Japanese robotics researcher Masahiko Yamaguchi, who represents himself as Dr. Guero in other robotics projects, modified a Kondo KHR-3HV hobby kit robot and created a robot dubbed PRIMER V4. This two-legged hobby-kit robot was modified in a way that allows it to balance and cross over a 4-mm (0.16-inch) thick and 1 meter (3 feet)… »
Researchers from North Carolina State University (NC State) have developed a technique that uses an electronic interface to remotely control living cockroaches. Although the system is not as invasive as the one used in “Borg insects” we wrote about earlier, there are questions raised about the ethics of such approach. The technology could be used… »
Everyone has probably experienced the phenomenon where their footsteps are unconsciously synchronized with their friends during a stroll. Understanding the mechanisms behind this synchronization could help people with a disturbed gait. Researchers from the Tokyo Institute of Technology have decided to demystify the process and as a result developed a new walking support device named… »
If you own a large piece of land which requires lawn mowing maintenance, you’ll be happy with news that Honda decided to enter the robotic lawn mower market with Honda Miimo – their first commercial robotic product for domestic use. Although it represents Honda’s first step towards providing customers with robotic solutions that could improve… »
Robotic hands are regarded as one the most complex parts of the robotic system. Complexity due to many joints and embedded sensors, combined with need to maintain their light weight and dexterity, lead to high prices of robotic hands. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories managed to develop a modular and affordable robotic hand meant to… »
Researchers from Stanford University cooperated with the Volkswagen Electronics Research Lab to develop Shelley – a self-driving Audi TTS that recently managed to reach 193 km/h (120 mph) on a recent track test at Thunderhill Raceway, north of Sacramento, California. The car managed to autonomously get around the course in less than two and a… »
Inspired by earthworms, snails and sea cucumbers, which use the muscles along their bodies to creep along the ground by alternately squeezing and stretching them in a mechanism called peristalsis, researchers at MIT, Harvard University, and Seoul National University, have engineered Meshworm – a soft autonomous robot that crawls across surfaces by contracting segments of… »
After deciding to switch from autonomous helicopters to a fixed-wing vehicle, MIT Robust Robotics Group researchers have completed a series of flight tests in which an autonomous robotic plane successfully threaded its way among pillars in the parking garage without the use of GPS information. The state-estimation algorithm developed for this purpose relies on other… »
