Motion Control/​Automation

The Hidden Nervous System of Surgical Robotics: Power, Data & Sensing Behind Precision Performance

Advances in interconnect density, force sensing, and system integration are shaping the future of surgical and assistive robotics.

Soft Robots with Human-Like Intelligence

Researchers have developed a new AI control system that allows soft robots to adapt across diverse tasks and disturbances.

Teaching a Robot to Hang a T-shirt Starts with Data

Building on her experience volunteering at retirement homes, Carnegie Mellon researcher Jasmine Li decided to focus her research on assistive robotics that help people with everyday tasks....

What Robots Can Learn from Sea Stars

Sea stars are creatures whose movements involve the coordination of hundreds of tiny tube feet to navigate complex environments — despite the lack of a central brain. In other words, it’s as though...

Resource-Sharing Boosts Robotic Resilience

If the goal of a robot is to perform a function, then minimizing the possibility of failure is a top priority when it comes to robotic design. But although systems with multiple units, or agents,...

Wearable Lets Users Control Machines and Robots While on the Move

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a next-generation wearable system that enables people to control machines using everyday gestures — even...

How Much Do You Know About Agentic AI?

Agentic AI is the next level of artificial intelligence transforming enterprise workflows with intelligent agents that can make decisions without constant human oversight. Test your knowledge about agentic AI in this quiz.

Surgical & Assistive Robotics: Redefining Human Capability

Devices paired with adaptive machine learning are helping stroke and spinal cord injury patients regain movement.

5Ws of the AEON Humanoid Robot

One of the 2026 CES Innovation Awards honorees in the robotics category is AEON — a humanoid robot developed to address labor shortages as industries adapt to ageing populations and shifting workforce demands.

Products of Tomorrow

See the products of tomorrow, including a new nanoscale optical device that works at room temperature to entangle the spin of photons (particles of light) and electrons to achieve quantum communication; a dust sensor for use in space environments; and more.

Ultrasound Waves Move Objects Hands-Free

University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers have discovered a new method to move objects using ultrasound waves, which opens the door for using contactless manipulation in industries in which devices wouldn’t need a built-in power source to move. Read on to learn more.

Monitoring and Control of Each Nanosatellite within a Cluster of Nanosatellites

NASA has developed an innovative combination of a Magnetometer, low-powered ElectroMagnets, and Resonant Inductive Coupling (MEMRIC) to create and control relative positioning of nano satellites within a cluster. This is a game-changing approach to enable distributed nanosatellite (nanosat) clusters. Read on to learn more.

A Light-Powered Soft Robot That Can Carry Loads Through the Air Along Established Tracks

Researchers have created a light-powered soft robot that can carry loads through the air along established tracks, similar to cable cars or aerial trams. The soft robot operates autonomously, can climb slopes at angles of up to 80°, and can carry loads up to 12 times its weight. Read on to learn more.

Getting Robots to “Bee” have Without a Plan

Bees, ants, and termites don’t need blueprints. They may have queens, but none of these species breed architects or construction managers. Each insect worker, or drone, simply responds to cues like warmth or the presence or absence of building material. Now, researchers at Penn Engineering have developed mathematical rules that allow virtual swarms of tiny robots to do the same. Read on to learn more.

A New Approach Enabling Intuitive Robotic Helpers for Household, Workplace, and Warehouse settings

For a robot, the real world is a lot to take in. Making sense of every data point in a scene can take a huge amount of computational effort and time. Using that information to then decide how to best help a human is an even thornier exercise. Now, MIT roboticists have a way to cut through the data noise, to help robots focus on the features in a scene that are most relevant for assisting humans. Read on to learn more.

Microscopic Swimming Machines that Can Sense, Respond to Surroundings

Researchers have created the world’s smallest programmable, autonomous robots: microscopic swimming machines that can independently sense and respond to their surroundings, operate for months, and cost just a penny each.

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...