Robotics

To improve the sensing ability of robot skin, a research team in Ghent University in Belgium have placed optical sensors in place of the traditional pressure sensors or motor resistance. The main problem with the traditional approach is the underlying electrical components and wires are too inflexible and also increase chances of electromagnetic interference. To solve this problem, the research team made use of two […] Read More

A project that European researchers completed created a technology enabling a computer to combine data from vision and sound at the same time. This makes it possible to understand things such as human behaviour or conversations. The project is named POP which stands for Perception-on-Purpose. Researchers indicated that this was a very complicated task as the dynamics of sound and visual perception are completely differentthan […] Read More

University of San Diego, CA, is developing small sized ocean probing robots with National Science Foundation support. The number of robots will be so huge that they will operate with swarm robotics concepts and each robot team will be made of hundreds of small robots reporting to a soccer ball sized main robot. Among many possible duties, the main task of the small robots will […] Read More

At the Supercomputing Conference in Portland Oregon several days ago, IBM anounced that it has achieved the simulation of a brain with enough number of neurons and synapses of a cat brain. This is a step forward from the previous simulations, where a rat brain was simulated. This simuation, according to experts will lead to a better understanding of human cognition as well as brain […] Read More

According to the researchers at Intel, the largest computer chip maker in the world, we will have enough technology and all the means necessary to have computer chips implanted in our brains in 10 years, which will be able to control computers and all types of electronic devices and robots wirelessly, just by using brain waves. To achieve this goal, an important step is to […] Read More

Researchers at the Keiko Graduate School of media design in Tokyo, researchers have designed an iPhone application software that can control humanoid robot movements by using natural hand gestures. The walking motion for instance is achieved by doing a walking motion with index and middle fingers on the phone screen, while tapping the screen will make the robot jump. This also eliminiates the need for […] Read More

Researchers at Intel and Carnegie Mellon University are working on a revolutionary project to make distributed computing possible by using very small scale robots, where these will also be able to regroup themselves into any required shape of an object, that we commonly use in our daily lives. The researchers believe that there seems to be no theoretical obstacles and they have made a lot […] Read More

With a process called EMG (electromyography), it is possible to obtain signals from muscles with the help of sensors, and transmit them to electronic devices. The project is a joint effort of Microsoft, University of Washington and University of Toronto. The process has the potential of bringing endless new possibilities to our dailiy lives, form controlling the virtual characters in video games to real life […] Read More

Three robots, powered by lasers, competed last week on November 4th, to climb a rope of one kilometer high hanging from a helicopter. The goal was to finish the distance at the same time by climbing with at least 2 meters/sec speed. The goal of the competition is to set up the knowledgebase for a future space elevator that will allow reaching out to space […] Read More

Scientists at University of Nevada, has discovered a method that enabled them to produce hydrogen muscles, which run so silently that in the long run could be the answer to the noise problem of today’s robot actuators. Through certain chemical procedures, the researchers were able to store and release hydrogen that are being used in these new type of artificial muscles. Most importantly, the system […] Read More