Robotics
'Completely Weird': How a Mantis Shrimp's Unique Vision System Is Inspiring Innovation
Mantis shrimp eyes are unlike those observed in any other animal, both mechanically and optically, leading researchers to wonder how they could spur technological advancement.
Can Increased Automation Negatively Affect People's Physical and Mental Health?
Research findings suggest that workers in counties facing higher levels of automation risk reported more frequent levels of physical and mental distress.
Viewfinder: A Bartending Robot in Germany
Robots from the company Kuka serve non-alcoholic beer during the Hannover Fair on April 23rd, 2018, in Hanover, Germany.
Listening for Humpback Songs Across the Open Ocean
Researchers are hoping to discover new travel routes of the Pacific humpback by utilizing a robot that monitors their unique means of long-distance communication.
Could Humanity Actually Create a Self-Aware Machine?
It sounds like the plot of science-fiction movie, but academics have long debated the possibility of conscious artificial intelligence.
How Artificial Intelligence Could Benefit Those in Empathy-Centric Professions
If care jobs become the last human jobs, could that encourage employers and policymakers to recognize and value them as the economically critical work that they are?
Is Walking Overrated?
Does the fawning media coverage of new technological advancements in human exoskeleton design invalidate the lives of millions of wheelchair-dependent people around the world?
What Makes You So Smart, Maja Mataric?
After leaving Serbia for the United States as a teenager, Maja Mataric became one of the world's top robotics experts. She tells Noah Davis how and why it happened.
Computers See Human Pain Better Than You
A new study reveals that expression recognition software performs way better than humans at discriminating between real and fake emotion.
Insect-size Robots May Join in Future Disaster Rescues
An army of insect-sized robot rescuers may some day help save lives after a disaster.
Robot Deathmatch
In the minor leagues of the tech world, homemade robots duke it out in the bowels of the San Mateo fairgrounds.
Why Robot Maids Won't Do the Dishes
How hard is it to design a humanlike robot? Harvard's Steven Pinker highlights how simple human accomplishments represent formidable robotics challenges.
20,000 Robots Under the Sea
Jules Jaffe of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography is developing an army of underwater explorers that researchers hope will produce a fine-grained, real-time map of the movements of the sea.
Japanese, Western Social Robots Mirror Cultural Differences
Industry might seem like a universal language, but how different cultures are husbanding their robots shows there are several dialects.
Cockroaches and Running Robots
Researchers are using cockroaches as inspiration for robots that run.
Gecko Feet and Adhesives
Scientists are adapting the gecko's 'sticky feet' to create bonding materials for sporting equipment and robots.
Robotics Handbook Scoops up Prize
It's awards season in the academic publishing world, too.
Interview with Bruno Siciliano, co-editor of
A comprehensive new robotics handbook raises the question: Will we take these machines into our everyday lives? A Miller-McCune interview of the University of Naples' Bruno Siciliano.