Robotics news

Musical robots perform duets (w/ Video)

Electronics / Robotics

Nov 26, 2009 | 4.2 / 5 (6) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A flute playing robot unveiled by Waseda University last year has been joined by a robot saxophonist in a Classical music duet. The aim of the project was to design robots that could respond ...

Robo-chefs and fashion-bots on show in Tokyo

Electronics / Robotics

Nov 26, 2009 | 5 / 5 (5) | 0

Forget the Transformers and Astroboy: Japan's latest robots don't save the world -- they cook snacks, play with your kids, model clothes, and search for disaster victims.

Robotic clam digs in mudflats

Electronics / Robotics

Nov 22, 2009 | 5 / 5 (3) | 0

To design a lightweight anchor that can dig itself in to hold small underwater submersibles, Anette (Peko) Hosoi of MIT borrowed techniques from one of nature's best diggers -- the razor clam.

Robots primed for 'are you being served' role in Arabic

Electronics / Robotics

Nov 03, 2009 | 3.4 / 5 (5) | 0

A laboratory in the UAE has built what it says is the world's first Arabic-speaking robot which could soon go into mass production to serve as staff in shopping malls.

Robot fish could monitor water quality

Electronics / Robotics

Nov 02, 2009 | 4 / 5 (1) | 2

Nature inspires technology for an engineer and an ecologist teamed up at Michigan State University. They're developing robots that use advanced materials to swim like fish to probe underwater environments.

New robot skier takes to the slopes (w/ Video)

Electronics / Robotics

Oct 23, 2009 | 3.5 / 5 (6) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new robot skier has been invented that can be fitted with off-the-shelf skis. This is not the first skiing robot, since Japanese scientists have produced their own (see PhysOrg.com article here), but is bigger and heavie ...

Robotic Hand That Senses Touch (w/ Video)

Electronics / Robotics

Oct 21, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (27) | 10

(PhysOrg.com) -- Developed by researchers at Lund University in Sweden and Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Italy, the Smart Hand project has given patient, Robin af Ekenstam (see video) the sense of touch in ...

iRobot Unveils Morphing Blob Robot (w/ Video)

Electronics / Robotics

Oct 15, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (25) | 4

(PhysOrg.com) -- iRobot's latest robot is unique on many levels. The doughy blob moves by inflating and deflating - a new technique its developers call "jamming." As the researchers explain in the video below, ...

South Korea's little firefighting robots (w/ Video)

Electronics / Robotics

Oct 08, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (7) | 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- Two South Korean firms have developed mini firefighting robots to help human firefighters safely plan their course of action before entering a blazing building.

Household robots do not protect users' security and privacy, researchers say

Electronics / Robotics

Oct 08, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (2) | 1

People are increasingly using household robots for chores, communication, entertainment and companionship. But safety and privacy risks of information-gathering objects that move around our homes are not yet adequately addressed, ...

Probing Question: Where are all the cool robots?

Electronics / Robotics

Oct 01, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (7) | 6

(PhysOrg.com) -- For the better part of a century, they’ve promised us robots. From Elektro, the 7-foot metal man of the 1939 World’s Fair, to Rosie the robot maid on "The Jetsons" to the android lieutenant ...

From nature, robots

Electronics / Robotics

Sep 25, 2009 | 5 / 5 (4) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- To a robot designer like Sangbae Kim, the animal kingdom is full of inspiration. "I always look at animals and ask why they are the way they are," says Kim, an assistant professor of mechanical ...

Robot Floor Tiles Move Beneath Your Feet

Electronics / Robotics

Sep 22, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (10) | 8

(PhysOrg.com) -- In a stroke of odd creativity, Japanese researchers have created robotic blocks that automatically detect where you're walking and position themselves in front of you before you take your ...

Taiwan lab develops panda robot

Electronics / Robotics

Sep 17, 2009 | 3.8 / 5 (4) | 0

The world's first panda robot is taking shape at a cutting-edge lab in Taiwan where an ambitious group of scientists hope to add new dimensions to the island's reputation as a high-tech power.

Robots Reveal Insights into Evolution

Electronics / Robotics

Sep 16, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (13) | 22

(PhysOrg.com) -- In an ironic twist to our understanding of life, robots may offer a greater degree of realism for studying some of the intricacies of natural selection and evolution than real organisms offer. ...

The robot children

Electronics / Robotics

Sep 15, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (4) | 0

The brains of the snake robots are still no more advanced than that of a one-year-old, but scientists at SINTEF (Norway) want to bring them up to the level of a teenager. At least.

iCub, the Toddler Robot (w/ Videos, Pictures)

Electronics / Robotics

Sep 09, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (13) | 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- A little humanoid robot called iCub is learning how to think for itself, bringing the world of science fiction to reality. The major goal of the "RobotCub" project is to study how humans learn ...

Fla. boaters urged to look out for missing robot

Electronics / Robotics

Sep 05, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

(AP) -- Scientists on Florida's Gulf Coast are trying to find an underwater robot that has mysteriously vanished.