Robotics
These robot legs taught themselves to walk
A pair of robot legs were able to teach themselves to walk thanks to a unique twist on reinforcement learning, a common AI training technique.
Robot dog helps military students “survive” combat training
A military school recently used Spot, a robot dog developed by Boston Dynamics, during combat training exercises.
The next generation of living machines: xenobots 2.0
Made from the stem cells of a frog, “Xenobots” are tiny living machines. And researchers have just debuted version 2.0.
This “hamster ball” robot could explore lunar caves
The spherical Daedalus robot may explore lunar caves during future ESA moon missions, looking for places that could potentially host human settlements.
Boston Dynamics unveils a new robot: Stretch
Boston Dynamics’ second commercial offering is a warehouse robot named Stretch that can lift and move 800, 50-pound boxes every hour.
Watch Japan’s latest robot painter in action
For SXSW’s AI Painting Project, a robot arm was trained to generate paintings based on given concepts and using a limited number of brushstrokes.
Quadruped robot can break a leg and keep going
Dyret is a shape-shifting quadruped robot that can change the length of its legs. This helps it walk across different terrains or account for any injuries.
MIT turned a robo-dog into a robot doctor
MIT converted a robo-dog built by Boston Dynamics into a robot doctor and then asked patients how they felt being treated by it.
Surgery robot could make hysterectomies less painful
The FDA has approved its first surgery robot for use during a vaginal hysterectomy, which is less invasive than the abdominal approach.
Soft robots could get stronger by pumping iron
Soft robots could get more muscular with a new soft gel that becomes tougher when subjected to vibration.