Max Planck Institute (MPI) researchers are using computer simulations and prototypes in order to enhance the simulations control of multiple robots. They are developing flying multi-robot systems, which receive instructions from a user and fulfill the commands in an autonomous manner. Navigated by a human operator, four or more of these Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)… »
Most of us had the opportunity to play with maple seed and observe it spiraling down after we throw it. Several groups of engineers around the world have been inspired by maple seed and applied biomimicry to construct small flying machines. Lockheed Martin came up with Samarai which was exhibited at the Association for Unmanned… »
Japan has a growing number of elderly in need of nursing care and an urgent need for new approaches used to assist care-giving personnel. Researchers at RIKEN and Tokai Rubber Industries (TRI) are developing a robot which performs one of the most exhausting tasks for such personnel – lifting a patient from a futon at… »
Researchers from the Hasegawa Group at the Tokyo Institute of Technology are developing a robot capable to think, learn and take on tasks it hasn’t tried before. By using Self-Organizing Incremental Neural Network (SOINN), the robot can think in a way similar to humans, because it can make educated guesses and decisions based on its… »
Currently, nuclear powerplant inspectors use indirect methods to monitor buried piping by generating a voltage gradient to identify areas where pipe coatings may have corroded, and by using ultrasonic waves to screen lengths of pipe for cracks. A team of researchers from MIT is developing small, egg-sized robots designed to inspect nuclear reactor underground pipes… »
Unlike other touch sensors we previously wrote about, a University of Tokyo spin-off company Touchence has designed ShokacCube – the world’s first soft and flexible touch sensor capable to detect changes in 3D. The technology could aid in robotics and present a major breakthrough in bionics where it could be used for better feedback and… »
Researchers at Technical University of Munich (TUM) are developing an artificial skin for robots to help them navigate in their environments. It will provide important tactile information to the robot and thus supplement its perception formed by camera eyes, infrared scanners and gripping hands. They have built a single robotic arm equipped with sensors to… »
Altruism, the sacrificing of individual gains for the greater good, appears at first glance to go against the notion of “survival of the fittest”. But altruistic gene expression is found in nature and is passed on from one generation to the next. An evolutionary robotics experiment at EPFL and UNIL supports Hamilton’s rule of altruism… »
