News

A robot conductor led a live orchestra performance

Just a month after humanoid robot Pepper conducted a Buddhist burial ceremony, a robo-contemporary has conducted the world-renowned Lucca Philharmonic orchestra alongside opera great Andrea Bocelli. Do robots need a heart to complete tasks of passion?...

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This Robotic Mower Will Cut Your Lawn at Night

What would you give in exchange for a perfectly manicured lawn and get back some time on the weekend? Since robotic lawn mowers have hit the market, homeowners from all over the country have been eager to capitalize on the benefits offered by these new modern devices....

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Companion Robots are Here, Just Don’t Fall in Love With Them

Interacting with Kuri, a robot set to hit the market in December, is at once fascinating, delightful, and puzzling. Kuri's creators call it a "companion robot," but this is no Furby. Kuri belongs to a new class of machines that actually are intelligent,...

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Amazon Robotics Challenge 2017 won by Australian budget bot

The bot was designed from scratch to take part in 2017's Amazon Robotics Challenge and used a radically different design to past winners. Instead of building a robotic arm, the victors used a sliding mechanism that picked up products from above. The...

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US Army wants helicopters to refuel at robotic pumps

Militaries regularly set up fueling stations at forward bases so that helicopters can get back to the fight as quickly as possible. However, requiring fuel crews creates huge risks and logistical headaches: you're sending people to a dangerous, isolated...

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Afghan Girls Eager to Start Robotics Competition

A girls robotics team from Afghanistan is now ready to take action in an international competition after facing visa issues. Teams from about 150 other countries are also competing in the event. More...

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How do Isaac Asimov’s Laws of Robotics Hold up Today?

According to Asimov's laws, robots cannot harm humans or allow humans to be harmed. This law has been put to the test with multiple experiments; most outcomes didn't look too well. In one experiment, robots were told to save another robot if it got too...

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Robotics Program Builds Functional R2-D2 Robots

What started as a project for a student at Idaho State University, turned into a dream for many Star Wars fans. It took eight weeks to construct the basic framework of the first R2-D2. Over the next two semesters, the students worked on the robot's...

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