Robotics, Automation & Control

Robotics

Access extensive multimedia resources and technical briefs on robotic systems. Browse the latest developments and applications for design engineers working in industrial manufacturing and medical industries.

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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
The technology can be used in commercial motors, robotic systems, and hybrid and electric vehicles.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
A synthetic skin enables robots to sense their own bodies and surroundings
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Briefs: Motion Control
The algorithm speeds up the planning process that robots use to adjust their grip on objects.
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Question of the Week: Robotics, Automation & Control
Would You Own a Robot Pet?
At the CES Unveiled kickoff event last week, Sony demonstrated Aibo, a social robotic pet. The technology, which will make the trip to CES 2020 in Las Vegas, makes dog noises, responds to commands, and uses cameras to recognize specific owners and their patterns. Take a look at Aibo on our Tech Briefs Instagram.
Question of the Week: Robotics, Automation & Control
Will Entire Planes Be Built By 'Assembler Robots?'
Commercial aircraft are typically manufactured in sections, often in different locations, and then flown to a central plant for final assembly. Researchers at MIT are hoping to change that.
Special Reports: Imaging
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Robotics & Machine Vision - November 2019
Advances in robotics and machine vision are transforming the factory floor. To help you keep pace with the latest developments in industrial automation, we present this compendium of recent articles...

Facility Focus: Software
In recent decades, NSF-funded researchers have discovered quite a bit, including many of the fundamental particles of matter.
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Briefs: Data Acquisition
For decades, robots in controlled environments like assembly lines have been able to pick up the same object over and over again. More recently, breakthroughs in computer vision have enabled...
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
A novel approach was developed to improve communications range and allow for covert behavior using a team of robots for future multi-domain operations. Specifically, researchers demonstrated...
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
A perception system for soft robots was developed that is inspired by the way humans process information about their own bodies in space and in relation to other objects and people. The system includes a motion...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Flying animals both power and control flight by flapping their wings. This enables small natural flyers such as insects to hover close to a flower but also to rapidly escape danger. Animal flight has...
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Briefs: Materials
Researchers have developed a fiber that combines the elasticity of rubber with the strength of a metal, resulting in a tougher material. The fibers consist of a gallium metal core surrounded...
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Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Smart Electronic Skin for Robots and Prosthetics
Humans use the sense of touch to accomplish almost every daily task such as picking up a cup of coffee or shaking someone’s hand. Without it, humans can even lose their sense of balance when walking. Similarly, robots need to have a sense of touch in order to interact better with humans but robots...
Briefs: Medical
Researchers have developed a formula that enables them to recreate different levels of perceived softness. Based on the results from their experiments, they created equations that can calculate how soft...
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Briefs: Automotive
UCLA engineers have made major improvements on their design of an optical neural network — a device inspired by how the human brain works — that can identify objects or process...
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INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control
MIT researchers have compiled a dataset that captures the detailed behavior of a robotic system physically pushing hundreds of different objects. Using the dataset, robots “learn” pushing...
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Blog: Sensors/Data Acquisition
A minimal, map-less approach to drone navigation takes after the bee.
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Blog: Transportation
Editor Bruce A. Bennett offers a look at the Association of the United States Army's 2019 Annual Meeting.
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News: Robotics, Automation & Control
A Tech Briefs reader asks: What's next with military motion control?
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Blog: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A new drone “folds” itself into configurations that suit a given environment.
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INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
Medical implants of the future may feature reconfigurable electronic platforms that can morph in shape and size dynamically as bodies change or even transform to...
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Briefs: Motion Control
A set of five tiny fundamental parts can be assembled into a wide variety of functional devices including a tiny “walking” motor that can move back and forth across a surface or...
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Briefs: Communications
Technique Locates Robots and Humans in GPS-Challenged Environments
An algorithm enables localization of humans and robots in areas where GPS is unavailable. The Army needs to be able to localize agents operating in physically complex, unknown, and infrastructure-poor environments. This capability is critical to help find dismounted soldiers and for...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Between walking and running, human gaits can cover a wide range of speeds; for example, at low speeds, the metabolic rate of walking is lower than that of running in a slow jog. The...
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
A smartphone app was developed that allows a user to easily program any robot to perform a mundane activity such as picking up parts from one area and delivering them to another. The app, called VRa, uses...
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
A radically new kind of airplane wing, assembled from hundreds of tiny identical pieces, can change shape to control the plane’s flight, and could provide a significant boost in aircraft...
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Briefs: Automotive
A high-sensitivity and low-noise MEMS accelerometer was developed using multi-layer metal structures composed of multiple metal layers. The accelerometer achieves 1 μG level resolution that has...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Soft robots have a distinct advantage over rigid robots: they can adapt to complex environments, handle fragile objects, and interact safely with humans. Made from silicone, rubber, or other stretchable polymers, they...
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