#robot

Oregon State University Receives Guinness World Record for Bipedal RobotOregon State University has a new award to crow about. They just received the Guinness World Record for the fastest 100 meters by a bipedal robot. The ostrich leg style robot ran 100 meters in 24.73 seconds.The robot’s name is Cassie and it was designed by the OSU College of Engineering in Corvallis, Oregon. The robot was then built by Agility Robotics in nearby Albany, Oregon. The machine was created using a $1 million grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Interestingly, Cassie does not have cameras or external sensors. The machine does, however, incorporate artificial intelligence. Cassie has also been able to complete a 5K run and has learned to go up and down stairs. #robot #GuinnessWorldRecord #running #worldrecord
World's Smallest Remote-Controlled Walking RobotIndeed, technology is amazing. Engineers invented the world's smallest remote-controlled robot which is only about half a millimeter wide. To visualize it, think of something that is smaller than the thickness of a US penny. The robot imitates the look of a small crab, hence it is called a robotic crab. Although this is a small man-made creature, it actually took its creators a year and a half to make. This time allowed them to make it as realistic as possible.  The robot can move sideways, walk, twist, turn, and even jump. The robot is still in its developmental phase, but it shows a promising future.  It is especially promising for the medical and manufacturing industry, where it can be used to perform minimally invasive surgeries and help in the assembly or repair of small-scale machines. Truly, it is an epitome of "small but mighty."  ​Image credit: CNN#Robot #Engineering #Technology #NorthwesternUniversity #Illinois
Scientists Create Artificial Skin That Can Feel Pain"There, there" is what I would tell this robot hand since it feels pain.Engineers from the University of Glasgow created the artificial skin with a new type of processing system that shows a remarkable ability to learn to react to external stimuli. ​After decades of building artificial skin with touch sensitivity, the robot they created finally reacted to pain, showing a withdrawal reflex. The method is inspired by how the human peripheral nervous system processes impulses from the skin. This robot breakthrough enhances the current state of the craft in touch-sensitive robotics. Robots with artificial skin will be useful in the future, especially in simulations in the medical industry.Video credit: BEST Group #Robot #Technology #Science
Algorithmic Queen: Drawing of Queen Elizabeth by Ai-Da RobotRobots not only show a promising future for the medical and manufacturing industry, but also for the art industry. This robot, named Ai-Da, is an ultra-realistic humanoid robot artist who can create drawings, paintings, and sculptures. It has cameras and a computer memory that allows it to use algorithms to create art representations. Its robotic arm can turn these digital formations into physical art. To show off her skills, Ai-Da even made a portrait of Queen Elizabeth which surely impressed Her Highness!Ai-Da has also been part of global exhibitions. Do you think that you can be more artistic than Ai-Da? Well, Ai-Da does not think so.  ​Image credit: @aidarobot on Instagram#robot #AiDa #QueenElizabeth
Magnetic Slime RobotThe insanely rapid growth in scientific developments means that new inventions seem increasingly like something out of science fiction or an April Fool’s joke.When The Chinese University of Hong Kong announced on April 1 that they had developed magnetic slime that can travel inside the human body, everyone thought it was an April’s Fool joke. But it really was not.The gooey material can be used to retrieve accidentally swallowed items, like button batteries. The durable slime can move through complex and narrow passages just millimeters wide, reaching speeds of up to 30 millimeters per second. It could be ideal for making surgery less invasive or for targeted drug delivery.#robot #slime #magnet #MagneticSlimeRobotVia ABC News​
A Robotic Beehive May Help Save the HoneybeesHoneybees pollinate so many of the world's crops that if they went extinct, our global food system could collapse. Bees numbers are dwindling, due to climate change, disease, parasites, and pollution. Some of tech's greatest minds have been searching for ways to keep bee colonies healthy and thriving, and raise the overall population of honeybees. A startup company in Beit Ha’emek, Israel, called Beewise has unveiled the first automated and autonomous beehive. They call it the Beehome. This device is big enough to house 24 colonies, which would otherwise each need a hive of their own. A solar-powered computerized system in the middle harnesses artificial intelligence to monitors the bees' activities and to respond when they need heat, cooling, moisture, ventilation, or even medicine. The system will alert a beekeeper when human intervention is needed. The system can even harvest honey! The Beehome will allow a single beekeeper to manage exponentially more hives than ever before possible. Read about the Beehome and what it can mean to agriculture at the Times of Israel.(Image credit: Beewise) #bee #honeybee #beehive #artificialintelligence #robot
