Motion Control/​Automation

Robots React to Danger Like Humans

In the midst of the co-development of artificial intelligence and robotic advancements, developing technologies that enable robots to efficiently perceive and respond to their surroundings like humans has...

Teaching Robots to Build Without Blueprints

Unlike human manufacturing, the grand designs of bees, ants, and termites emerge simply from their collective action with no central planning required. Now, researchers at Penn’s School of...

Simulation-Based Pipeline Tailors Training Data for Dexterous Robots

When ChatGPT or Gemini give what seems to be an expert response to your burning questions, you may not realize how much information it relies on to give that reply. Like...

Autonomous Structures Can Be Programmed to Jump Days in Advance

Researchers have created dynamic structures that leap into the air on a predetermined schedule without intervention from computers or external stimuli. Precisely when these...

Creating Emotionally Intelligent Healthcare Robots

Advances in autonomous surgical robotic systems.

Socially Assistive AI-Driven Robots for Rehabilitation

Socially assistive robotics are playing an increasingly powerful role in eldercare and patient rehabilitation.

Meet SUPER: The Safety-Assured High-Speed Aerial Robot

The team has developed the Safety-Assured High-Speed Aerial Robot (SUPER), capable of flying at speeds exceeding 20 meters per second [about 45 miles per hour] and avoiding obstacles as thin as 2.5 millimeters [about 0.1 inch] — such as power lines or twigs — using solely onboard sensors and computing power.

Preparing Robots to Crawl on the Moon

A CU Boulder team is using digital twins — hyper-realistic VR environments — to provide a useful proxy for the moon, giving people a chance to get the hang of driving robots without risking damage to multi-million-dollar equipment.

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,...

New System Enables Robots to Solve Manipulation Problems in Seconds

Ready for that long-awaited summer vacation? First, you’ll need to pack all items required for your trip into a suitcase, making sure everything fits securely without...

Teaching Robots to Serve Humans

Over the past decade, robots have become an increasingly important part of our daily lives. Autonomous vehicles shuttle us from point A to point B, drones deliver lifesaving medicine to remote towns, sidewalk...

New Imaging Technique Reconstructs the Shapes of Hidden Objects

A new imaging technique developed by MIT researchers could enable quality-control robots in a warehouse to peer through a cardboard shipping box and see that the handle of a...

Advances in Autonomous Surgical Robotic Systems

A look at transformative advancement in surgical robotics, where robots can perform with both mechanical precision and human-like adaptability and understanding.

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.

Intelligent Machines Remove Humans from the Loop

As international trade is beginning to digitize its documentation and transactions, an AI technology born with the help of NASA’s Ames Research Center offers an automation solution.

How Horses Can Induce Better Social Robots

Equine-Assisted Interventions (EAIs) offer a powerful alternative to traditional talking therapies for patients with PTSD, trauma, and autism who struggle to express and regulate emotions through words alone.

A Robot with the ‘Brains’ to Morph Mid-Air

The new robot, dubbed ATMO (aerially transforming morphobot), uses four thrusters to fly, but the shrouds that protect them become the system's wheels in an alternative driving configuration. The whole transformation relies on a single motor to move a central joint that lifts ATMO's thrusters up into drone mode or down into drive mode.

Soft Robotics that Can ID, Self-Repair Damage

A University of Nebraska–Lincoln engineering team is another step closer to developing soft robotics and wearable systems that mimic the ability of human and plant skin to detect and self-heal injuries.

Brain-Like Computer Steers Rolling Robot With 0.25 Percent of the Power Needed by Conventional Controllers

Analog computing is making a comeback with hardware that processes and stores information in the same location, similar to biological...

Mid-Air Transformation Helps Flying, Rolling Robot to Transition Smoothly

Specialized robots that can both fly and drive typically touch down on land before attempting to transform and drive away. But when the landing terrain is rough,...

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...

Nimble Dimples: Agile Underwater Vehicles Inspired by Golf Balls

A spherical prototype that can change its surface from smooth to dimpled, cuts through drag and generates lift. Underwater or aerial vehicles with dimples like golf balls...

How Much Do You Know About Wireless Industrial Systems?

Automated factories are networks of separate but interconnected systems. The interconnections have been mostly hard-wired in the past but now we’re seeing more wireless systems. How much do you know about wireless industrial systems? Take this quiz and see.

An Octopus-Inspired Smart Robot

The work shows how a soft robot can use suction flow not just to stick to things, but also to sense its environment and control its own actions — just like an octopus.

New on the Market

See what's new on the market, including the ZE2531 Isolation Transformer from Coilcraft; Nikon Metrology's three new ECLIPSE microscope models, the LV100NDA LED, LV100ND LED, and LV100N POL LED; Würth Elektronik's expanded STAR-TEC and STAR-TEC LFS snap ferrite families; Walter's new milling grade, PVD-coated Tiger·tec® Gold WSM36G; and more.