Tag Archives: robot

Boston Dynamics has for years been helping us towards the eventual robot revolution that will see us turned into slaves, or batteries – whatever our new magnanimous overlords decide. But its bipedal, walking robots aren't the only kind we'll have to bow to in the centuries to come. Boston's latest …

The use of robotics in surgery and healthcare in general is expected to grow rapidly over the next six years, according to a new study. The higher rates of success with high-end surgical robotics are part of the reason, though telepresence screens and systems are also expected to increase in …

The British Science and Technology Committee, a cross-section of MPs that monitors the technology and science industries, has called for the creation of a new commission, who's sole job is to monitor the development of artificial intelligence (AI). It could encourage development of useful AIs, while creating best practices to avoid …

The Roomba is one of the most recognisable robot helpers out there, having been available in various guises for years and has helped many thousands of people live in automatically vacuumed homes. They do also have one glaring problem though: if they run over animal faeces, they can spread it …

Although the fate of Germany in this year's European Championship is still set to be decided, the German robot football team's is far more certain: they are the champions. The American team opposite them in the finals put up a good fight, but when it came down to penalties, the …

Sports journalists the world over are looking over their shoulders more and more, as robotic journalists are being roped in to expand coverage to other sporting events. The Associated Press has now begun using algorithms to write up reports for Minor League baseball games, using data provided by Major League …

Watch out for banana peels, but if you can keep your floor clean, Boston Dynamics' new robot, Spot Mini, is capable of navigating around your home, loading the dishwasher, throwing rubbish in the bin and avoiding your feet as it sneaks under the table. Just don't feed it scraps, you …

While the world worries about robots potentially taking our jobs in the near future, we may well welcome them into our home before they start collecting our paycheques. ASUS has announced its new Zenbo robotic assistant at Computex 2016, showing off how we may need more than Siri and Cortana …

For many scientists, physicists and fans of space venturing, getting to Mars could be the most important thing we do in the 21st century. But we have a long way to go before touching human feet on the red planet, so perhaps the best way to prepare the way for …

Every time we catch a glimpse of what Google owned robotics development firm Boston Dynamics is working on, it's always impressive. Whether we consider Big Dog, Little Dog or Cheetah, they're all amazing and terrifying in equal measure. The next-generation Atlas however, could be the most lifelike yet, with accurate bipedal …

More than five million jobs are thought likely to be replaced by robots in the coming decade according to some analysts, and it may be that window cleaning and painting are part of that number. A new drone design from Apellix is conceptualising the idea of a robotic painting system, …

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg often starts the year off with a particular challenge, one that is publicly announced near the start of it. While previously the founder has pledged to read more books or meet more people, in 2016 he wants to turn his attention to artificial intelligence, leveraging his …

2016 might be the year that virtual reality first becomes viable for consumers around the world, but it's also the year that we'll get our first taste of automated grocery deliveries. A new venture by original Skype founders Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis called Starship, has built a prototype autonomous delivery …

As much as Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk believe that a killer AI may one day threaten the survival of humanity, that hasn't stopped some researchers from ploughing ahead to try and make smarter computational systems than ever before. Lately, a team of researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago …

MegaBots Inc is back again with a new Kickstarter campaign to build a giant fighting robot, following its previously unsuccessful attempt. Last year, MegaBots asked the internet for $1.8 million to construct a team of 15 feet tall robots, which would be piloted by humans and fight in an arena …

What guise will robots of the future take? Some see as them as faceless automatons, capable of performing basic tasks for us, whilst the Supermatrix predicts a future where they'll be actively concious but subdued through a dream within a dream. SoftBank Mobile however believes robots can be our friends …

If you have ever wanted to move around in a 13 foot tall mech suit then Amazon Japan has you covered with the Kuratas Mech Suit, on sale for just over $1 million. The Kuratas mech suit was built by a Japanese blacksmith, Kogoro Kurata and it has been in …

T-Mobile has filed a lawsuit against Chinese firm, Huawei, after its staff attempted to sneak in to T-Mobile offices and steal software and technology behind the carrier's phone testing robot, which is nicknamed ‘Tappy'. Huawei employees allegedly stole the software and specifications for the robot, they also took secret photos …

Google has confirmed that its self-driving robot cars are capable of breaking the speed limit but only as a safety measure. The company's studies have shown that if its self-driving cars were to stick to the speed limit in areas where everybody was speeding, it could have a negative impact …

Foxconn Electronics, the world’s largest contract maker of consumer electronics and the main manufacturing partner of Apple, plans to make wearable computing devices, robots and even electric cars, the company’s chief executive officer said this week. Foxconn has been trying to expand and diversify its business for years and now …

Japanese telecoms company, Softbank, will be releasing an emotionally aware robot next February. The robot is called ‘Pepper' and will cost less than $2000 on release, company CEO, Masayoshi Son, announced at a presentation. Pepper uses technology acquired from the French robotics company, Aldebaran. You may have heard of Aldbebaran before, its …

There hasn't been much news recently when it comes to Google's self-driving car but the company has finally given us an update. It turns out that Google has spent the last year or so fine tuning the car's software in an effort to make it ready for use on city …

One of the most horrifying parts of The Matrix, wasn't that we were being grown and harvested like cattle, in a situation that makes you wonder, “why not just use cattle?” but that if you gave the robots any problems, the agents would impregnate you with a little, belly button …

Google has been gunning for robot development for some time now, possibly lining it up to go head to head with Amazon over automated delivery services – and now it can do it over frozen lakes too, as it just bought Boston Dynamics, the company behind the Big Dog service …

We all had a good laugh and a think about Amazon's recent announcement that it was working on drone delivery to help reduce the time some products get to your doorstep and giggled again when Waterstones jokingly said that it would start delivering books via owl. However this might not …

The creation of super batteries, wearable armour plating and augmented strength suits are a double edged sword. While on one hand, it could potentially turn us all into Iron Man, it's also giving rise to the creation of fast, powerful and now wireless robots that will surely one day overthrow …

With all this talk of next-generation consoles, it's time we took a pause and considered the next-generation of more out there hardware: like the next-gen of shark tracking robots that will help us understand how reclusive species like the Great White, actually live. If you've watched shows like Shark Week, …

Historically. the CeBIT trade show was all about innovation. It was the place you went to see products that had not been released and which might change the market for good. At CeBIT 2013, inovation was thin on the ground – except in the massive GFT booth, branded CODE_n. KitGuru …

While we are able to pack tons of processing and memory capability into robots these days, there are still some skills that evade the non-sentient automatons. The ability to jump or leap is one of them. However, scientists at Harvard University are having breakthroughs that centre on exploding gases. KitGuru …

Whichever way you look at it, the Sandia National Laboratory can’t help but describe itself in grandiose and emotional ways. It’s nice to know that, every now and then, the billions invested into its various programmes, produces something which doesn’t improve the way we kill people. KitGuru eats re-fried beans …