Robotics & Automation News

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Science

MIT develops thread-like robot that can slip through brain’s blood vessels

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Scientists at MIT have developed a thread-like robot that can be steered using magnets and slip through the brain’s blood vessels. 

The university’s website reports that, in the future, this “robotic thread” may be paired with existing endovascular technologies, enabling doctors to remotely guide the robot through a patient’s brain vessels to quickly treat blockages and lesions, such as those that occur in aneurysms and stroke.

Xuanhe Zhao, associate professor of mechanical engineering and of civil and environmental engineering at MIT, says: “Stroke is the number five cause of death and a leading cause of disability in the United States. [Read more…] about MIT develops thread-like robot that can slip through brain’s blood vessels

Scurrying cockroaches help researchers steady staggering robots

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Ew, a cockroach! But it zips off before the swatter appears. Now, researchers have leveraged the bug’s superb scurrying skills to create a cleverly simple method to assess and improve locomotion in robots.

Normally, tedious modeling of mechanics, electronics, and information science is required to understand how insects’ or robots’ moving parts coordinate smoothly to take them places.

But in a new study, biomechanics researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology boiled down the sprints of cockroaches to handy principles and equations they then used to make a test robot amble about better. [Read more…] about Scurrying cockroaches help researchers steady staggering robots

New lasers can weld ceramics without furnace, claim scientists

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Smartphones that don’t scratch or shatter. Metal-free pacemakers. Electronics for space and other harsh environments.

These could all be made possible thanks to a new ceramic welding technology developed by a team of engineers at the University of California San Diego and the University of California Riverside.

The process, published in the August 23 issue of Science, uses an ultrafast pulsed laser to melt ceramic materials along the interface and fuse them together. [Read more…] about New lasers can weld ceramics without furnace, claim scientists

Wipro partners with university for advanced research and innovation in autonomous systems, robotics and 5G

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Wipro, widely known as an IT company, has formed a strategic partnership with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), India’s premier public establishment for research and higher education in science and engineering, to conduct advanced applied research in autonomous systems, robotics and 5G space.

The two organizations have jointly set up the Wipro IISc Research and Innovation Network (WIRIN), a hybrid industry-academia collaboration unit, which will drive idea discovery, research and innovation in technology and product design.

A group of senior professors and research staff from IISc and engineers, developers, architects and researchers from the autonomous systems, robotics and 5G domains at Wipro will constitute the team at WIRIN. [Read more…] about Wipro partners with university for advanced research and innovation in autonomous systems, robotics and 5G

Motlow College becomes an ABB Robotics Education affiliate

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Motlow State Community College in McMinnville, Tennessee is a new member of the ABB Robotics Affiliate Education Program.

ABB instructors have already begun teaching certificate training classes at the recently built Automation & Robotic Training Center (ARTC) adjacent to the Motlow campus.

The 12,500 square-foot ARTC has a dedicated ABB Robotics lab equipped with six 6-axis ABB robots and robot controllers, and all the necessary software and peripheral equipment to teach ABB customers how to program and operate ABB industrial robots. [Read more…] about Motlow College becomes an ABB Robotics Education affiliate

Human-robot teams work better ‘when there’s an emotional connection’, say researchers

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Humans and robots work better together when there’s an emotional connection, according to a study by the University of Michigan.

The researchers observed that soldiers develop attachments to the robots that help them diffuse bombs in the field. They add that, despite numerous warnings about privacy, “millions of us trust smart speakers like Alexa to listen into our daily lives”.

“Some of us name our cars and even shed tears when we trade them in for shiny new vehicles,” they say. [Read more…] about Human-robot teams work better ‘when there’s an emotional connection’, say researchers

Texas university wins Sick robotics challenge

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A team from Texas A&M University has won this year’s robotics challenge organized by Sick.

For the 2018-2019 school year, Sick invited students from universities around the country to participate in the first ever TiM$10K Challenge, created to support innovation and student achievement in automation and technology.

Teams were supplied with a 270° Sick LiDAR sensor (TiM) and accessories and challenged to solve a problem, create a solution, or bring a new application to any industry that utilizes the Sick LiDAR.

[Read more…] about Texas university wins Sick robotics challenge

Harvard unveils robot that builds walls

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Harvard’s Wyss Institute has unveiled a robot that can build walls. The university says the idea is to have the robot build barriers against floods, among other things. (See video below.)

In a blog post, the Wyss Institute says the robot that can “autonomously drive interlocking steel sheet piles into soil”.

The structures that the robots builds “could function as retaining walls or check dams for erosion control”, it adds.  [Read more…] about Harvard unveils robot that builds walls

JAXA and Toyota consider collaboration on international space exploration

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The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Toyota Motor Corporation have announced their agreement to consider the possibility of collaborating on international space exploration.

As a first step, JAXA and Toyota have reached agreement to further cooperate on and accelerate their ongoing joint study of a manned, pressurized rover that employs fuel cell electric vehicle technologies.

Such a form of mobility is deemed necessary for human exploration activities on the lunar surface.

[Read more…] about JAXA and Toyota consider collaboration on international space exploration

Scientists take first step towards creating terrifying liquid metal robot last seen in Terminator 2

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Researchers create new kind of robot composed of many simple particles with no centralized control or single point of failure

The concept of “gray goo”, a robot comprised of billions of nanoparticles, has fascinated science fiction fans for decades. But most researchers have dismissed it as just a wild theory.

Current robots are usually self-contained entities made of interdependent subcomponents, each with a specific function. If one part fails, the robot stops working. In robotic swarms, each robot is an independently functioning machine.

In a new study published today in Nature, researchers at Columbia Engineering and MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab demonstrate for the first time a way to make a robot composed of many loosely coupled components, or “particles”. (See video below.) [Read more…] about Scientists take first step towards creating terrifying liquid metal robot last seen in Terminator 2