A doctoral student from EPFL’s Laboratory of Robotics Systems has developed a concept for modular industrial robots, based on the technology of parallel robots, whose precision is expressed in nanometers. Its developer named it Legolas, due to association to the precise elf of the same name from The Lord of the Rings, and due to… »

In our previous articles, we wrote about many modular robots and spoke about their importance in exploration missions. iMobot is an intelligent, reconfigurable modular robot invented by a UC Davis alumnus and a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and it is headed for commercial development with the help of a grant from the National… »

We already wrote about modular and shape-shifting robots in our previous articles. Swarm robotics is inspired by the social insect behavior, and emphasizes aspects such as decentralization of control, limited communication abilities among robots, use of local information, emergence of global actions, and robustness. Most current studies in swarm robotic systems have focused on robotic… »

One of the most challenging issues for human-centered long-range space exploration is performing complex tasks in environments that are not human-friendly. These tasks range from activities such as inspection, maintenance, and assembly, to surface landing, exploration, and habitat-construction. A robotic solution is essential to this challenge, however, the traditional approach of building separate robots for… »

Modularization is a basic principle of living nature: organisms consist of molecules and cells that use genetic programming in order to group together to form organs. Cell division and modularization are the two mutually opposed aspects of reproduction in living systems. Researchers around the world are trying to make a modular robot that can change… »