Robotics

A soft robotic insect that survives being flattened by a fly swatter

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Imagine swarms of robotic insects moving around us as they perform various tasks. It might sound like science fiction, but it’s actually more plausible than you might think. Researchers at EPFL’s School of Engineering have developed a soft robotic insect, propelled at 3 cm per second by artificial muscles. The team developed two versions of … Read more A soft robotic insect that survives being flattened by a fly swatter

Artificial intelligence identifies previously unknown features associated with cancer recurrence

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Artificial intelligence (AI) technology developed by the RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project (AIP) in Japan has successfully found features in pathology images from human cancer patients, without annotation, that could be understood by human doctors. Further, the AI identified features relevant to cancer prognosis that were not previously noted by pathologists, leading to a … Read more Artificial intelligence identifies previously unknown features associated with cancer recurrence

Researchers make robots from self-folding kirigami materials

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Researchers have demonstrated how kirigami-inspired techniques allow them to design thin sheets of material that automatically reconfigure into new two-dimensional (2D) shapes and three-dimensional (3D) structures in response to environmental stimuli. The researchers created a variety of robotic devices as a proof of concept for the approach. “This is the first case that we know … Read more Researchers make robots from self-folding kirigami materials

Liquid crystal polymer learns to move and grab objects

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Conditioning is a method made famous by Ivan Pavlov’s experiments with dogs. Pavlov trained a dog by ringing a bell every time the dog was fed. The dog learned to associate the bell with food, and then drooled when it heard the bell ring, even if it didn’t see anything to eat. In an earlier … Read more Liquid crystal polymer learns to move and grab objects

Molecular eraser enables better data storage and computers for AI

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Scientists have added a crucial tool to the atomic-scale manufacturing toolkit with major implications for today’s data driven–carbon intensive–world, according to new research from the University of Alberta in Canada. “Computers today are contributing one gigatonne of carbon emissions to the atmosphere, and we can eliminate that by enhancing the most power-hungry parts of conventional … Read more Molecular eraser enables better data storage and computers for AI

Underwater robotic gliders provide key tool to measure ocean sound levels

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At a time when ocean noise is receiving increased global attention, researchers at Oregon State University and NOAA have developed an effective method to use an underwater robotic glider to measure sound levels over broad areas of the sea. “Healthy marine ecosystems need to have noise levels within particular ranges,” said Joe Haxel, an assistant … Read more Underwater robotic gliders provide key tool to measure ocean sound levels

On the way to intelligent microrobots

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Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI and ETH Zurich have developed a micromachine that can perform different actions. First nanomagnets in the components of the microrobots are magnetically programmed and then the various movements are controlled by magnetic fields. Such machines, which are only a few tens of micrometres across, could be used, for … Read more On the way to intelligent microrobots

Scientists should have sex and gender on the brain

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Thinking about sex and gender would help scientists improve their research, a new article published today argues. Writing in a special 150th anniversary edition of Nature, five experts say these factors are too often ignored. They say incorporating sex (the biological attribute distinguishing females, males or intersex/hermaphrodite individuals) and gender (psychological, social and cultural factors affecting … Read more Scientists should have sex and gender on the brain

Learning from mistakes and transferable skills – the attributes for a worker robot

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Practise makes perfect – it is an adage that has helped humans become highly dexterous and now it is an approach that is being applied to robots. Computer scientists at the University of Leeds are using the artificial intelligence (AI) techniques of automated planning and reinforcement learning to “train” a robot to find an object … Read more Learning from mistakes and transferable skills – the attributes for a worker robot