Altruism, the sacrificing of individual gains for the greater good, appears at first glance to go against the notion of “survival of the fittest”. But altruistic gene expression is found in nature and is passed on from one generation to the next. An evolutionary robotics experiment at EPFL and UNIL supports Hamilton’s rule of altruism ... »

Despite their extreme flexibility and adaptability, current soft-bodied robots are often limited by their slow speed. Inspired by the ability of some caterpillars to rapidly curl themselves into a wheel and propel themselves away from predators, a team of researchers from the Tufts University, Massachusetts, have developed GoQBot – a soft-bodied robot with a similar ... »

In some countries, begging is forbidden by the law and could lead to a heavy fine or even imprisonment. However, in order to counter the relatively low rate of donations made by individuals in South Korea, designer Min Su Kim created DONA – a charming little robot designed to gather donations for various charitable causes ... »

A team of biologists and engineers at the Bielefeld University Center of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC) are developing the Hexapod Cognitive Autonomously Operating Robot (HECTOR) – a walking robot inspired by six-legged insects. Technologically, HECTOR implements the properties of its biological models better than ever before. When completed, HECTOR will be used as a ... »

Inspired by the herring gull flight, the engineers of Festo’s Bionic Learning Network came up with SmartBird – an ultralight but powerful flight model with excellent aerodynamic qualities and extreme agility. It is capable to take off autonomously and lift-up in the air by means of its flapping wings alone, without the aid of other ... »

In our previous articles, we wrote about many modular robots and spoke about their importance in exploration missions. iMobot is an intelligent, reconfigurable modular robot invented by a UC Davis alumnus and a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and it is headed for commercial development with the help of a grant from the National ... »

After the 9.0 earthquake and the devastating tsunami that struck off the coast of Honshu Island, the cooling systems of three reactor units at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant became severely damaged. Although Japan is well known for their share in robot development, there are no robots built to deal with nuclear disasters and ... »