Robotics & Automation News

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Scientists discover how silkworm moth’s odor detection may improve robotics

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Researchers from Japan explore how the domesticated flightless silkworm moth (Bombyx mori), a prominent insect model in olfactory research, uses wing flapping to manipulate airflow, enhancing their ability to detect distant pheromones.

These findings highlight how moths guide pheromones to their odor sensors in antennae, and suggest potential applications for designing advanced robotic systems for odor source localization.

This could inspire future innovations in drones and provide design guidelines for robots to locate odor sources.

[Read more…] about Scientists discover how silkworm moth’s odor detection may improve robotics

Nvidia CEO donates $50 million to Oregon State University, which promptly builds a $200 million supercomputing center

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Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang and his wife, Lori, have donated $50 million to their alma mater, Oregon State University, to advance research in AI, climate science and robotics. The university will use the donation to build an engineering complex with an AI supercomputer to help students and faculty address some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

As a civil engineer, Scott Ashford used explosives to make the ground under Japan’s Sendai airport safer in an earthquake.

Now, as the dean of the engineering college at Oregon State University, he’s at ground zero of another seismic event.

In its biggest fundraising celebration in nearly a decade, Oregon State announced plans today for a $200 million center where faculty and students can plug into resources that will include one of the world’s fastest university supercomputers.

The 150,000-square-foot center, due to open in 2025, will accelerate work at Oregon State’s top-ranked programs in agriculture, computer sciences, climate science, forestry, oceanography, robotics, water resources, materials sciences and more with the help of AI. [Read more…] about Nvidia CEO donates $50 million to Oregon State University, which promptly builds a $200 million supercomputing center

MIT scientists find new way to help robots handle fluids

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Researchers create new simulation tool for robots to manipulate complex fluids in a step towards helping robots more effortlessly assist with daily tasks that deal with liquids

Imagine you’re enjoying a picnic by a riverbank on a windy day. (Why you chose to do this on a windy day was your own poor decision).

A gust of wind accidentally catches your paper napkin and lands on the water’s surface, quickly drifting away from you. You grab a nearby stick and carefully agitate the water to retrieve it, creating a series of small waves.

These waves eventually push the napkin back towards the shore, so you grab it. In this scenario, the water acts as a medium for transmitting forces, enabling you to manipulate the position of the napkin without direct contact. [Read more…] about MIT scientists find new way to help robots handle fluids

Columbia scientists build ‘highly dexterous robot hand that can operate in the dark – just like humans’

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Columbia university engineers design a robot hand (video below) that is the first device of its kind to join advanced sense of touch with motor-learning algorithms – it doesn’t rely on vision to manipulate objects

Think about what you do with your hands when you’re home at night pushing buttons on your TV’s remote control, or at a restaurant using all kinds of cutlery and glassware. 

These skills are all based on touch, while you’re watching a TV program or choosing something from the menu. Our hands and fingers are incredibly skilled mechanisms, and highly sensitive to boot.

Robotics researchers have long been trying to create “true” dexterity in robot hands, but the goal has been frustratingly elusive. Robot grippers and suction cups can pick and place items, but more dexterous tasks such as assembly, insertion, reorientation, packaging and so on have remained in the realm of human manipulation. [Read more…] about Columbia scientists build ‘highly dexterous robot hand that can operate in the dark – just like humans’

Drones navigate unseen environments with liquid neural networks

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MIT researchers exhibit a new advancement in autonomous drone navigation, using brain-inspired liquid neural networks that excel in out-of-distribution scenarios

In the vast, expansive skies where birds once ruled supreme, a new crop of aviators is taking flight. These pioneers of the air are not living creatures, but rather a product of deliberate innovation: drones.

But these aren’t your typical flying bots, humming around like mechanical bees. Rather, they’re avian-inspired marvels that soar through the sky, guided by liquid neural networks to navigate ever-changing and unseen environments with precision and ease.

