Someone Please Find Sarah Connor! Swarms of robotic fish can synchronize their swimming, for the first time. Swimming in sync is one of the most important lessons a school of fish can learn: The coordination helps them find food—and evade predators.
But when scientists try to train robots to match this stunning natural feat, most fall short. Now, researchers have developed a fleet of seven underwater “fishbots” that can swim in circles—without crashing into one another. Most robot swarms coordinate their movements via a centralized computer that tells them where to go, in the form of GPS coordinates. But researchers wanted the robots to control their own movements. Inspired by two of the ways fish sense their neighbors—bioluminescence and vision—researchers outfitted fish-shaped underwater robots with two wide-angle cameras, one in each “eye,” and bright blue light-emitting diode lights. After roughly 1 year of testing, the fishbots successfully performed multiple movements, and could transition between behaviors seamlessly (see video, above).
Boston Dynamics Robots Dance Better Than the Rest of Us. Exoskeletons for Chinese Soldiers in High Altitude Regions. Chinese military stationed at high altitude regions may soon begin using exoskeletons built to conserve their energy while performing tasks such as patrol, transportation, and logistics support.
The Human Function Enhancement Technology Research center, under the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASIC), has already delivered a number of these agile, non-powered exoskeletons to the military, Global Times reported Tuesday. In the harsh environment of high-altitude regions, other devices like aerial drones and robotic dogs may face difficulties reaching their intended destinations due to strong winds or challenging terrains. That is why traditional manual work is still necessary, said Zhang Lijian, head of the research center. Zhang explains, “But in high-altitude regions, due to the lack of oxygen, goods that weigh 1kg feel like 5kg, and at an elevation of 3,500m, a human being's physical capabilities decay to only 70-75% of normal level.
China Used Exoskeletons to Recover Lunar Material - The Debrief. China recently deployed a recovery team into a remote, snow-laden part of Inner Mongolia to recover the lunar material brought back to Earth by the Chang’e 5 spacecraft.
To help the team set up a small command post, carry large packs of gear, and navigate the remote area successfully, they were issued exoskeletons. The recovery team was able to carry almost double the normal amount of weight through snowy and rugged terrain, according to sources speaking to the South China Morning Post. Though the 1986 film Aliens firmly established exoskeletons in science fiction, they have in recent years become an essential part of life for many people, and exoskeleton companies are now experiencing economic growth as a result. “This may surprise people but many exoskeletons are already fully developed and in regular use, especially in medical and occupational settings,” Dr.
Several countries have developed exoskeleton technology for medical, commercial, and military use thus far. Wearable robotic "third arm" can punch through a wall. Université de Sherbrooke engineers demonstrated a wearable robotic third arm that weighs about the same as a human arm.
According to Evan Ackerman writing in IEEE Spectrum, waist-worn hydraulic limb "is gentle enough to pick fruit but powerful enough to punch through a wall. " From his interview with project lead Catherine Véronneau: IEEE Spectrum: Can you describe the experience of wearing the robotic arm, especially when it’s moving dynamically? Oil industry robots are being repurposed to save one of Earth's rarest wonders.
The ocean remains Earth’s final frontier.
For all of mankind’s scientific advancements, in 2018 the National Ocean Service reported that more than t80 percent of the world’s water remains unexplored. But scientists at the Australian Institute of Marine Science have a new idea to help close the gap: simply take robots that are already in circulation and re-rig them for scientific discovery. They even have the perfect robots in mind, as discussed in their paper in the latest issue of the journal Frontiers in Medical Science, out April 15: remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) used by the oil and gas industry. This Video of a Robot Beating Up Humans Is Extremely Satisfying. Robots decommission 700,000 munitions for recycling. Realbotix. The Truth About Killer Robots: the year's most terrifying documentary. When it comes to the dangers posed to us by automatons, film-maker Maxim Pozdorovkin wants us to start thinking beyond what Hollywood has warned us about.
“This idea of a single, malevolent AI being that can harm us, the Terminator trope … I think it’s created a tremendous blind spot,” he said to the Guardian. “[It gets us] thinking about something that we’re heading towards in the future, something that will one day hurt us. If you look at the effects of automation broadly, globally, right now, it’s much more pervasive. The things happening – de-skilling, the loss of human dignity associated with traditional labor – they will have a devastating effect much sooner than that long-distance threat of unchecked AI.” This robot-powered burger restaurant says it's paying employees $16 an hour to read educational books while the bot does the work. Boston dynamics' robots are running and walking all by themselves. Boston Dynamics is teaching its robot dog to fight back against humans.
It appears that, just like their flesh and blood counterparts, you just can’t put a good robot dog down, even if you’re a human fighting it for control of a door.
Boston Dynamics’ well-mannered four-legged machine SpotMini has already proved that it can easily open a door and walk through unchallenged, but now the former Google turned SoftBank robotics firm is teaching its robo-canines to fight back. A newly released video shows SpotMini approaching the door as before, but this time it’s joined by a pesky human with an ice hockey stick. Unperturbed by his distractions, SpotMini continues to grab the handle and turn it even after its creepy fifth arm with a claw on the front is pushed away. If that assault wasn’t enough, the human’s robot bullying continues, shutting the door on Spot, which counterbalances and fights back against the pressure. In a last-ditch effort to stop the robot dog breaching the threshold, the human grabs at a leash attached to the back of the SpotMini and yanks.
