20 Apr 2020

Mars Helicopter Attached to NASA's Perseverance Rover
With the launch period of NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover opening in 13 weeks, final preparations of the spacecraft continue at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In the past week, the assembly, test and launch operations team completed important milestones, fueling the descent stage — also known as the sky crane — and attaching the Mars Helicopter, which will be the first aircraft in history to attempt power-controlled flight on another planet.
6 Jan 2020

Aquatic Rover Goes for a Drive Under the Ice
BRUIE, or the Buoyant Rover for Under-Ice Exploration, is being developed for underwater exploration in extraterrestrial, icy waters by engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
26 Dec 2019

Mars 2020 Rover Completes Its First Drive
NASA's next Mars rover has passed its first driving test. A preliminary assessment of its activities found that the rover checked all the necessary boxes as it rolled forward and backward and pirouetted in a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The next time the Mars 2020 rover drives, it will be rolling over Martian soil.
Background
15 Nov 2019

Strobe
Strobe are developing lidar modules. The company were acquired by Cruise Automation (USA) in 2017.
8 Oct 2019

NASA Designing Shapeshifting Robots for Saturn's Moons
Mini robots that can roll, fly, float and swim, then morph into a single machine? Together they form Shapeshifter, a developing concept for a transformational vehicle to explore treacherous, distant worlds.
15 Jul 2019

For climbing robots, the sky's the limit
Robots can drive on the plains and craters of Mars, but what if we could explore cliffs, polar caps and other hard-to-reach places on the Red Planet and beyond?
3 Jul 2019

NASA's Mars 2020 Rover's 7-foot-long robotic arm installed
The main arm includes five electrical motors and five joints. Measuring 2.1 meters long, the arm will allow the rover to work as a human geologist would: by holding and using science tools with its turret, which is essentially its "hand."
30 May 2019

Using AI to land drones smoothly
New system employs a deep neural network to overcome the challenge of ground-effect turbulenc.
Update interview
17 Jan 2019

Advanced TeleSensors Inc.
IDTechEx spoke to Stephanie Probasco, Director of Marketing, Consumer Products at Advanced TeleSensors Inc.
14 Feb 2018

3-D Printable Tools May Help Study Astronaut Health
If humans are destined for deep space, they need to understand the space environment changes health, including aging and antibiotic resistance.
30 Jun 2017

A robotic gripper for cleaning up space debris
Right now, about 500,000 pieces of human-made debris are whizzing around space, orbiting our planet at speeds up to 17,500 miles per hour.
7 Apr 2017

NASA tests robotic ice tools
Want to go ice fishing on Jupiter's moon Europa? There's no promising you'll catch anything, but a new set of robotic prototypes could help.
23 Mar 2017

Origami-inspired robot can hitch a ride
The Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robot was inspired by origami. Its lightweight design is capable of flattening itself, tucking in its wheels and crawling into places rovers can't fit.
3 Feb 2017

Robot drone that mimics bat flight
Bats have long captured the imaginations of scientists and engineers with their unrivalled agility, but their complex wing motions pose significant technological challenges for those seeking to recreate their flight in a robot.
22 Dec 2016

New technology could help track firefighters and robots
It could be used for tracking robots in underground tunnels, caves or under ice. They need to be able to navigate themselves, and we don't have sensors today that would be able to track them.
1 Dec 2016

Metallic glass gears make for graceful robots
Gears are essential for precision robotics. They allow limbs to turn smoothly and stop on command; low-quality gears cause limbs to jerk or shake. If you're designing a robot to scoop samples or grip a ledge, the kind of gears you'll need won't come from a hardware store.