Robot

Researchers have managed to create a sort of 'robot' that can move without requiring a power source, instead gaining its mobility skills via increased humidity levels. This was accomplished using a sheet of graphene oxide cut into a vaguely insect-like shape, including four legs. After exposing the graphene oxide sheet to a flash of bright light, researchers found that it will 'bend' when the air around it experiences a large humidity increase.

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Anki's Cozmo may have looked like a toy by way of Wall-E when it launched last year, but the personality-filled robot has bigger ambitions than mere entertainment. Launching today is Cozmo Code Lab, an incredibly simple way to unlock the many talents of the robot, even if you can't string together a single line of code.

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A new type of consumer-tier robot has launched, and it is called Q.bo One. This model, unlike ones before it, is open source and designed for anyone to build. The robot utilizes a simple programming language called Scratch, while the hardware itself is based around Raspberry Pi and Arduino. Multiple cameras, microphones, lights and speakers, among other things, makes Q.bo One suitable for a variety of tasks.

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Even before this current generation of smart home appliances and the Internet of Things wave, homes of the future were already flaunting the rolling robot discs that is the Roomba. But Roombas only take care of the unwanted materials inside the house. For unwanted things outside the house, like weeds in your garden, there's Tertill. Perhaps taking its name from a certain green, slow-moving reptile, Tertill is described as a solar-powered weeding robot. That it looks like a Roomba is no coincidence, as it was created by Joe Jones, the same man behind iRobot's Roomba.

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Sony might not be a name you'd immediately associate with robotic toys, but it does, or rather did, have a few under its name, from the dog-like Aibo to the the "dancing" Rolly to, more recently, the KOOV robotics kit. It isn't done yet, however, and a Toio product may be just over the horizon. Aimed at very young learners, Toio mixes papercraft, tiny rolling robot cubes, and a system that resembles a gaming console, complete with controllers and even cartridges.

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Washing clothes today is far easier and less time consuming that it was mere decades ago, and that's thanks to improved technologies boosting cleaning quality and drying times while decreasing energy consumption. Modern technology has done little to reduce the human element involved in clothes washing, though, meaning you still have to retrieve the dried clothes, fold them, and put them away. Laundroid may change that.

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Who says all drones can do is fly and crash? While nothing in its formal definition limits it as such, drones these days have mostly been associated with unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs. Robosea, however, is introducing a new kind of UAV, an unmanned aquatic vehicle. BIKI doesn't look like a helicopter but more like a fish, because that is exactly what it is. Meet the world's first bionic underwater robofish drone.

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Airline pilots beware! Yours might be the next job in line to be replaced by robots. Well, maybe not yet soon. In the future, however, robots might indeed take over some tasks deemed either too menial or too distracting for humans. For now, however, DARPA's ALIAS robot, short for Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System, is content to be a co-pilot and trainer. And to prove its flying chops, it successfully landed a passenger plane. Well, a simulated Boeing 737 cockpit, to be precise.

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Don't worry, no human police officers were harmed in the creation of these mechanical policemen. Though called "Robocop" to give their name a bit more weight and credibility, these are really more robot cops than cyborgs, all metal and computers inside. And these will be the robots that could make up a quarter of Dubai's police force by 2030. And though they currently only patrol the hallways of the Gulf Information Security Expo and Conference (GISEC), they will soon start their public service on streets.

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University of California San Diego mechanical engineering professor Michael Tolley and a team of researchers have created what is said to be the first 'soft' robot that is able to handle traveling on rough terrain. The robot features a total of four legs that were made using 3D-printing, and with them the robot is able to walk across rough surfaces like sand, as well as crawling over larger objects. The company demonstrated the robot's walking capabilities in a video.

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Hardware and home improvement store Lowe's is no stranger to innovative tech -- the company began testing robotic workers at some of its stores late last year, for example. Now the company is back with another development, this one made in conjunction with Virginia Tech -- robotic exosuits (eg, exoskeletons) for warehouse workers. The suits are designed to help workers lift and move heavy items without getting tired as quickly.

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Intel recently took to the stage to introduce Loomo Go, an autonomous delivery robot created by Segway Robotics. The robot can be operated like an actual Segway, at least per the demonstration by Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, but it is much more than that. Using various technologies, Loomo is able to perceive the world around it and operate through it, doing so as part of an overall delivery process to bring humans objects.

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