Seeing Like a Butterfly: Optical Invention Enhances Camera Capabilities

Butterflies can see more of the world than humans, including more colors and the field oscillation direction, or polarization, of light. Other species, like the mantis shrimp, can sense an even wider spectrum of light, as well as the circular polarization, or spinning states, of light waves. Inspired by these abilities in the animal kingdom, researchers have developed an ultrathin optical element known as a metasurface, which can attach to a conventional camera and encode the spectral and polarization data of images captured in a snapshot or video through tiny, antenna-like nano-structures that tailor light properties.

Tactile Sensing Strategy Enables Accurate Object Detection

Researchers from Tsinghua University worked to break through the difficulties of robotic recognition of various common, yet complex, items. Read on to learn more.

Using Machine Learning to Teach New Tricks to ANYMal Robot

ANYmal has for some time had no problem coping with the stony terrain of Swiss hiking trails. Now researchers at ETH Zurich have taught this quadrupedal robot some new skills: it is proving rather adept at parkour. ANYmal is also proficient at dealing with the tricky terrain commonly found on building sites or in disaster areas. Read on to learn more.

Deep Learning Models Enable Robotic Motion

MIT engineers are aiming to give robots a bit of common sense when faced with situations that push them off their trained path. They’ve developed a method that connects robot motion data with the “common sense knowledge” of large language models, or LLMs.

Robot Reads Braille Twice as Fast as Humans

Although the robot braille reader was not developed as an assistive technology, the researchers say the high sensitivity required to read braille makes it an ideal test in the development of robot hands or prosthetics with comparable sensitivity to human fingertips.

Maneuvering Robot Control Using Machine Learning

Researchers from MIT and Stanford University have devised a new machine-learning approach that could be used to control a robot, such as a drone or autonomous vehicle, more effectively and efficiently in dynamic environments where conditions can change rapidly.

Getting EV Battery Gigafactories Up to Speed

The term “gigafactory” has become common lexicon for a manufacturing facility constructed to produce the almost incalculable number of individual battery cells required for the millions of...

Detecting Porosity Defects in 3D-Printed Metal Parts

A research team has made new discoveries that can expand additive manufacturing in industries that rely on strong metal parts, including aerospace.

Highly Dexterous Robot Hand Can Operate in the Dark

Researchers at Columbia Engineering have demonstrated a highly dexterous robot hand, one that combines an advanced sense of touch with motor learning algorithms in order to achieve a high level of dexterity.

Implantable Chip Uses Machine Learning to Detect Neural Disease

Boasting a 256-channel high-resolution sensing array and an energy-efficient machine learning processor, NeuralTree can extract and classify a broad set of biomarkers from real patient data and animal models of disease in-vivo.

Always-On Intelligent Sensing at Microwatt Levels

An interview with Tom Doyle, CEO and Founder of Aspinity, Pittsburgh, PA, about the company's analog machine learning chip, the AML100 analog machine learning processor.

An Energy-Efficient Method to Monitor Soil Moisture

The University of Maine’s Wireless Sensor Networks laboratory has developed a novel method of using AI and machine learning to make monitoring soil moisture more energy and cost efficient.

Four Ways AI Boosts Cobot Performance

Incorporating AI into a cobot-based application using a standard teach pendant or graphical user tool has been challenging and time-consuming, even for the most dedicated engineers.

Smart Micro-Robots Learn to Swim with AI

Researchers have been able to successfully teach micro-robots how to swim via deep reinforcement learning, marking a substantial leap in the progression of micro-swimming capability.

Computational Model Enables Robots to Learn New Concepts

The model allows robots to ask clarifying questions to soldiers.

Faster Computation for Deep-Learning Applications

A new area of artificial intelligence called analog deep learning promises faster computation with a fraction of the energy usage.

Machine Learning and Sensor Technology Unlock Predictive Maintenance Insights

More than 80 percent of manufacturers experienced at least one instance of unplanned downtime during the past three years, and a single factory can lose $2.3 million annually due to unplanned stoppages.

Future Wearable Health Tech Could Measure Gases Released from Skin

Scientists have taken the first step to creating the next generation of wearable health monitors.

Teaching Drones How to Navigate Real-World Weather

For drones to autonomously perform necessary but quotidian tasks, they must be able to adapt to wind conditions in real time.

Using AI to Help Scale Up Advanced Solar Cell Manufacturing

The system makes it possible to integrate data from prior experiments, and information based on personal observations by experienced workers, into the machine learning process.

Improving Autonomous Robotic Systems

A new general-purpose optimizer can speed up the design of walking robots, self-driving vehicles, and other autonomous systems.

A New Method to Improve Motion Planning for Robots

Interactive program aids motion planning for environments with obstacles.

Boosting Operational Intelligence with AI

Although industrial factories and processing plants have long been automated, it remains vital for human decision-making to be involved in operations, sometimes to a great extent. Automation in and...

Where is Sensor Technology Headed? Look in the Mirror

Sensor technology design and manufacturing demands continue to rise to the needs of our continuously connected world.

Dog Training Methods Teach Robots to Learn New Tricks

With a training technique commonly used to teach dogs to sit and stay, computer scientists showed a robot how to teach itself several new tricks including stacking blocks. With the method,...

Autonomous Assemblers Assemble

In-space and planetary surface assembly for human exploration is a challenging domain that encompasses various technological thrusts to support human missions. NASA is developing autonomous assembly agents to...

Embracing Agile Product Development

We've made some impressive strides from both a societal and industry perspective in the face of this unrelenting pandemic. And while the Aerospace and Defense (A&D) industry has been hit exceptionally...