Robotics >>

MIT researchers created the RoboClam based on the Atlantic razor clam’s unique ability to dig, saying the device could be used to bury anchors or destroy underwater mines. ...

Thanks to a $50,000 donation from ABB Robotics, Oakland University’s School of Engineering and Computer Science is starting an industrial robotics and automation program. ...

The sonar-equipped Bluefin-21 underwater drone is being sent to locate the wreckage of the lost MH370 plane in the waters of the southern Indian Ocean. ...

A new robotic system could soon let scientists better simulate and analyze the chemical reactions of early Earth on the surface of real rocks to further test the theory that catalytic minerals on a meteorite's surface could have jump-started life's first chemical reactions. ...

The intention of robot firefighters is to spare human sailors from having to battle blazes. Ultimately, the U.S. Navy hopes to be able to rely on the robots entirely for this dangerous but crucial work. ...

The Atlantic razor clam uses very little energy to burrow into undersea soil at high speed. Now a detailed insight into how the animal digs has led to the development of a robotic clam that can perform the same trick. ...

Neurologic stroke expertise is coming to community-based medical centers via a portable robot communication system or telemedicine. Neuro-hospitalists use IPads or laptop computers to connect with other medical centers whenever a call comes from their emergency departments. ...

In episode #152, Robots Podcast does a bit of catching up, combining three interviews relating to last November's EU Robotics Week. In this episode, interviewer Sabine Hauert speaks with Fiorella Operto, the National Coordinator of the EU Robotics Week in Italy and president of the School of Robotics, Douwe Dresscher, a graduate student in robotics and mechatronics at the University of Twente, who...

A European Union-funded project called MUNIN is designing automated cargo ships to be used by the beginning of 2015. Human error, fueled by long working hours at sea, plays a role in some 75 percent of all accidents at sea. ...

Emotional Apps has developed an application for mobile devices that enable to evaluate abilities to perceive, understand and control emotions easily and free. More than 6,000 people from around one hundred countries have already downloaded the MEIT test (Mobile Emotional Intelligence Test) that offers important advantages in the face of emotional intelligence test on paper up to date. ...

Robonaut 2 will handle inconvenient or dangerous tasks for astronauts; it will also debut the open-source Robot Operating System in orbit. ...

John Deere’s R-Gator autonomous vehicle was created to transport smaller robots that would be used to disarm roadside bombs. The R-Gator has also served to carry essential supplies to troops in the field, including water and ammunition. ...

iRobot’s Ava 500 telepresence robot features a 21.5-inch LCD screen and dual benefits of telepresence (via Cisco’s Telepresence EX60 software) and a physical presence through iRobot’s autonomous robotic base. The self-driven robot uses 3D cameras, laser, and sonar to create a virtual map of its environment. ...

Seegrid’s new GWS35 unmanned walkie stacker automatically picks, drops, stacks and puts away loads up to 72 inches at a maximum load capacity of 3,500 pounds. ...

Army Sgt. Dan Rose is the second paralyzed U.S. military veteran to own a motorized exoskeleton from Ekso Bionics. ...

New drugs often fail because they cause undesirable side effects. Researchers have now developed simulation software that predicts the properties of active agents and virtually builds new ones. The software's search process is modeled after the behavior of ants. In order to allow the software to search for new composite agents, the research team uses an ant algorithm. Like an ant colony on the search...

A soldier who served in Afghanistan is only the second individual to be granted use of the robotic device created by Ekso of Richmond, Calif. Sgt. Dan Rose has the physicality, intellect and attitude to make full use of the still-experimental system that will dramatically improve his quality of life after being paralyzed below the chest. ...

  In this tutorial we are going to cover Data Acquisition boards (or DAQ’s as they are better known) and how to program them using FlowBotics Studio which uses the FlowStone graphical programming language inside. Data acquisition devices form the basis of most robotics systems obtaining signals in and out of a system from external [...] ...

Neato Robotics announced today their new BotVac series of robot vacuums. The BotVac has many improvements compared to the standard XV series of Neato robot vacuums. For example a precise edge cleaning side brush and a bigger dirt bin. The BotVac is coming soon to RobotShop. Stay tuned to RobotShop for more information....

A recent study investigates how readers perceive computer-generated news articles.  The advent of new technologies has always spurred questions about changes in journalism -- how it is produced and consumed. A recent development which has come to the fore in the digital world is software-generated content. A recent article investigates how readers perceive automatically produced news articles vs. articles...