensors on flexible wings could revolutionize robotic flight control strategy. Researchers have developed a method to detect wind direction with 99% accuracy using seven strain gauges on the flapping wing and a ...

How Does a Hula Hoop Master Gravity? Mathematicians Prove That Shape Matters

Jan. 2, 2025 — Hula hooping is so commonplace that we may overlook some interesting questions it raises: 'What keeps a hula hoop up against gravity?' and 'Are some body types better for hula hooping than others?' A ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:08am EST

Crossing the Uncanny Valley: Breakthrough in Technology for Lifelike Facial Expressions in Androids

Dec. 23, 2024 — Even highly realistic androids can cause unease when their facial expressions lack emotional consistency. Traditionally, a 'patchwork method' has ...

AI-Driven Approach Reveals Hidden Hazards of Chemical Mixtures in Rivers

Dec. 20, 2024 — Artificial intelligence can provide critical insights into how complex mixtures of chemicals in rivers affect aquatic life -- paving the way for better environmental ...

Swarms of 'Ant-Like' Robots Lift Heavy Objects and Hurl Themselves Over Obstacles

Dec. 18, 2024 — Scientists have developed swarms of tiny magnetic robots that work together like ants to achieve Herculean feats, including traversing and picking up ...

Tiny Robots, Big Impact: Revolutionizing Infertility Treatment With Magnetic Microrobots

Dec. 17, 2024 — Infertility affects an estimated 186 million people worldwide, with fallopian tube obstruction contributing to 11%-67% of female infertility cases. ...

Breakthrough in Zinc-Based Rechargeable Batteries: A Safer, Sustainable Alternative

Dec. 11, 2024 — Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries power everything from electric vehicles to wearable devices. But new research suggests that a more sustainable and ...

Diversity and Inclusion Accelerate the Pace of Innovation in Robotics

Dec. 12, 2024 — Diverse and inclusive teams are not merely a moral imperative but also a catalyst for scientific excellence in robotics, scientists point out in a study. The team has outlined how a scientific ...

Minuscule Robots for Targeted Drug Delivery

Dec. 11, 2024 — An interdisciplinary team has created tiny bubble-like microrobots that can deliver therapeutics right where they are needed and then be absorbed by the ...

10,000 Times Faster Than Traditional Methods: New Computational Framework Automatically Discovers Experimental Designs in Microscopy

Dec. 10, 2024 — For human researchers, it takes many years of work to discover new super-resolution microscopy techniques. The number of possible optical ...

Empowering Older Adults With Home-Care Robots

Dec. 10, 2024 — The rapidly increasing aging population will lead to a shortage of care providers in the future. While robotic technologies are a potential alternative, their widespread use is limited by poor ...

Magnetically Controlled Kirigami Surfaces Move Objects: No Grasping Needed

Dec. 6, 2024 — Researchers have developed a novel device that couples magnetic fields and kirigami design principles to remotely control the movement of a flexible dimpled surface, allowing it to manipulate objects ...

New Shape-Changing Polymer Developed

Dec. 6, 2024 — A team of scientists has created a new shape-changing polymer that could transform how future soft materials are ...

Bird-Inspired Drone Can Jump for Take-Off

Dec. 6, 2024 — Researchers have built a drone that can walk, hop, and jump into flight with the aid of birdlike legs, greatly expanding the range of potential environments accessible to unmanned aerial ...

Researchers Innovate Scalable Robotic Fibers With Light-Emitting, Self-Healing and Magnetic Properties

Dec. 6, 2024 — A team of interdisciplinary scientists has developed flexible fibers with self-healing, light-emitting and magnetic properties. The Scalable Hydrogel-clad Ionotronic Nickel-core Electroluminescent ...

Helping Robots Make Good Decisions in Real Time

Dec. 4, 2024 — An innovative algorithm called Spectral Expansion Tree Search helps autonomous robotic systems make optimal choices on the ...

Manta Rays Inspire Fast Swimming Soft Robot Yet

Dec. 4, 2024 — A team of researchers has beaten its own record for the fastest swimming soft robot, drawing inspiration from manta rays to improve their ability to control the robot's movement in the ...

How a Middle Schooler Found a New Compound in a Piece of Goose Poop

Dec. 2, 2024 — A group of young students became bonafide biomedical scientists before they even started high school. Through a partnership with a nearby university, the middle schoolers collected and analyzed ...

Smallest Walking Robot Makes Microscale Measurements

Dec. 2, 2024 — Researchers have created the smallest walking robot yet. Its mission: to be tiny enough to interact with waves of visible light and still move independently, so that it can maneuver to specific ...

Innovative Robot Navigation Inspired by Brain Function Boosts Efficiency and Accuracy

Dec. 2, 2024 — A research team has taken inspiration from the brains of insects and animals for more energy-efficient robotic ...

Innovative Nanostructures Pave the Way for Advanced Robotics -- And Mini Dinosaurs

Nov. 28, 2024 — Using 'DNA origami' scientists have built innovative nanostructures that pave the way for advanced robotics that can deliver targeted drugs -- plus they made a tiny map of Australia and ...

Nanorobot Hand Made of DNA Grabs Viruses for Diagnostics and Blocks Cell Entry

Nov. 27, 2024 — A tiny, four-fingered 'hand' folded from a single piece of DNA can pick up the virus that causes COVID-19 for highly sensitive rapid detection and can even block viral particles from ...

Synchronized Movement Between Robots and Humans Builds Trust, Study Finds

Nov. 20, 2024 — Trust between humans and robots is improved when the movement between both is harmonized, researchers have ...

Effortless Robot Movements

Nov. 18, 2024 — Humans and animals move with remarkable economy without consciously thinking about it by utilizing the natural oscillation patterns of their bodies. A new tool can now utilize this knowledge for the ...

AI Headphones Create a 'Sound Bubble,' Quieting All Sounds More Than a Few Feet Away

Nov. 14, 2024 — Researchers have created a headphone prototype that allows listeners to hear people speaking within a bubble with a programmable radius of 3 to 6 feet. Voices and sounds outside the bubble are ...

Robotic Shorts Support People When Walking

Nov. 14, 2024 — Researchers have developed robotic trousers that enable people to walk more easily while expending measurably less energy. The aim is to keep frail individuals and in particular the elderly mobile ...

Wave-Predicting Robots Could Cut Green Energy Costs

Nov. 14, 2024 — Underwater robots that can predict waves in real-time could reduce the cost of producing offshore renewable energy, a study ...

Sensitive Ceramics for Soft Robotics

Nov. 14, 2024 — Robots that can sense touch and perceive temperature differences? An unexpected material might just make this a reality. Researchers are developing soft and intelligent sensor materials based on ...

Robot Identifies Plants by 'Touching' Their Leaves

Nov. 13, 2024 — Researchers have developed a robot that identifies different plant species at various stages of growth by 'touching' their leaves with an electrode. The robot can measure properties such as ...

Giving Robots Superhuman Vision Using Radio Signals

Nov. 12, 2024 — Researchers have developed PanoRadar, a new tool to give robots superhuman vision by transforming simple radio waves into detailed, 3D views of the ...

Robot That Watched Surgery Videos Performs With Skill of Human Doctor, Researchers Report

Nov. 11, 2024 — A robot, trained for the first time by watching videos of seasoned surgeons, executed the same surgical procedures as skillfully as the human doctors, say ...

Robot Learns How to Clean a Washbasin

Nov. 7, 2024 — Scientists have created a robot that can learn tasks like cleaning a washbasin just by watching humans. A special sponge with sensors is used to show the robot how to clean. Using an advanced machine ...