This Running Robot Can Automatically Correct its Balance on the Treadmill. As California’s labor shortage grows, farmers race to replace workers with robots - Los Angeles Times. Driscoll’s is so secretive about its robotic strawberry picker it won’t let photographers within telephoto range of it.
But if you do get a peek, you won’t see anything humanoid or space-aged. AgroBot is still more John Deere than C-3PO — a boxy contraption moving in fits and starts, with its computer-driven sensors, graspers and cutters missing 1 in 3 berries. Such has been the progress of ag-tech in California, where despite the adoption of drones, iPhone apps and satellite-driven sensors, the hand and knife still harvest the bulk of more than 200 crops.
Now, the $47-billion agriculture industry is trying to bring technological innovation up to warp speed before it runs out of low-wage immigrant workers. California will have to remake its fields like it did its factories, with more machines and better-educated workers to labor beside them, or risk losing entire crops, economists say. Will Robots Take My Job? This Tool Knows If Robots Are Coming for Your Job. Jacques Mattheij made a small, but awesome, mistake.
He went on eBay one evening and bid on a bunch of bulk LEGO brick auctions, then went to sleep. Upon waking, he discovered that he was the high bidder on many, and was now the proud owner of two tons of LEGO bricks. (This is about 4400 pounds.) He wrote, "[L]esson 1: if you win almost all bids you are bidding too high. " Mattheij had noticed that bulk, unsorted bricks sell for something like €10/kilogram, whereas sets are roughly €40/kg and rare parts go for up to €100/kg.
There are 38000+ shapes and there are 100+ possible shades of color (you can roughly tell how old someone is by asking them what lego colors they remember from their youth). In the following months, Mattheij built a proof-of-concept sorting system using, of course, LEGO. Here's a video showing the current system running at low speed: The key part of the system was running the bricks past a camera paired with a computer running a neural net-based image classifier.
Russia Made a Robot Gunslinger. Russian military research videos usually deliver something to behold, whether it's tanks on parade or just Vladimir Putin totally not worried that this sub is going to sink.
Take a moment to watch this clip, which features a humanoid robot mowing down targets with a pistol in each hand like some movie badass. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below Dmitry Rogozin, the country's deputy prime minister, tweeted this video battlefield research to show off FEDOR, the baddest robot gunslinger in the East. Engineer Creates Sex Robot That Needs To Be Romanced First. There's no escaping Boston Dynamics' wheeled jumping robot. Boston Dynamics has officially unveiled its latest robot after footage leaked earlier in February showing the new design. Known as "Handle" the new research robot incorporates elements from the company's previous Altas robot, but achieves more efficient mobility by adding wheels and a significantly less complex joint system.
Described in February by company founder Marc Raibert as "nightmare inducing," Handle looks to be extraordinarily mobile, speeding down stairs, through snow and leaping up to four feet (1.2 m) vertically. According to the company, Handle can reach speeds up to 9 mph (14.5 km/h) and has a range of 15 miles (24 km) on a single battery charge. It appears this is one robot that could chase you just about anywhere. Might Snake Robots Ready the Moon for Human Settlement? Interested in learning more about robots colliding with interstellar exploration? Discover the fascinating field of modern robotics with some of the world’s greatest professors by starting your free trial of The Great Courses Plus.
Humans living in a village on the moon might sound like the backdrop for a sci-fi movie, but the European Space Agency (ESA) believes it’s a realistic scenario. When scanning the moon as a potential destination for human settlement — or, at the very least, interstellar travel expeditions — the agency is homing in on lava tubes, which are molten rock tunnels where lava once flowed. Since the moon is not sheltered from the sun’s radiation like the Earth, people hanging out on the lunar surface for an extended period must stay underground — and these tunnels could be a cheaper alternative to constructing habitation modules buried in the ground. Nearly 50 years since man first stepped on the moon, the ESA is plotting out a “moon village.” Robots Are Growing Tons of Our Food. Here's the Creepy Part. Armando Veve You don't see self-driving cars taking over American cities yet, but robotic tractors already roar through our corn and soybean farms, helping to plant and spray crops.
They also gather huge troves of data, measuring moisture levels in the soil and tracking unruly weeds. MIT applies soft touch to robots with programmable 3D-printed skins. Spectators of the DARPA Robotics Challenge finals in 2015 would have noticed that many of the competing robots were padded up for protection in case they took a tumble. MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) is looking to build customizable shock-absorbing protection into robots by using 3D printing to produce soft materials that not only dampen the impact of falls, but also allows them to carry out safer, more precise movements. Robot With Human Paintbrush. Chemically-powered, autonomous Octopus could spawn a new generation of soft robots. Harvard engineers have come up with a robot octopus that is made entirely of soft materials, is autonomous, and requires no tether to operate.
