Japanese electronics maker Sharp Corp. recently unveiled two versions of a new robotic vacuum cleaner named Cocorobo (a play of words that combines “heart” and “robot” in Japanese). While they are expected to be more expensive than iRobot’s popular vacuuming robot Roomba, the Cocorobo vacuuming robots do come with additional features that might become popular ... »
Researchers at Saarland University together with associates in Bologna and Naples have developed a robotic hand that employs small electric motors to twist strings which mimic muscles in human body. Aside being powerful, the robotic hand is also delicate – making it useful to perform different tasks such as aid in your home or adding ... »
Although development of robots meant to help us in our everyday lives has been hindered by the economy, there are efforts to develop social robots for children that could be used to monitor them and guard them from harm. A group of researchers from University of Washington used a Robovie robot to explore how children ... »
Among other characteristics, fleas are well known for their jumping ability because they are able to jump up to around 200 times of their own body length, making them the 2nd best jumper in the known world. Relying on previous joint development of Precision Urban Hopper robot, engineers from Boston Dynamics came up with Sand ... »
A researcher from the University of Arizona has developed Tucson Explorer II (TEX II) – an autonomous robotic lake lander that could potentially be used to explore the lakes of liquid hydrocarbon known to exist on Saturn’s largest moon named Titan. The robot could be used in terrestrial applications such as search and rescue missions ... »
During the GM and NASA collaboration Robonaut 2 (R2) development, they had to engineer a dexterous hand that could use tools built for humans. That development served as groundwork for Human Grasp Assist device – a robotic glove that can be used to lower the fatigue in hand muscles after long use of tools, and ... »
As a part of DARPA’s Maximum Mobility and Manipulation (M3) program, with goal to create and demonstrate significant scientific and engineering advances in robot mobility and manipulation capabilities, engineers from Boston Dynamics developed Cheetah – a robot named after the animal it got inspired from that managed to beat the previous land speed record for ... »
