Motion Control/Automation

Robotics, Automation & Control

Stay updated on the fast-changing advancements in robotics, automation, and control. Access the technical briefs and applications that are trending in AI, robotic operating systems, and machine learning.

Stories

Special Reports: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Aerospace & Military Robotics - September 2022

Autonomous robots explore the deep sea...AI-powered machines think for themselves in hazardous places...advanced bipedal robots combine walking with flying. These are just a few of the innovations...

Special Reports: AR/AI

Smart Factory/IIoT - September 2022

Factories are getting "smarter" and more automated by the day, thanks to advances in AI, robotics, connectivity and sensors. In this compendium of recent articles from the editors of Tech Briefs and Sensor...

Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Designing a Human-Robot Collaboration System

Scientists analyzed the stability of the collaborative system based on speed and accuracy, as well as the conditions required for successfully performing tasks from geometric, force, and posture viewpoints.

Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control

Firefly-Inspired Robotic Lightning Bugs Take Flight

The ability to emit light also brings these microscale robots, which weigh barely more than a paper clip, one step closer to flying on their own outside the lab.

Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control

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.

Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control

Advanced Humanoid Robotic Hand Technologies

The R2 hand and forearm assembly is designed in a modular fashion, enabling rapid replacement of components and sub-assemblies.

Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control

Executive Roundtable: Collaborative Robots

Will the adoption of cobots by SMEs accelerate in near future? What are the key challenges cobots need to overcome before they become ubiquitous?

Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control

Products of Tomorrow

This column presents technologies that have applications in commercial areas, possibly creating the products of tomorrow.

INSIDER: Motion Control

Tiny Limbs and Long Bodies: Coordinating Lizard Locomotion

Using biological experiments, robot models, and a geometric theory of locomotion, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology investigated how and why intermediate lizard...

INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control

Walking Feeds Pressure to Pneumatic Robots That Could Help Those with Disabilities

Mechanical engineers at Rice University’s George R. Brown School of Engineering have built a handy extra limb able to grasp objects and go, powered only by...

Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control

Purdue’s Micro-Robot Could Help Treat Stroke Patients

A magnetically controlled medical device to remove blood accumulating in the brain during a stroke.

INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control

Humans in the Loop Help Robots Find Their Way

Just like us, robots can’t see through walls. Sometimes they need a little help to get where they’re going. Engineers at Rice University have developed a method that allows humans to help...

INSIDER: Manufacturing & Prototyping

MIT Engineers Devise a Recipe for Improving Any Autonomous Robotic System

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

INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Artificial Skin Gives Robots a Sense of Touch

We tend to take our sense of touch for granted in everyday settings, but it is vital for our ability to interact with our surroundings. Imagine reaching into the fridge to grab an egg for...

INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control

Robotic Arms Connected Directly to Brain of Partially Paralyzed Man Allows Him to Feed Himself

Two robotic arms — a fork in one hand, a knife in the other — flank a seated man, who sits in front of a table, with a piece of cake on a...

Question of the Week: Robotics, Automation & Control

Blog: Artificial Intelligence: Meet Human Intelligence

In my first blog, Designing from the Outside In vs. the Inside Out, I wrote about my long-ago design principle of starting a design with the user interface. But in those days, once the design was finalized that was it — I design it, it gets built, and the user uses it.

Special Reports: Robotics, Automation & Control

Medical Manufacturing & Outsourcing - August 2022

A novel ink that enables 3D printing of bone with living cells...advances in ultrasonic welding of plastics...additive manufacturing of self-powered wearable devices. Read these stories and more...

Briefs: Manned Systems

Low Separation Force Quick Disconnect Device

A self-aligning, self-healing system for pneumatics and cryogenics with applications in aerospace.

Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping

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...

Q&A: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Q&A: Artificial Skin Could Lead to a New Generation of Touch-Sensitive Robots

A team of engineers from the University of Glasgow led by Professor Ravinder Dahiya developed an artificial skin with a new type of processing system based on...