Enlarge / A miniature predatory robber fly (Holcocephala fascia) feeds on a captured rove beetle. A new study reveals that the fly approaches its prey from underneath, aiming for a future meeting point wth the target. (credit: Samuel Fabian) Robber flies are aerodynamic acrobats, able to spot their prey, dodge around obstacles, and capture smaller […]
Enlarge (credit: Lee et al.) Most muscles in our bodies only act in response to incoming nerve signals, which have to trigger each individual muscle cell to contract or relax. But heart muscle is different. The impulses that trigger contraction in heart muscle are passed from one muscle cell to its neighbors, leading to a […]
Enlarge / The Robo-bass, along with some actual fish. (credit: Giovanni Polverino) The mosquitofish is a particularly troublesome invasive species that has spread from its original home in North America to various locales around the world, including Europe and Australia. The small, 3 cm-long fish likes to chew the tails off fish and tadpoles and […]
A clip from the simulation where virtual robots learn to climb steps. An army of more than 4, 000 marching doglike robots is a vaguely menacing sight, even in a simulation. But it may point the way for machines to learn new tricks. The virtual robot army was developed by researchers from ETH Zurich in […]
Enlarge / An interdisciplinary team of roboticists, engineers and biologists modeled the mechanics of the mantis shrimp’s punch and built a robot that mimics the movement. (credit: Second Bay Studios and Roy Caldwell/Harvard SEAS) The mantis shrimp boasts one of the most powerful, ultrafast punches in nature—it’s on par with the force generated by a. […]
Enlarge / Not sure how those joints will work… (credit: Tesla ) Not content to be an automaker or even an energy company, Tesla now wants people to think of it as a robotics company}. At Tesla’s “AI Day” presentation yesterday, CEO Elon Musk made the surprise announcement that the company is working on a […]
Enlarge / Today, in robots-and-fireworks news. (credit: Getty Images ) Establishing human-robot harmony in the workplace isn’t always easy. Beyond the common fear of automation taking human jobs, robots sometimes simply mess up. When this happens, reestablishing trust between robots and their human colleagues can be a tricky affair. However, new research sheds some light […]
A team led by University of Maryland mechanical engineering Professor Ryan Sochol has created a soft robotic hand agile enough to manipulate a game controller. A team of engineers at the University of Maryland has built a three-fingered soft robotic hand that is sufficiently agile to be able to manipulate the buttons and directional pad […]
Enlarge (credit: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) One of the most astonishing examples of the promise of brain implants is shown in a video in which a paralyzed person controls a robotic arm with nothing but her thoughts. The technology alone is impressive, but the joy on the participant’s face as she grabs herself a drink […]
Enlarge / The robotic train. (credit: Oliveri et. al.) One of the most impressive developments in recent years has been the production of AI systems that can teach themselves to master the rules of a larger system. Notable successes have included experiments with chess and Starcraft. Given that self-teaching capability, it’s tempting to think that […]