Humanoid Robots Make Confident Strides Toward Walking Stability

Bipedal — two-legged — autonomous robots can be quite agile. This makes them useful for performing tasks on uneven terrain, such as carrying equipment through outdoor...

Reversible, Detachable Robotic Hand Redefines Dexterity

With its opposable thumb, multiple joints, and gripping skin, human hands are often considered to be the pinnacle of dexterity, and many robotic hands are designed in their image. But...

A Neural Blueprint for Human-Like Intelligence in Soft Robots

A new artificial intelligence control system enables soft robotic arms to learn a wide repertoire of motions and tasks once, then adjust to new scenarios on the fly, without...

Stable Optical Wireless Power Transmission for the IoT

The world’s first automatic and adaptive, dual-mode light-emitting diode (LED)-based optical wireless power transmission system, that operates seamlessly under both dark and bright...

Engineering a Coating for Bacteria-Free Produce

Dr. Mustafa Akbulut, Professor of Chemical engineering, has teamed up with Horticultural Science Professor Luis Cisneros-Zevallos to engineer longer-lasting, bacteria-free produce. Read on to learn more about it.

Artificial Tendons Give Muscle-Powered Robots a Boost

Our muscles are nature’s actuators. The sinewy tissue is what generates the forces that make our bodies move. In recent years, engineers have used real muscle tissue to actuate...

World’s Smallest Programmable, Autonomous Robots

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Michigan have created the world’s smallest fully programmable, autonomous robots: microscopic swimming machines that can...

Bio-Hybrid Robots Turn Food Waste into Functional Machines

Although many roboticists today turn to nature to inspire their designs, even bioinspired robots are usually fabricated from non-biological materials like metal, plastic, and...

Building Bots on a Budget

Ph.D. student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, Yufeng Chi is part of a team of Berkeley engineers that has developed Berkeley Humanoid Lite, a low-cost, open-source robot made of...

VoxeLite: Helping Users Feel the Digital World

By combining high spatial resolution with a comfortable, wearable form factor, VoxeLite recreates touch sensations, which could transform how people interact with digital environments, including more immersive virtual reality systems, assistive technologies for people with vision impairments, human-robot interfaces, and enhanced touchscreens.

My Opinion: How about HI?

It’s a mistake to focus on AI without thinking about how it is used by the people working with it.

Manufacturing the World's Tiniest Light-Emitting Diodes

Miniaturization ranks as the driving force behind the semiconductor industry. The tremendous gains in computer performance since the 1950s are largely due to the fact that ever smaller...

New AI-Driven Design Tool Optimizes Performance and Functionality of Robots

A team of UC Berkeley-led researchers has developed an AI-driven framework to optimize and automate the design of complex truss robots. This approach enables designers to create robots with extraordinary capabilities while maximizing control efficiency. Read on to learn more about it.

Knitting Machine Makes Solid 3D Objects

A new prototype of a knitting machine creates solid, knitted shapes, adding stitches in any direction — forward, backward, and diagonal — so users can construct a wide variety of shapes and add...

Woodpeckr

A team at the University of Waterloo has developed Woodpeckr — a semi-autonomous robot designed to climb and drill wooden utility poles during the electrical line installation process. Read on to learn more about Woodpeckr, which was the Robotics & Automation finalist at the 2025 Create the Future Design contest.

New Vision-Based System Teaches Machines to Understand Their Bodies

In an office at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), a soft robotic hand carefully curls its fingers to grasp a small object. The...

Growing a Whole-Brain Organoid

Johns Hopkins University researchers have grown a novel whole-brain organoid, complete with neural tissues and rudimentary blood vessels — an advance that could usher in a new era of research into neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism.

Tri-Rotor Steering Wheel Yields Programmable Vehicular Control

Innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have developed a programmable steering wheel called the Tri-Rotor, which allows an astronaut the ability to easily operate a vehicle on the surface of a planet or Moon despite the limited dexterity of their spacesuit. This technology was originally conceived for the operation of a lunar terrain vehicle (LTV) to improve upon previous Apolloera hand controllers.

Medical Crash Cart Goes Robotic

Medical crash carts — stocked with medications, syringes, gauze, and IV fluids — are essential tools in emergency rooms, where seconds matter, space is tight, and confusion can cost lives. However,...

Restoring Mobility and Freedom with a Wearable Robotic Device

An assistive robotic device can provide at-home therapy and also enable independence on everyday tasks.

Orion: Paving Humanity’s Path to the Moon

Launching atop NASA's Space Launch System rocket, Orion will carry four astronauts to lunar orbit and safely return them to Earth on Artemis missions. Read this interview with Debbie Korth, Orion Deputy Program Manager, NASA Johnson Space Center, to learn more about the lessons learned from the first mission, improvements, and the key milestones the Orion team is working on to achieve this year.

Flying Robots Unlock New Horizons in Construction

An international team led by researchers from Empa and EPFL has explored how aerial robots could precisely process construction materials in the air — an approach with great potential for...

Eldercare Robot Helps People Sit and Stand, and Catches Them If They Fall

The United States population is older than it has ever been. Today, the country’s median age is 38.9, which is nearly a decade older than it was in 1980. And the...

3D Printing Multiple Metals in a Single Complex Structure

Guhaprasanna “Guha” Manogharan and his team at Penn State College of Engineering and the Center for Innovative Materials Processing through Direct Digital Deposition (CIMP-3D) have developed a method to 3D print complex parts with different materials to achieve multiple design and engineering goals.

My Opinion: Sometimes, When Competitors Collaborate, Everybody Wins

How can competitors both win when working together? Read on to find out SAE Media Group's Ed Brown's opinion on the matter.

“Living Bioelectronics” That Can Sense and Heal Skin

A team has created a prototype for what it calls “living bioelectronics” — a combination of living cells, gel, and electronics that can integrate with living tissue. The patches are made of sensors, bacterial cells, and a gel made from starch and gelatin. Tests in mice found that the devices could continuously monitor and improve psoriasis-like symptoms, without irritating skin. Read on to learn more.

So CUTE! New Wearable Device Creates Unprecedented Haptic Sensations

Researchers have developed cutaneous electrohydraulic (CUTE) wearable devices to greatly expand the haptic sensations that can be created by future consumer products.