Chippy the Robot is Chipotle's New Tortilla Chip BotIn the near future, your tortillas could be android-made. Chipotle is commissioning Miso Robotics to manufacture a robot that can make tortillas from scratch. The prototype is called Chippy.With artificial intelligence, Chippy is trained to replicate Chipotle's exact recipe – using corn masa flour, water and sunflower oil – to cook chips to perfection, season with a dusting of salt, and finish with a hint of fresh lime juice. It was essential that the technique remained the same so customers could enjoy the same texture and taste.Chippy is currently being tested at the Chipotle Cultivate Center, Chipotle's innovation hub in Irvine, Calif., and will be introduced to a Chipotle outlet in Southern California later this year.#robot #MisoRobotics #Chipotle #tortilla #chip #restaurant #cooking
Tortoise Mobile Smart Store: a Remote Controlled Vending Machine on WheelsNowadays, even snack carts get automated.A Silicon Valley startup called Tortoise is introducing a remote-controlled robot that can sell a variety of goods, equipped with tap-to-pay containers on its back.In what is described as 15-second experience, customers can simply tap their credit cards and gain access to their purchase. Like a walking vending machine, the droids are deployed on sidewalks, increasing potential sales by targeting customers directly. The fleets are operated remotely by a team located in Mexico City who monitors every transaction. Retailers who utilize Tortoise’s service don’t have to pay anything for the robots, only a 10% remit of the gross sales. A small chum compared to the potential added revenue they can generate from these mobile “stores”.#VendingMachine #Tortoise #RemoteControl #robot
Gelatin and Sugar can be Used to 3D Print Biodegradable Soft RobotsUsing gelatin and sugar as ink to print 3D soft robots is the result of what happens when engineering is combined with other fields.A group of researchers at Johannes Kepler University Linz used various biodegradables as ink to print 3D soft robots. In their study, they showed how they developed their ink and how well it performed. Over several years, researchers have been trying to develop robots made out of soft materials, hence called "soft robots."These robots are usually done to emulate water-living creatures. Researchers believe that this technology will lead to the development of tiny soft robots that can swim around inside of the body to disperse medications or to repair damaged tissue. Usually, soft robots are made out of non-biodegradable materials. Otherwise, it may result in the material dissolving in water, molding, and having a short lifespan. Their effort of using gelatin and sugar is a trailblazer.Image credit: Andreas Heiden, David Preninger, Doris Danninger, Florian Hartmann, Soft Matter Physics Division, Johannes Kepler University#gelatin #robot #softrobots
Microrobot Drone Weighs less than a Penny and Can Fly Around with Bug-Like AgilityOne problem that scientists encountered when it came to creating tiny robots was the need for their soft actuators to have higher voltages than rigid actuators that were similar in size. Recently, researchers from MIT may have found a solution to this problem.Using a new fabrication technique, the researchers were able to build soft actuators that only needed 75% lower voltage while carrying 80% more payload. Using these soft actuators that act like muscles that make the robot's wings fly, the MIT researchers have created these tiny drones, each the size of an insect, with the speed and toughness comparable to a real bug.The tiny robots in question are rectangular microbots that weigh less than one-fourth a penny. These robots could prove to be useful in pollinating plants, and when searching for survivors in collapsed buildings.Image Credit: Chen et al. via MIT News#Microbots #Robot #Technology #Electronics #Robotics #drone
Robots Successfully Performed Surgery Without Any Human HelpLaparoscopy (also known as keyhole surgery) is a procedure performed in the abdomen or pelvis. Compared to open surgery which involves making large incisions, laparoscopy is less invasive and less painful. This is made possible thanks to the laparoscope (the camera inserted in the tiny incisions. However, this procedure is much more difficult from the surgeon's perspective.Fortunately, it seems that doctors don't need to do complex surgeries such as this one in the near future, as robots will do it for them.One such robot is the Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot — STAR for short. According to The Guardian, scientists say that this robot performed "significantly better" results than humans.Now, this is a medical breakthrough.(Image Credit: Johns Hopkins University/PA)#Surgery #Medicine #Laparoscopy #KeyholeSurgery #robot
Ameca the Humanoid Robot has the Most Amazing Facial ExpressionsThe company Engineered Arts built a robot that pushes the limits of human mimicry just a little further than we are used to. Ameca is a human-sized robot with a gray androgynous face, but that face has 17 individual motors underneath the skin to control what the face looks like. Ameca can make pretty much any facial expression you might want. The face and body movement express the goal of imitating a human, but the company wisely stepped back from a complete human look, in order to avoid the uncanny valley effect. They want us to be comfortable talking to a robot, instead of feeling like someone is trying to fool us with this fake human. Claire Reilly got a chance to interview Ameca and her creators from Engineered Arts at CES 2022.