The Octobot combines 3D printing, mechanical engineering, and microfluidics to create what could be the first in a new generation of soft, autonomous machines. If you're going to make a soft robot, you could do worse than choose an octopus as inspiration. The most intelligent of the molluscs and one of the most advanced invertebrates, its dexterity and ability to manipulate are all combined with a body completely without hard parts save for its beak, which robots don't need. No pain no gain: Hurting robots so they can save themselves. It's probably not something you'd say to a person writhing in agony on the floor, but physical pain can have its benefits. Theconversation. Autonomous learning puts human-like dexterity within robotic reach. Although humans perform intricate hand movements like rolling, pivoting, bending and grabbing different shaped objects without a second thought, such dexterity is still beyond the grasp of most robots.
TOP 10 robot stories of 2015. The Dawn of Killer Robots. The Convention on Conventional Weapons discussions at the United Nationsmeatbags. The evolution machine: Mother robot makes each child better than the last. It was only last month that futurists Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking warned about the dangers of intelligent machines, and a new research project led by the University of Cambridge won't do much to put their minds at ease. Robots and Utopia: Silicon Valley's Quirkiest CEO. Who is to blame when a robot kills a human? Since the onset of the Industrial Revolution, Western nations have harbored a collective anxiety about the replacement of human jobs by mechanized labor. The Exoskeletons Are Coming.
Robots square off at the 2015 DRC Finals. A sporting event where a contestant opens a door, promptly falls on their face, and then stands up again sounds like less than riveting, but on Friday some 10,000 people at the Fairplex in Pomona, California, cheered and screamed encouragement as exactly that happened. Of course, the fact that the contender was a robot called Tartan Rescue and the competition was the first day of the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Final 2015 had something to do with it. Dubai to put 'robocops' on the streets in two years. These days, life looks more and more like some futuristic TV series. This Robot Chef Has Mastered Crab Bisque. CareJack vest takes soft (and smart) approach to lifting heavy loads. Power-assist exoskeletons to go on sale in Japan. ATRIAS bipedal robot can take a beating and keep walking. Meet The First Men To Get Reconstructed Bionic Hands After Amputation.
Roboticist: Lethal Autonomy 'Inevitable' Brain-controlled prosthetic arm connected to nerves. Terrifying Robot Update: Thursday October 2, 2014. Here comes the future: We’re making robots that feel! What you need to know about the robots that feed humanity. Low-cost autonomous robots replicate swarming behavior. Left To Their Own Devices, Robots Evolve Into Diverse Populations. Making robots work out where they are and where they’re going.
Robots that use Wi-Fi to see through walls. Building machines from muscle: University of Illinois demonstrates "walking" bio-robot. MIT researchers augment humans with extra robotic arms. HitchBOT aims to be first robot to hitchhike across Canada. New Law Enforcement Robot Can Wield Excessive Force Of 5 Human Officers. Watch this robot play a table tennis champion — and almost win! The Terminators: drone strikes prompt MoD to ponder ethics of killer robots. Stretchable optical circuits could find use in robot skin and more. Paralyzed woman walks again with 3D-printed robotic exoskeleton. A robot in every home: Dyson enters race to provide ‘advanced household androids’ for all. Is It Possible to Degrade and Exploit Your At-Home Sexbot? Robots to Breed with Each Other and Humans by 2045. With its giant fembots, Japan is winning the go-go arms race.
This crime-predicting robot aims to patrol our streets by 2015. Should Killer Robots be Banned? Kant & Sexbots. New NASA Robot, 'Valkyrie,' Looks Like Iron Man. Scientists develop "heart pump" for pee-powered robots. How Self-Replicating Spacecraft Could Take Over the Galaxy. 'Terminator'-style cube robots swarm and self-assemble. Robot WildCat Runs Sixteen Miles Per-Hour. RHex robot shows off Parkour moves. Disney Research software makes mechanizing characters easy. MIT Scientists Create Robot Capable Of Feeling Lust. Giant Crabster robot to explore shipwrecks and shallow seas. DFKI's robot ape to colonize the Moon? Japanese robots make a stink about bad breath, body odor.
Mini humanoid robots are beginning to walk more like people. Advanced humanoid robot takes first steps. Don't snatch! Disney Research builds robot that takes objects more naturally. TV: The Sex Life of Robots. Orwellwasright's Weblog. HERB the robot butler takes part in Oreo cookie challenge. A very human-like robot invented by Japanese engineers. Creepily realistic robot can hold conversations and answer questions. Wang Zi Won’s Mechanical Buddhas. Robots will soon replace the tractor. Robot toddler could unlock secrets of human development. Hajime Sakamoto takes a ride on giant robot legs. Panasonic Power Loader Light exoskeleton takes a load off your back. Roboy team aims to build robot toddler in nine months. DARPA Takes Robot Through the Paces. Two ways of looking at robots. World's most anatomically correct musculoskeletal robot is presented in Japan.
Artificial intelligence – can we keep it in the box? Risk of robot uprising wiping out human race to be studied. Robots are learning to walk and run at Delft University. Disney Research robot can juggle, play catch. Mind-controlled robot avatars inch towards reality. RSLSteeper launches third version of its bebionic myoelectric hand.