Robotics

Direct Drive Motors: Delivering Reliability, Precision, and Performance

Direct drive motors have a long-standing history as a technology that has continually evolved and improved. This article introduces the technology behind direct drive motors, explores their advantages, and discusses example applications.

Six Considerations When Choosing Machine Vision in Collaborative Applications

Machine vision dates back to the beginning of the modern industrial robot age in the 1980s. Augmenting cobots with vision allows them to perform with higher precision, flexibility, and intelligence. However, integration is not a one-size-fits-all process.

A Cobot Spot Welder Promises Ergonomic Safety and Productivity Gains

Pro Spot International was founded in 1984 by Ron Olsson, shortly after coming to America from Sweden. Almost 40 years later, Pro Spot is one of the leading companies in automotive repair tools.

Improved Grasping with an Energy-Efficient Robotic Hand

Grasping objects is a problem that is easy for a human, but challenging for a robot. Researchers designed a soft, 3D-printed robotic hand that cannot independently move its fingers but can still carry out a range of complex movements.

An Underwater Robot for Ocean Cleanup

One of the strategies to combat the mounds of waste found in oceans — especially around coral reefs — is to employ robots to master the cleanup. However, existing underwater robots are mostly bulky with rigid bodies, unable to explore and sample in complex and unstructured environments, and are noisy due to electrical motors or hydraulic pumps.

Four-Legged Robotic System Walks a Balance Beam

Researchers in Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute have designed a system that makes an off-the-shelf quadruped robot nimble enough to walk a narrow balance beam — a feat that is likely the first of its kind.

A Gripper That Grasps by Reflex

Looking to give robots a more nimble, human-like touch, MIT engineers have now developed a gripper that grasps by reflex. Rather than start from scratch after a failed attempt, the robot adapts in the moment.

Biomimetic “Myriapod” Robot Relies on Dynamic Instability to Navigate

Researchers have invented a new kind of walking robot that takes advantage of dynamic instability to navigate. By changing the flexibility of the couplings, the robot can be made to turn without the need for complex computational control systems.

Products of Tomorrow

See the products of tomorrow, including a spoofing device, a deployable electrode, and a snake robot.

Drones Navigate Unseen Environments via Liquid Neural Networks

Researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have introduced a method for robust flight navigation agents to master vision-based fly-to-target tasks in intricate, unfamiliar environments.

Tapping the Brain to Boost Stroke Rehabilitation

A brain-machine interface coupled with robot offers increased benefits for stroke survivors.

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.

Caterpillar-Inspired Soft Robotics Locomotion

Researchers have demonstrated a caterpillar-like soft robot that can move forward, backward, and even dip under narrow spaces. Its movement is driven by a novel pattern of silver nanowires.

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.

The Rise of Autonomous Mobile Robots

Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) for warehouse and industrial operations are surging, and this growth is expected to increase for the foreseeable future. Test your knowledge about AMRs in this quiz.

New Bioinspired Robot Flies, Walks, and More

A newly created real-life Transformer can reconfigure its body to achieve eight distinct types of motion and can autonomously assess the environment it faces to choose the most effective...

Unleashing the Power of Intelligent Drone Swarms

It’s a long-held notion, proven in fact, that robots are the perfect instrument to free humans from jobs that are dull, dirty, and dangerous — the “3 Ds” in industry speak — with...

Taking Industrial Robot Automation to New Heights

Combining an industrial robot, computerized vision system, AI, and machine learning, Skyline Robotics has succeeded in automating window washing for the world’s skyscrapers.

Automating Warehouse Inventory Monitoring with Drones

Gather AI is using drones to automate inventory monitoring processes for warehouse operators to decrease the cost of inventory, improve productivity and boost revenue.

Tensegrity Robots to the Rescue

Squishy Robotics’ tensegrity sensor robots gather data at the scenes of fires, crashes, explosions, and other disasters to help first responders determine their approach to a disaster scene.

Robotic Exploration of Caves on Mars

University of Arizona engineers have developed a system that allows autonomous vehicles to scout out underground habitats for astronauts. Their robust platform could allow robotic explorers to operate underground or even submerged in liquid environments.

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.

Physics-Aware Neural Networks Improve Camera-Based Machines

Researchers from UCLA and the United States Army Research Laboratory have laid out a new approach for enhancing artificial intelligence-powered computer vision technologies by...

'Artificial Memory' Can Help Robots Find Missing Objects

Engineers at the University of Waterloo have discovered a new way to program robots to help people with dementia locate objects they need but have lost.

3D-Printed Talking Robot Heads Could Improve Audio Tech

The Augmented Listening Laboratory at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is using 3D-printed, humanoid robots for research to improve acoustics.

AI Can Run 10,000 Microbial Experiments per Day

The artificial intelligence platform — BacterAI — mapped the metabolism of two microbes associated with oral health — with no baseline information to start with.

Optimizing Torque Measurement in Robotics Applications

With the advent of lower-cost robots that are easier and cheaper to deploy, collaborative robots or cobots are finding new industrial and consumer applications.