A spider-like robot moves over an anaesthetised patient, deftly making controlled incisions with flexible arms while a surgeon sitting a couple of metres away peers through a console offering highly-magnified…
Simple, yet so effective – a fish’s swimming motion removes the trade-off between stability and manoeuvrability.
Mell P
Teaching a robot to walk – even poorly – requires huge investment into computational resources. How is it that even the simplest animals are able to achieve far more sophisticated feats of manoeuvrability…
Six-legged hexapod robots can navigate rugged terrain and access places human workers cannot.
CSIRO
In 1977, George Lucas’ Star Wars introduced us to R2-D2, an intelligent bot that embodied modern assistive robotics: he could anticipate needs and perform a number of tasks with minimal instruction. Almost…
The RoboSoc team from UTS took out the prize for ‘Best Robot Design’ in this year’s National Instruments Autonomous Robotics Competition.
UTS
A team of students from Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) yesterday beat 15 other student teams from around Australia and New Zealand to win this year’s annual National Instruments Autonomous Robotics…
A display of the final Zebedee 3D map of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
CSIRO
Scientists have used a hand-held 3D laser scanner to map the hard-to-reach nooks and crannies of Italy’s Leaning Tower of Pisa, documenting vital information needed to repair the iconic building if it…
Robots represent the cutting edge in science. For decades we have been promised a bright future in which these human-like machines will become so advanced that we won’t be able to tell the difference between…
With rapid economic development in the past 20 years, China urgently feels the need to move from a manufacturing-driven to an innovation-driven economy. As a result, the state is supporting many bold research…
Robonaut is capable of doing more than humans can do in space.
NASA
Robots can do a lot for us: they can explore space or cut our toenails. But do advances in robotics and artificial intelligence hold hidden threats? Three leaders in their fields answer questions about…
When you’re going for goals, seeing is believing.
Johnson Cameraface
In just a few weeks, soccer-playing robots from around the world will converge on Eindhoven in the Netherlands to compete for the prestigious RoboCup 2013. With around 2,500 particpants, competition is…
Misplaced faith in the possibility of risk-free warfare may end up putting more lives at risk.
L.C.Nøttaasen
The topic of killer robots was drawn back into the public sphere last week with the widely publicised call for a moratorium on the development and use of “lethal autonomous robotics” by a top UN human…
The ability to track wildlife in natural environments while remaining undetected poses many technological challenges. The goal of CSIRO’s “robotic stealthy tracking” project, however, is to directly address…
Assistive robots could help save Australia’s beleaguered manufacturing industry.
CSIRO
Amid the gloom about the prospects for manufacturing in Australia — and the difficulties facing an economy dominated by small businesses (nearly 90% of Australian manufacturing capacity) — there is some…
NASA’s RASSOR will be able to climb hills and, more importantly, extract water, ice and fuel from lunar soil.
NASA
Earlier this week, NASA announced the development of a mining robot called RASSOR: the Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot. RASSOR has been designed to assist in extracting water, ice and…
Caution: robots in real life may differ from those that appear here.
Robot image from www.shutterstock.com
If someone tells you to think of a robot, what springs to mind? Is it a humanoid shape made of metal, with glowing eyes, that speaks in a jerky voice? Or is it a robotic factory arm, or a car that can…
We already know robots manufacture cars, work in factories, even vacuum our homes - but could they form a world-beating soccer team? The question seems like ripe pickings for a movie mogul, given Hollywood’s…
The Legged Squad Support System has been designed to accompany war fighters into battle.
Boston Dynamics
On first viewing Boston Dynamics’ latest creation, the LS3 (Legged Squad Support System), I could not help but be taken back to the AT-AT (All Terrain Armoured Transport) walker, as depicted in the Star…
“We should stop treating intelligent machines as the stuff of science fiction.”
Cea.
We know how to deal with suspicious packages – as carefully as possible! These days, we let robots take the risk. But what if the robots are the risk? Some commentators argue we should be treating AI (artificial…
Professor, School for the Future of Innovation in Society & School of Computing, Informatics and Decision Systems Engineering, Arizona State University