Inspired by the adaptable nature of organic brains, researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory introduced a method for robust flight navigation agents to master vision-based fly-to-target tasks in intricate, unfamiliar environments. [Read more…] about Drones navigate unseen environments with liquid neural networks

ETH scientists create one-wheel robot that balances with only a single reaction wheel

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Robotics specialists from a group led by ETH professor Raffaello D’Andrea have created a new, cube-​shaped robot that can balance on its pivot and compensate for external disturbances.

What makes the One-​Wheel Cubli unique? Unlike its predecessors, it only requires a single reaction wheel.

It was almost ten years ago that researchers led by ETH robotics professor Raffaello D’Andrea made a splash with a robotic cube that was capable of balancing on its pivot. [Read more…] about ETH scientists create one-wheel robot that balances with only a single reaction wheel

UCLA claims its humanoid robot footballer is ‘better than Messi’

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Mechanical engineers at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering have developed a full-sized humanoid robot with “first-of-its-kind technology”.

Named Artemis, for Advanced Robotic Technology for Enhanced Mobility and Improved Stability, the robot is scheduled to travel in July to Bordeaux, France, where it will take part in the soccer competition of the 2023 RoboCup, an international scientific meeting where robots demonstrate capabilities across a range of categories.

The robot was designed by researchers at the Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory at UCLA, or RoMeLa, as a general-purpose humanoid robot, with a particular focus on bipedal locomotion over uneven terrain. [Read more…] about UCLA claims its humanoid robot footballer is ‘better than Messi’

Automation in Construction: Researchers develop automated system to measure strain and acceleration of precast concrete structures

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Reserarchers at Chung-Ang University, South Korea have developed a smart portable sensing system for monitoring precast structures during delivery. The multimetric portable system uses an IoT sensor to simultaneously measure strain and acceleration of the structures real-time during delivery.

Precast concrete structures (PCS) reduce workforce dependency and construction time. However, they are subjected to vibrations and strain during transport from their manufacturing site to the construction site.

Effective quality control measures require continuous logging of vibration and strain measurement during the delivery, an essential feature that is missing in current systems. To this end, researchers have now developed a novel portable sensing system that can monitor strain and acceleration to enable efficient PCS delivery. [Read more…] about Automation in Construction: Researchers develop automated system to measure strain and acceleration of precast concrete structures

Robotic pollinator: A fairy-like robot flies by the power of wind and light

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The loss of pollinators, such as bees, is a huge challenge for global biodiversity and affects humanity by causing problems in food production. At Tampere University, researchers have now developed the first passively flying robot equipped with artificial muscle. Could this artificial fairy be utilised in pollination?

The development of stimuli-responsive polymers has brought about a wealth of material-related opportunities for next-generation small-scale, wirelessly controlled soft-bodied robots.

For some time now, engineers have known how to use these materials to make small robots that can walk, swim and jump. So far, no one has been able to make them fly.

Researchers of the Light Robots group at Tampere University are now researching how to make smart material fly. Hao Zeng, Academy Research Fellow and the group leader, and Jianfeng Yang, a doctoral researcher, have come up with a new design for their project called FAIRY – Flying Aero-robots based on Light Responsive Materials Assembly. They have developed a polymer-assembly robot that flies by wind and is controlled by light. [Read more…] about Robotic pollinator: A fairy-like robot flies by the power of wind and light

ABB robots help tackle Covid by automating testing, research and diagnostics

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ABB Robotics has developed an automated neutralizing antibody testing system with the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) that is the most effective means of determining an individual’s immunity to various strains of Covid.

Developed by ABB Robotics, Life Sciences and Healthcare Lab, located at the Texas Medical Center Campus in Houston, Texas, the system dramatically increases the number of neutralizing antibody tests performed, from 15 to over 1,000 daily.

With a greater number of people assessed for immunity against the different strains of the Covid virus, automating the testing will help UTMB researchers gain a greater understanding of the effectiveness of Covid vaccines. [Read more…] about ABB robots help tackle Covid by automating testing, research and diagnostics