This bot is practicing its satellite-fixing skills in space
According to an article in CNET News, there are over 200 decommissioned satellites orbiting the planet. The majority of these expensive tools are eventually destined to become orbiting piles of junk if they break or simply run out fuel.
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The goal is ambitious but there’s a motive behind it!
The video above by Reuters features some of the robots that were on display at this year’s INNOROBO Conference in Lyon, France. A recent article in the BBC which featured the conference suggests that it may be time we forget about the idea of robots as companions however, some of the robots displayed in the video above seem like they could provide valuable human accompaniment to suit a variety of human needs.
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The iCub and a human jam together on the Reactable
At the Synthetic, Perceptive, Emotive and Cognitive Systems group (SPECS) at the Universidad Pompeu Fabra (UPF) in Barcelona, it’s just your average Jam session. Fellow music makers include a PhD student, a robot and the Reactable! The demonstration featured in the video above merges two projects into one: The Reactable and the Experimental Functional Android Assistant (EFAA), which is using the iCub robot as its main research platform.
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Snails team up with biofuel cells to make electricity
Sugar is what provides energy for many animals but what if it could provide something more?
Biofuel cells are capable of converting chemical energy into electrical energy. Continue reading
Robots as healthcare assistants and companions
Healthbots is a joint research project being carried out by Bruce MacDonald and his team at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and the Electronic and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) in Korea. Together, the team wishes to create custom designed robotic technology that’s suitable for use with an older population. The robots have been evaluated over the past 4 years in a series of trials and they are now being poised for use on a larger scale as assistants in people’s homes, hospitals and retirement communities.
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Biohybrid technology fuses the organic with the artificial to extend the limits of our bodies
While the human body has proven to be a structure that is adaptable, versatile and resilient, its organic nature makes it susceptible to many diseases and various other factors capable of exposing its fragility. The term biohybrid refers to something that has integrated components of both natural and artificial material. While some of today’s biohybrid technologies seem straight out of science fiction, the idea to blend these alternate elements is actually thousands of years old….
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A new Swedish product takes us far away from this classic scene of chaos!
For anyone who’s a Charlie Chaplin fan, this scene from the 1936 film Modern Times is a must watch! When Chaplin’s forced to give it a go as this feeding machine’s first customer he’s treated to a lovely meal…all over his shirt as well as numerous ensuing side dishes of slaps to the face!
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Check out the ¨Cheetah¨
We all know that the fastest land animal is the cheetah, capable of running up to 120 km/hr in short bursts- but has it met its match in robot form? In terms of speed, the great cat faces little competition. Nevertheless, today, no legged robot is speedier than Darpas’s new Cheetah bot which can run 30 km/hr in cheetah-like fashion.
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Why it’s all about biomimetics
Back in the 14th century, a man notorious for both his artistic talent and scientific ability, studied birds in an attempt to create a machine that was capable of flight. Today, Leonardo da Vinci’s endeavour may be considered one of the early examples of biomimicry. Corresponding to the word’s Greek roots, the quickly growing field is centred on the imitation of life in a vast array of contexts .
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Leading experts tell us how it’s being done
Researchers look at human social intelligence from different perspectives but when it comes to integrating that into robots, social intelligence must be narrowed down to some key components.
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