Automation is entering all areas of our lives. Robotic mechanisms have long since replaced people on assembly lines in factories, which is extremely cost-effective. Robots don’t need a salary, food or vacation leave, only timely maintenance. These mechanisms solve many routine tasks at a higher speed and accuracy without getting tired. Robots are increasingly entering into our everyday lives as well, allowing us to spend less time on boring housework. Of course, certain models are still too expensive. For example, the robot dog from Boston Dynamics is still out of reach for the average person. And yet robot vacuum cleaners are no longer a surprise for anyone.
For humans, it often takes one glance to make complex conclusions about the density, texture and weight of an object. The opposite is also true: after touching something with our eyes closed, we will instantly understand what it looks like. Robots are a different story. Scientists at the MIT Artificial Intelligence laboratory are hard at work trying to teach machines to effectively interact with the environment around them.
Robots usually surprise us with their acrobatic abilities, but the skills of the Reeti device created by German engineers are of a different nature. Its strong point is irony.
Nuclear power plants become obsolete and need to be decommissioned after a certain period of time. As this is a long and hazardous task, it is best solved it remotely, using special robots.
Chinese brand DJI is famous throughout the world as a multicopter manufacturer. But the company has apparently decided to try hand in a new capacity and released its first ground-based robot.
Art always reflects the spirit of its time, so it is only natural that it is embracing new technologies. British engineers have created Ai-Da robot artist, whose paintings are admired even by the strictest of critics.
Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology have created a SLOTHBOT machine to collect information on air chemical composition and weather. Just like a real sloth, it sits on a tree and barely moves.
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have worked on VelociRoACH robots for over 10 years, trying to make them look like real-life insects. Recently, the main drawback of the devices has been eliminated.
Soft robots are predicted to replace their rigid peers, but the practical implementation of this technology is still lagging behind. The Harvard researchers are trying to change the situation.
Many companies are developing their own delivery robots, with a variety of solutions available on the market. The key drawback of most developments is their inability to handle steps and staircases. Japanese company Amoeba Energy has easily solved this problem by building a device based on a tracked chassis.
Even children can write and draw, but these two skills are actually more difficult than we think, because they require coordination between our minds and hands. Despite the difficulty of these processes, some developers from Brown University have managed to pass on primitive drawing and writing skills to a robot.
Not long ago, Boston Dynamics introduced SpotMini, a four-legged robot scheduled to go on sale this summer. The device’s key feature is its ability to move objects whose weight is many times greater than its own. The innovation has caused such a sensation that a potential competitor to SpotMini has been created in China.
The four-legged HyQReal robot was developed by scientists at the Italian Institute of Technology and presented at the ICRA 2019 conference. The machine demonstrated some uncanny talents at the event: despite its small size, it managed to move a 3 tonne plane across a 14 meter distance.
The modern digital world has witnessed the creation of fundraising platforms due to the growing need for real opportunities for developing small private businesses, as well as the financing of innovative ideas that have come to us via the internet.