robotics

AI-powered robots briefly took over the European Parliament this week to showcase the continent’s creators as the bloc races to compete in a field dominated by China and the United States.

Drones often hover in the air, noisy and whining. They can already be used for many tasks, but not when you need some quiet. Their batteries would also last longer if they could take a “rest” from time to time. But when a drone is monitoring a rainforest, its cluttered surroundings and its own gripper…

You might naturally expect a wide, open path to be faster and easier to navigate than a narrow one, just as birds fly freely through the open sky, cars move quickly on empty roads, and a wide hallway seems easier when trying to exit a building.

Cats, dogs, wolves and other agile four-legged animals can easily jump and squeeze through tight spaces while moving at high speed. Reproducing similar agile motions and skills in quadrupedal robots has so far proved challenging.

3D printers that once could only produce rigid objects can now create products as soft and stretchable as rubber. A team of Korean researchers used AI to identify the optimal “recipe” for a material that can be printed into complex shapes while stretching to more than six times its original length. The material is expected…

Legged robots, robotic systems with legs that typically resemble those of animals or humans, could be advantageous for completing tasks in home environments or populated, dynamic spaces. These robots may look like humans or animals, yet they often cannot reliably replicate complex whole-body movements in a short time.