Google found a new way to demonstrate what its Gemini AI model can do, with help from a robot. This was a robot from Google’s Everybody Robots Division, which was shut down last year. But apparently the robots are still around, so Google put a yellow bowtie on one of them then used Gemini to […]
A robot navigates an office space with Google Gemini Read More »
Roboticists at The Faboratory at Yale University have developed a way for soft robots to replicate some of the more unsettling things that animals and insects can accomplish — say, a reptile self-amputating a limb, or ants building bridges by temporarily fusing their bodies. In one demo video, we see a soft quadruped robot crawling
Meet the soft robots that can amputate limbs and fuse with other robots Read More »
Generative AI has already shown a lot of promise in robots. Applications include natural language interactions, robot learning, no-code programming and even design. Google’s DeepMind Robotics team this week is showcasing another potential sweet spot between the two disciplines: navigation. In a paper titled “Mobility VLA: Multimodal Instruction Navigation with Long-Context VLMs and Topological Graphs,”
Watch a robot navigate the Google DeepMind offices using Gemini Read More »
Florida man is back with a vengeance, and this time, he’s going after Walmart delivery drones. Yes, really. Walmart was demonstrating its delivery drone technology in Clermont, Florida — about 25 miles outside of Orlando — and a man allegedly shot the drone out of the sky when it flew near his house. Apparently, he
What happens when you shoot down a delivery drone? Read More »
Amazon has decided to discontinue its Astro for Business device, a security robot for small—and medium-sized businesses, just seven months after launch. In an email sent to customers and employees on Wednesday, provided to TechCrunch, the reason for putting Astro for Business on the shelf is a simple one: Amazon wants to focus on its
Amazon retires its Astro for Business security robot after only 7 months Read More »
Will robots ever have living, human skin? Researchers have been exploring the question and they’ve come up with some pretty unsettling results. I think it’s fair to say that no one would confuse any of today’s robots, no matter how advanced, with another human being. Even when a company like Tesla or Figure creates a
These robots with living skin are absolute nightmare fuel Read More »
New numbers out of Crunchbase this week see robotics investments once again trending in a positive direction. The previous two years presented a steady drop in overall numbers, following a record 2021 driven by pandemic-fueled job loss. As we head into the second half of the year, 2024 is on track to beat last year’s
Robotics investments are gaining speed after post-pandemic slowdown Read More »
Up to now, the humanoid robotics industry has been all promises and pilots. While important in the eventual deployment of new technology, these programs involve a small number of robots and often don’t graduate into anything more meaningful. On Thursday, however, Agility announced that it has entered into a formal deal following a successful pilot
Agility’s humanoid robots are going to handle your Spanx Read More »
MIT research scientist Jerry Pratt is back at it. In 2022, he left Boardwalk Robotics, a humanoid startup he founded and led, and joined the well-funded ranks of the Bay Area-based robotics firm Figure as its CTO months before it exited stealth. But he and Figure quietly parted ways last month. Last week, when Pratt
Persona’s founders are certain the world can use another humanoid robot Read More »
Giving robots a human-like exterior has been the standard for years — centuries even. But giving them actual, living skin that can be manipulated horrifying, slimy expressions? That’s new. The new work, published in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science, is very much just an experiment. This will not be the face of your next
This smiling robot face made of living skin is absolute nightmare fuel Read More »
