When the Pentagon's research arm first called for innovators to design and race a self-driving car to make warfare safer, a ragtag bunch of garage tinkerers, computer geeks and even high school students answered.
With steely arms sprouting cables and wires, the WAO-1 robot looks nothing like a relaxation device.
If you grow old in Japan, expect to be served food by a robot, ride a voice-recognition wheelchair or even possibly hire a nurse in a robotic suit — all examples of cutting-edge technology to care for the country's rapidly graying population.
HRP-2 performing a Japanese folk routine called Aizu-Bandaisan (Image: Journal of Robotics Research)
A group of scientists in Japan have developed a robot that acts like a toddler to better understand child development.
A group of scientists in Japan have developed a humanoid that acts like a toddler to better understand child development.
A new form of propulsion that could allow microrobots to explore human bodies has been discovered. The technique would be used to power robots and other devices such as microfluidic pumps from a distance.
The first animal to crawl onto land from the ocean probably looked a bit like today's salamander, and researchers have wondered how it was able to switch from swimming to walking. Now, European scientists have built a robot with a primitive electric nervous system that they say mimics that change in motion.
South Korea is drawing up a code of ethics to stop humans misusing robots – or vice versa – officials announced on Wednesday.
Japan is pretty serious about robotics. If the droids are going to fit in, they probably need to learn the Japanese custom of serving tea.
Robots might one day be smart enough to demand emancipation from their human owners, raising the prospects they'll have to be treated as citizens, according to a speculative paper released by the British government.
It can greet people, show DVDs and hand out balloons. "Ubiko," a robot-on-wheels with a catlike face, is joining the crew of temporary workers supplied by a Japanese job-referral company to stores, events and even weddings.
In future, robots could explore dangerous places by mimicking the distant movements of an operator (Image: Angelika Peer)
This robot's leg movements have a crucial effect on the information received by its eyes (Image: Olaf Sporns/Max Lungarella)
A "swarm" of simple-minded robots that teams up to move an object too heavy for them to manage individually has been demonstrated by robotics researchers.
The winners of last year's Pentagon-sponsored robot race are back to take on another challenge — this time to develop a vehicle that can drive through congested city traffic all by itself.
Areas of interest are picked out by the virtual honeybees (Image: Gustavo Olague)
The new Japanese robot Miuro turns an iPod music player into a dancing boombox-on-wheels. The 14-inch-long machine from ZMP Inc. blares music as it rolls and twists from room to room. The robot, which looks like a ball popping out of an egg, has a speaker system from Kenwood Corp.
Ballbot, a narrow, 5-foot-tall robot, balances delicately on what looks like a bowling ball. Swaying slightly on a laboratory floor, the aluminum-framed droid seems ready to fall at any moment.
In a step toward linking a person's thoughts to machines, Japanese automaker Honda said it has developed a technology that uses brain signals to control a robot's very simple moves.
Seven months after an unmanned Volkswagen successfully drove itself over the rugged desert, the Pentagon is sponsoring another challenge for self-driving vehicles that can weave through congested city traffic without causing an accident.
Hitachi is working on an R2D2-like security robot on wheels that can map out its surroundings using infrared sensors and a camera to detect missing items, suspicious packages and intruders.
Hitachi is working on an R2D2-like security robot on wheels that can map out its surroundings using infrared sensors and a camera to detect missing items, suspicious packages and intruders.
Enryu's 15-foot arms are powerful enough to lift a small passenger car, and its hands are almost as dexterous as a human being's. And the 5-ton, 11.5-foot robot may soon be helping communities across Japan reach avalanche sites and clear snow, as the nation struggles to deal with its snowiest winter in decades, said Japanese company Tmsuk Co.