Robotics

Motorists could see self-driving vehicles on British roads for the first time later this year, the Department for Transport has announced today. Following a landmark call for evidence, the government has set out how vehicles fitted with Automated Lane Keeping System technology could legally be defined as self-driving, as long as they receive GB type approval and that there is no evidence to challenge the vehicle's ability to self-drive.

By utilizing a single collaborative robot arm, this ARMM platform (Advanced Robotics for Magnetic Manipulation) could potentially fit easily into the OR while ensuring a small footprint.

Being unable to walk quickly can be frustrating and problematic, but it is a common issue, especially as people age. Noting the pervasiveness of slower-than-desired walking, engineers have tested how well a prototype exoskeleton system they have developed - which attaches around the shin and into a running shoe - increased the self-selected walking speed of people in an experimental setting.

Arbe present on their commercially viable, 4D Imaging technology for an autonomous future

Ever wondered why your virtual home assistant doesn't understand your questions? Or why your navigation app took you on the side street instead of the highway? Italian researchers designed a robot that "thinks out loud" so that users can hear its thought process and better understand the robot's motivations and decisions.

A multi-disciplinary team is driving environmental and societal change by developing novel affordable and simple to manufacture QuickFitting textile multi-point pressure sensing strips for real-time monitoring in the medical and healthcare sector for potential use in areas such as prosthetic fit and bandage compression therapy for leg ulcers.

Researchers have achieved a breakthrough in the field of biological robots by developing new biobots based on muscle cells that can swim at unprecedented velocities.

The growing list of "firsts" for Perseverance, NASA's newest six-wheeled robot on the Martian surface, includes converting some of the Red Planet's thin, carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere into oxygen. A toaster-size, experimental instrument aboard Perseverance called the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) accomplished the task.

Oxbotica are an autonomous vehicle artificial intelligence software provider with a strong academic background in robotics.

Rockwell Automation Inc and Comau are joining forces to give businesses worldwide vital tools to maximize manufacturing efficiencies through unified robot control solutions.

Drones could soon be adopted as essential tools for various agricultural tasks; however, with respect to their use in farm management, research is still lacking. To address this issue, researchers in Japan compared drones to well-established technologies for spraying pesticide over rice paddy fields. Using statistical data, the researchers explore both advantages and limitations of drones and whether they currently offer an edge regarding costs, capacity, and management efficiency.

Equinor is introducing autonomous ATEX-certified robots on their oil and gas installations. Its robot will be used to conduct routine inspection and maintenance tasks on offshore installations.

The snake-like robot can now slither its way underwater, allowing the modular robotics platform to inspect ships, submarines and infrastructure for damage.

Arbe are a radar start-up with a sensor manufacturing technique that improves their resolution by an order of magnitude compared to competitors.

Electrical Vertical Take-off and Landing aircraft (eVTOL) are moving from science fiction to reality, enabled by rapid advancements in electric motor, battery, and computing technology, the new report from IDTechEx, "Air Taxis: Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing Aircraft 2021-2041", finds.

Neuralink is developing a fully-implanted, wireless, high-channel count brain-machine interface with the goal of enabling people with paralysis to directly use their neural activity to operate computers and mobile devices with speed and ease.

Brain-computer interfaces are an emerging assistive technology, enabling people with paralysis to type on computer screens or manipulate robotic prostheses just by thinking about moving their own bodies. For years, investigational BCIs used in clinical trials have required cables to connect the sensing array in the brain to computers that decode the signals and use them to drive external devices.

Inside an Amazon facility, employees and robot work together to ready products for customers. On one side of the building, yellow tote bins bearing partially completed orders, ride down a conveyor. At the end of the conveyor, a robot arm called a palletizer/depalletizer stacks them on a pallet as if playing a three-dimensional game of Tetris.

Last year, a team of biologists and computer scientists created novel, tiny self-healing biological machines from frog cells called "Xenobots" that could move around, push a payload, and even exhibit collective behavior in the presence of a swarm of other Xenobots. The same team has now created life forms that self-assemble a body from single cells, do not require muscle cells to move, and even demonstrate the capability of recordable memory.

Over the next few months, NavyX will carry on its work with Uncrewed Surface Vessel, while also examining how these vessels can deliver across the range of military operations including surveillance and force protection.