The Human Touch: Ethical Considerations in Healthcare Robotics

The ethical implications of integrating robots into healthcare, discussing topics such as patient trust, privacy concerns, and the balance between human and robotic interaction in caregiving.

Automating Healthcare: The Role of Robots

How robots are being utilized for tasks in clinics and hospitals, from delivering medications to managing inventory and performing tasks such as taking blood pressure.

Products of Tomorrow

See the products of tomorrow, including the Third Thumb, an extra robotic thumb aimed at increasing the wearer’s range of movement; a way to display full-color, 3D moving images over a direct view of the real world; and an adjustable filter that can successfully prevent interference, even in higher-frequency bands of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Advances and Innovations in Assistive Robotics

Exploring advances and innovations in assistive robotics.

Surgical Precision: Robotics in the Operating Room

Exploring how robotics are enhancing precision and minimizing invasiveness of surgical procedures.

Recreating ‘Star Trek’ Virtual Environments

A system for generating interactive 3D environments, Holodeck generates a virtually limitless range of indoor environments, using AI to interpret users’ requests.

Researchers Demonstrate Cutting-Edge Chip Technology for Ultra-Low Power AI Connected Devices

Researchers from NUS, together with industry partners Soitec and NXP Semiconductors, have demonstrated a new class of silicon systems that...

Bringing Together Real-World Sensors and VR to Improve Building Maintenance

A new system that brings together real-world sensing and virtual reality would make it easier for building maintenance personnel to identify and fix issues in...

Wireless Electronic ‘Stickers’ Gauge Forces Between Touching Objects

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed electronic “stickers” that measure the force exerted by one object upon another. The force stickers are wireless, run without batteries and fit in tight spaces. That makes them versatile for a wide range of applications.

Photonics West 2024: 5 New Technologies on Display This Year

The largest optics and trade show in North America, SPIE Photonics West 2024, is just a few days away from its annual collection of exhibitions, conferences and courses at San...

Extended Reality: Immersing into the Future of Manufacturing

Extended reality (XR) technology has emerged as a key catalyst for innovation, offering a spectrum of benefits that redefine the way industries operate.

Testing Real Driverless Cars in a Virtual Environment

Researchers at The Ohio State University have developed new software to aid in the development, evaluation, and demonstration of safer autonomous, or driverless, vehicles. Called the Vehicle-in-Virtual-Environment (VVE) method, it allows the testing of driverless cars in a perfectly safe environment.

VR Therapy Aims to Help Those with Hoarding Disorder

Virtual reality therapy could allow those with hoarding disorder to rehearse relinquishing possessions in a simulation of their own home, which could help them declutter in real life.

Capturing the Movements of Dancers Has Wide Applications

Praneeth Namburi is a research scientist at the MIT.nano Immersion Lab. One project that bridges the physical and digital worlds uses VR simulations to train people to fabricate computer chips and semiconductors.

Products of Tomorrow

See the products of tomorrow, including quantum rods, crack-resistant glass, and lunar landing pads.

3D Display Could Bring Touch to the Digital World

Imagine an iPad with a surface that can morph and deform, allowing you to draw 3D designs, create haiku poems that jump out from the screen, and even hold your partner’s hand from an ocean away. Such is the vision of a team from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Modified EEG Measures Brain's Electrical Activity During Immersive VR Interactions

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have modified a commercial virtual reality (VR) headset, giving it the ability to measure brain activity and examine how we react to hints, stressors, and other outside forces.

Mind-Controlling Machines

Researchers from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) have developed biosensor technology that will allow you to operate devices, such as robots and machines, solely through thought-control.

Turning Old Maps into 3D Digital Models of Lost Neighborhoods

Researchers have developed machine learning tools that can extract details about individual buildings from maps to make 3D digital models.

3D-Printed Mars Habitat Simulated on Earth

CHAPEA is a series of analog missions that will simulate year-long stays on the surface of Mars. Insights from these missions will help NASA make informed decisions to design and plan for a successful human mission to Mars.

Videos of the Month

Watch the videos of the month, including one on the DARPA RACER program, one on a NASA supercomputer's theory on the Moon's formation, and more.

Augmented Reality Headset Provides X-Ray Vision

MIT researchers have built an AR headset that gives the wearer X-ray vision. The headset combines computer vision and wireless perception to automatically locate a specific item that is hidden from view.

Artificial Skin Provides Haptic Feedback

The skin could help rehabilitation and enhance virtual reality by instantaneously adapting to a wearer's movements.

How Risky is AI?

When AI is used for making health decisions, hiring decisions, financial credit decisions, or automobile-driving decisions, riskiness is a big deal — some people are working to reduce the risks.

Why 2023 Will Be the Year of the ‘Platform’

This year's CES provided a glimpse at whiz-bang technology and gadgets, as well as what might be the first in a whole new generation of premium VR headsets.

Simulated Terrible Drivers Cut the Time and Cost of AV Testing by a Factor of One Thousand

A new virtual testing environment breaks the ‘curse of rarity’ for autonomous vehicle emergency decision-making.

Test Your Knowledge of AR/VR

AR/VR is being used by engineers through the product development process. Test how much you really know about these two technologies with this quiz.