Microscopic Robots in the Works to Deliver Anti-Cancer DrugsYou may remember the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage, in which a futuristic submarine and crew were shrunken small enough to travel through a man's bloodstream and pulverize a blood clot from the inside. While we still cannot shrink people, tiny robots are in development to do medical work from the inside of bodies here in the real world. These microscopic robots are made of hydrogel, in the shape of fish, crabs, or butterflies to see which shapes can best deliver chemotherapy drugs to cancerous sites. They are coated in magnetic nanoparticles, and after injection are steered to the cancer by magnets outside the body. They are programmed to release the drugs when they encounter a more acidic environment near a tumor. So while these are not exactly autonomous robots, they could be a miracle for targeting medication.
Robot Only Fast Food: This KFC Restaurant in Russia is Entirely Run by RobotsThis is probably a glimpse of the future. Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) introduced their take on a fully automated staff in their restaurant in Moscow. The fast-food chain reduced the interactions between customers and staff as much as possible.Dmitry Ageev, a KFC representative, noted that the company had built the new outlet before the outbreak of coronavirus in Russia. It had experimented with ways to create a more hygienic way to order its menu items.As seen in the video by World News Network, a robotic hand places the order into a box after it is cooked. The customer, in turn, can open the box with a code given to them. When it comes to payment, the restaurant, following its automated concept, accepts bank cards or face biometric data after completing a registration process.Image credit: World News Network#KFC #Robot #Automation #FastFood
Are Boston Dynamics' Robot Dogs Good for Anything Real?We've seen Spot, the quadruped robot from Boston Dynamics, performing some amazing feats, like dancing, marching in a halftime show, and recreating a Rolling Stones video.Sure they're entertaining, but somewhere along the way you may have wondered if they can do anything useful. That is, something necessary that clients might be willing to pay for.
Caltech's Leonardo Robot Can Walk, Fly, Slackline and SkateHumans are not perfect and can only do so much. Through the years, technology continues to develop, making our lives easier and better. Cellphones, for instance, have been vital to our lives, especially in our communication with other people. Technology continues to advance, giving us an impression that robots might disguise themselves as humans in the future. Researchers from Caltech have developed a robot with bipedal legs and a torso-mounted thrust powerful enough to be lifted off the ground. This robot can even do what we can only dream of - it can fly! After two years, Leo the robot can now skateboard, slackline, and make dainty airborne hops with exceptionally elegant landings. This robot has heels, by the way, and has a new outfit. It's also stylish!All Images: Caltech Aerospace Rootics and Control Group​#robot #HumanoidRobots #BipedalDrone
This Robot Finds Lost Items, Even Those Buried Under a PileOne of the annoying things of our human nature is losing stuff. Imagine you are in a hurry and suddenly your keys decided to hide from you. You lost precious time as well as your peace of mind.Researchers at MIT created a robot that finds lost items. They built a system called RFusion, a robotic arm with a camera and radio frequency (RF) antenna attached to its gripper. The antenna provides the signal with the help of the camera as its visual input. The robot can find items even when completely out of sight, such as things buried in a pile.Finally, there'll probably be no lost keys in the future. Learn more about the research over at MIT News. Image: MIT News Office#Robot #FindLostItems
Spot Robot Dances in a Halftime ShowIn case you have been wondering why college tuition is so high these days, behold the Mizzou halftime show Saturday. The spotlight performer was a Spot robot from Boston Dynamics. Watch him shake his tail to The Jackson 5's song "Dancing Machine."The University of Missouri College of Engineeringacquired their first Spot robot during the spring 2021 semester, and now they gave at least three. The student engineers have been programming their robots to do various things, like pushups and possibly some football moves, but chose to debut Spot's talents to the public with the dance team and marching band. A good time was had by all.But then again, maybe they should have taught those robot dogs more football skills. Mizzou lost that game to Tennessee, 24-62. No one in Missouri is thinking about that, though, since the robot dog stole the show and gave us a viral video.(Image: Mizzou Engineering)#SpotRobot #robot #UniversityofMissouri #dance #cheerleader #FootballGame #Mizzou #BostonDynamics
