Elon Musk is once again showing off Optimus: Tesla’s humanoid robot. Debuted in 2021 as a prototype called Tesla Bot, Tesla’s We, Robot event showcased a lot of improvements Musk claims to have been made to Optimus since then. Sources at the event sent TechCrunch videos of the robots mixing drinks, walking around the party, […]
Tesla’s We, Robot event shows off Optimus humanoid robot, with a catch Read More »
At its Delivering the Future event Wednesday, Amazon announced plans for new robot-powered delivery warehouses. The first “next-generation fulfillment center” is located in Shreveport, Louisiana. The 3 million-square-foot warehouse spans five floors, constituting the rough equivalent of 55 football fields, per the company. The site represents the culmination of Amazon’s work in robotics, which dates
Amazon’s new warehouses will employ 10x as many robots Read More »
We have only touched the surface of what drones can do and how ubiquitous they will become. This is also true in industry, where they have the potential to replace human labor in risky activities such as inspection at height. Swiss startup Voliro operates in this space, with flying robots that can inspect wind turbines,
ETH Zurich spinoff Voliro’s flying robots save lives, but don’t tell its CEO Read More »
Drones and sidewalk delivery robots promise to make last-mile delivery cheaper and more efficient, but they both have their limitations. Drones have trouble touching down in dense urban areas, and sidewalk robots tap out after a couple of miles. Uber-backed Serve Robotics and Alphabet’s Wing are betting that combining forces might just create the ultimate
Serve Robotics and Wing to trial robot-to-drone delivery in Dallas Read More »
Research videos aren’t known for their narrative arcs. Occasionally, however, you see one that keeps getting better the longer you watch. “Beyond Manual Dexterity” is one such video. It wows you in the first few seconds with a highly dexterous robotic gripper, and then things start to go off the rails. The video debuted along
Robot hand can detach from arm, crawl over to objects, and pick them up Read More »
One of the most fundamental breakthroughs at Nvidia has been building processors that power and integrate with highly detailed, compute-intensive graphical simulations, which can be used in a wide range of applications, from games and industrial developments through to AI training. Now two of the engineers who helped build those physical simulations for Nvidia and
Vsim, founded by Nvidia alums, raises $21.5M for robotics simulation tech Read More »
In a deal revealed Monday, door hardware giant Assa Abloy announced that Boston Dynamics’ Spot will be able to autonomously unlock its automated doors. “Until now,” the lock maker notes, “the word ‘autonomous’ didn’t apply to Spot’s ability to open accessed-controlled doors easily.” The “embedded digital access credentials” work over Bluetooth, allowing the four-legged robot
Boston Dynamics’ Spot can now autonomously unlock doors Read More »
Human children generally learn to tie their shoes by age 5 or 6. Robots, on the other hand, have been working on the problem for decades. In a new paper, Google DeepMind researchers showcase a method for teaching robots to perform a range of dexterous tasks, including tying a shoe, hanging a shirt, and even
Google DeepMind teaches a robot to autonomously tie its shoes and fix fellow robots Read More »
Cornell University researchers this week unveiled tiny “metasheet” robots capable of transforming into pre-determined shapes and crawling around when electricity is applied. Along with biological organisms, the robots were inspired kirigami, a variation of origami wherein objects are cut in addition to folded. The “metasheet” bit of the name, meanwhile, is based on the word
These sub-1mm robots morph and crawl with an electric zap Read More »
Researchers at ETH Zürich are very good at keeping robots standing upright. Back in 2022, the school’s robotics team taught the quadrupedal ANYmal robot how to hike up mountains without falling over. New research from the school, published in collaboration with the Stuttgart-based Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, takes a unique approach to the
Electro-hydraulic muscles help these robot legs stand straight on uneven terrain Read More »
