Wyze is back again, this time with a robotic vacuum rivaling the bigger and more expensive names on the market. The new Wyze Robot Vacuum will arrive this January with a number of smart features, including the ability to map its surroundings, schedule sweeps, avoid virtual walls, run in a special quiet mode, and more.
NASA and other space agencies around the world have been building rovers that explore other planets for decades. One thing those rovers have in common is an incredibly high price tag, often running into millions of dollars. Space enthusiasts that want a new electronics project to work on during the coronavirus pandemic should check out the ExoMy rover unveiled by the European Space Agency.
Researchers have created a new surgical tool to help improve the precision and control for teleoperated surgical procedures. The new device was designed in collaboration between the Wyss Associate Faculty member Robert Wood, Ph.D., and Robotics Engineer Hiroyuki Suzuki of Sony Corporation. The device they created is a surgical robot that uses origami-inspired design.
There are people worldwide who have eliminated their need to vacuum and clean floors thanks to the iRobot line of robotic vacuum and moppers. One of the leading companies in the robotic vacuum and mop category is iRobot, and the company has announced the launch of iRobot Genius Home Intelligence. He describes that platform as a new and powerful robot platform for unlocking an extensive range of digital features and experiences for its line of Wi-Fi connected products.
One of the biggest challenges facing researchers who are working on small robots is how to power them. The problem is that most batteries add significantly to the weight and take up lots of space inside small robots, making them impractical. Scientists have come up with a robot called the RoBeetle that doesn't use a battery, instead relying on liquid methanol for power.
Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have been able to teach robots to pick up transparent or reflective objects. This has been a challenge for robots in the past, and the way researchers have addressed the issue is to teach the robots to infer shapes from color images. Picking up transparent and reflective objects has long stymied robots, but the new system promises to alleviate that issue.
One of the most challenging things for humans to manipulate are items like rope, wire, or cables. These thin, flexible objects are even more difficult for robots to manage with most robotic grippers being unable to handle them at all. Researchers at MIT have now created a robotic gripper that's able to mimic how a human handles such flexible objects more closely.
Researchers from the University of Liverpool have built what they call an intelligent mobile robot scientist that's able to work continuously nearly 24 hours a day and carry out experiments on its own. The robotic scientists is said to be the first of its kind and can make its own decisions about what chemistry experiments to perform next. The robot has already discovered a new catalyst.
Researchers at Festo have announced the creation of a new bionic project called the "BionicSwift." The robotic bird can fly using artificial feathers. The researchers used radio-based indoor GPS with ultra-wideband technology to allow the robotic birds to fly safely in a coordinated pattern inside a defined airspace. One feature that gives the birds their agility is that the wings are modeled on the plumage of real birds.
Never has disinfecting and killing germs in businesses at home been more on the minds of people than it has during the coronavirus pandemic. For many years hospitals and other medical facilities have used UV light to kill germs and bacteria to keep people from getting sick. A new robot created by MIT's CSAIL is being used at the Greater Boston Food Bank to disinfects the warehouse using UV-C light.
Researchers from Georgia Tech have created a robot called Shimon that can write songs, play music, and sing. The marimba-playing robot is going on tour to support a new album that he has composed and sings. The album will have eight to ten songs, and Shimon wrote them in collaboration with humans. The human collaboration starts with the human giving the robot a theme, like space, and Shimon will write lyrics around the theme.
Researchers at Stanford University have been looking into exactly how birds can maintain controlled flight by changing the shape of their wings. For their study, they invented a robot called PigeonBot that has a pair of "biohybrid morphing wings." The robot is being used to test out new control principles. One of the most interesting aspects of the PigeonBot is that the scientists fitted the flying robot with real bird feathers.