An international group of researchers has created a new approach to imitating human motion by combining central pattern generators (CPGs) and deep reinforcement learning (DRL). The method not only imitates walking and running motions but also generates movements for frequencies where motion data is absent, enables smooth transition movements from walking to running, and allows for adaptation to environments with unstable surfaces ..read more

Getting robots to perform even a simple task requires a great deal of behind-the-scenes work. Part of the challenge is planning and executing movements, everything from turning wheels to lifting a robotic arm. To make this happen, roboticists collaborate with programmers to develop a set of trajectories—or pathways—that are clear of obstacles and doable for the robot ..read more

When old food packaging, discarded children's toys and other mismanaged plastic waste break down into microplastics, they become even harder to clean up from oceans and waterways. These tiny bits of plastic also attract bacteria, including those that cause disease ..read more

A team of roboticists at the Chinese University of Hong Kong has created a robot snail with a helmet-like shell that moves by rolling around on bulldozer-like tracks. They have published a paper on their research in Nature Communications ..read more

Engineers at Princeton and North Carolina State University have combined ancient paper-folding and modern materials science to create a soft robot that bends and twists through mazes with ease ..read more

A first-ever stretchy electronic skin could equip robots and other devices with the same softness and touch sensitivity as human skin, opening up new possibilities to perform tasks that require a great deal of precision and control of force ..read more

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have successfully leveraged robotic assistance in the manufacture of wind turbine blades, allowing for the elimination of difficult working conditions for humans and the potential to improve the consistency of the product ..read more

You wanna see her move? I think that's the fun part ..read more

Robots have already proved to be promising tools to complete complex and demanding maintenance tasks. While engineers have developed a wide range of robots that could help to maintain and repair infrastructure, many of these robots need to be plugged into external power sources, which limits their real-world application ..read more

Over the past decade, researchers all around the world have been finding new and exciting use cases for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Commonly called "drones," UAVs have proved their worth across many fields, including photography, agriculture, land surveying, disaster management, and even the transportation of goods ..read more