The International Space Station Has an AI-Powered Space Robot Named CIMONThe CIMON-2 is the astronaut's latest cyber companion in space!The Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered contraption, fully known as Crew Interactive Mobile Companion, is a small floating sphere with a digital cartoon-like face. The robot accompanied two European astronauts to past missions to the International Space Station, where it is currently stored. The mechanical sphere will be woken up for the upcoming mission of German astronaut Matthias Maurer. The CIMON-2 was developed by Till Eisenberg with the German Aerospace Centre DLR and the LMU University in Munich. Its function is to communicate with the astronauts, and respond to their commands. As for how it recognises speech, Space.com explains that the robot relies on IBM's Watson speech recognition and synthesis software to do so, as Till Einseber fully explains: "The sphere is just the front end," Eisenberg said. "All the voice recognition and artificial intelligence happens on Earth at an IBM data centre in Frankfurt, Germany. The signal from CIMON has to travel through satellites and ground stations to the data centre and back. We focused on improving the robustness of this connection to prevent disruptions."The current robot at the space station has the Watson Tone Analyzer, which makes it more attuned to the astronauts’ emotional states. Image credit: Airbus #Space #Robot #ArtificialIntelligence #IBM #TillEisenberg #CIMON #CrewInteractiveMobileCompanion #Technology #SpeechRecongition #InternationalSpaceStation
Outtakes and Flubs from Boston Dynamics' Robot ParkourLast week, we were impressed by a video of Boston Dynamics' Atlas robots running a parkour course. If that video gave you a sense of dread about the capabilities of our new robot overlords, rest assured that it took a lot of practice and crashes before they got it right. Witness this:
Elon Musk's Not-a-RobotAt Tesla's AI Day event on Thursday, Elon Musk publicly unveiled his concept for a Tesla robot that one day will perform the laborious tasks that humans don't want to do. He didn't unveil a robot, just a concept for a robot.Musk’s “robot” was just a person dancing around in a skintight full-body suit, but he promises that his electric car company really is working on something. And he really wants you to believe him this time.“The Tesla bot will be real,” Musk said emphatically, trying to usher his fake robot off-stage on Thursday.
Samsung’s Robot Chef Brings Automated Assistance to your Kitchen! Samsung has introduced the Samsung Bot Chef, a machine that can help people prepare their meals!According to the official press release, the Bot Chef can ‘read, understand, and divide up the tasks in regular recipes, and use tools that you normally use.’ It uses sensors to look and find things in the kitchen, and if it can’t find or reach for something, the machine will ask for help. Now that’s like having a companion in the kitchen!This product concept is intelligent enough to slow down or stop completely if it detects a person’s presence near it, and it will wait for the person to move away before continuing its tasks. In addition to having multiple sensors, the Bot Chef has two Saram arms that hold and manipulate different kitchen tools. One of the highlights of Samsung’s newest machine is that it can learn new skills by downloading them from ‘a skills ecosystem.’ This means that it can learn how to find and use non-smart appliances to help people in the kitchen, from blending a soup to making a cup of coffee-- the Bot Chef holds a great deal of potential!Image credit: Samsung#Samsung #BotChef #Machine #Robot #Technology #Kitchenware #Cooking #ArtificialIntelligence #AI 
Robot ParkourWe carry a vision of robots that are less-than copies of human beings. Human-shaped robots in that vision are top heavy and cannot balance themselves as fast or well as a human, which can bepretty funny. So far, the most successful are those that don't even pretend to be human, like the Roomba or one-armed factory robots.But Boston Dynamics keeps improving the human powers of their human-shaped robots. The latest edition of their Atlas robot can balance itself well enough to run a parkour course that looks like a cross between a dog agility run and a gymnastics facility, all the while resembling a human wearing a backpack so much that it gives us the uncanny willies.#BostonDynamics #robot #parkour
See This Ghost Kitchen Robot in Action As It Prepares MealsKitchen Robotics, a company that automates ghost kitchens with hardware and software tools, released a video of their Beastro Ghost Kitchen Robot working on some meals. The robot is a big step toward having a fully automated ghost kitchen.The cooking process goes like this: after dispensing ingredients in a bowl, the Beastro robot mixes and heats them until they’re fully cooked. Overall, the robot can make 45 Italian and Asian cuisines, soups, salads, and other dishes in an hour. Moreover, it sanitizes its cook bowls afterwards and can work quickly without taking breaks.Kitchen Robotics also uses a cloud-based software called Cuismo. Through this program, the company is able to monitor, customize, and optimize the process of making each dish.Watch the Beastro robot make some meals in the video clip below.Video Credits: Kitchen Robotics#robot #kitchen #cooking #cookingbot #BeastroGhostKitchenRobot