People instinctively know how to work together when it comes time to lift something that takes two people. People coordinate their motions and work to be sure that each side of whatever is being carried is at the same height. While tasks like that are natural for a human, for robots, it's not natural at all.
At some point in the not too distant future, there will be autonomous cars cruising the roads with no human behind the wheel. The first place we are likely to see the autonomous auto tech heavily leveraged is for delivery services. The expectation is that someone will order a package online; the autonomous vehicle will be loaded and drive to the delivery address.
Facebook has revealed the fruits of its robotics division, driving artificial intelligence research and coming up with some creepy bug-like 'bots in the process. Though robots capable of walking, using tactile sensors to better manipulate new objects, and even showing curiosity may sound like a strange endeavor for a social network, Facebook argues that they're just what its AIs need.
As one series ends, another one is set to begin. Just before HBO aired the finale of Game of Thrones, it showed a glimpse of what's coming for its other popular TV series. Compared to GoT, Westworld is both an old name and a new franchise and, thanks to that, its creators are able to take the world in a different direction. And what should be next after the wild, wild west but none other than Futureworld.
Washington has joined a growing number of states in approving sidewalk delivery robots, officials have announced. The new legislation was signed by Governor Jay Inslee this week, opening the door for tiny autonomous vehicles to operate on cities sidewalks alongside bicycles and pedestrians. The bill was delivered to Inslee using one of these autonomous robots.
One of the things that allow a snake to move so efficiently across the ground, even if the ground has little traction are its scales. The scales open up and allow the snake to grip the ground for more efficient motion. A new and improved robot that was inspired by a snake has been developed at Harvard and the bot uses kirigami in its skin.
Santa would probably want a pack of SpotMini quadrupedal robots for himself for Christmas. That is if he ever decides to change careers and drive a truck that can break down any time in the middle of nowhere. That's when he'd wish he'd gotten robot dogs instead of fleshy reindeer because, as Boston Dynamics' latest video shows, these can haul an entire truck. Then again, the reindeers could have made the truck fly.
Robotics is an area of research with great potential to help people in their every day lives. The catch right now is that robots are expensive, complicated, and unable to do the basic things many want them for - like cleaning up or folding clothes. Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley have designed a robot called Blue that might change all of that.
Walmart is gearing up to deploy thousands of robots in its stores across the US, the company has announced. The retailer already features some robotic equipment in select stores, but this will mark a huge expansion of the program, adding autonomous floor cleaners, shelf scanners, rapid uploaders, and pickup towers. The machines are designed to free up store associates for other tasks.
NASA has been working on robots to help astronauts on the ISS so that they have more time to spend on science rather than routine maintenance tasks. NASA has announced that it has a trio of robotic "bees" that are set to join the astronauts on the ISS. These bots look nothing like their namesake.
We have all had to clean up a bunch of small items at some point that we didn't take the time to place into the correct bin and simply tossed the items into the bin from afar. Google is giving details on a new robot that it has developed that uses physics and deep learning to place items into appropriate containers. Google's bot took first place in the stowing task at the Amazon Robotics Challenge.
Engineers with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have taken the wraps off two newly developed creations: Water Cannon Robot and Hose Extension Robot. The two machines are designed to play an active role in helping extinguish fires that may be too hazardous for human firefighters, including fires that may form at chemical plants. The company conducted an open demonstration of the technology in Tokyo last week.