robotics - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Will this robot make America safer?

  A Silicon Valley startup has developed a surveillance robot that it says can cut crime by half, but its appearance on streets would be sure to prompt more debate about technology and privacy.

• Apple acquires 3-D sensing technology company PrimeSense

  Apple has acquired PrimeSense, a developer of 3-D sensors that allow devices to respond to the environment in three dimensions.

• Qualcomm wants to bring 'brains' to smartphones, tablets

  Qualcomm wants to make tablets and smartphones more perceptive by giving the devices a "silicon brain," company CEO Paul Jacobs said Wednesday.

• In Pictures: Rise of humanoid robots

  From the new Bionic Man to robotic bartenders, machines are looking and acting more human that ever.

• Activists, U.N. take aim at 'killer robots'

  A movement to stop or regulate the development of so-called 'killer robots' got international backing at a meeting of the United Nations this week.

• Sharp's robotic cleaner will make solar panels sparkle

  It might not be immediately obvious, but with every solar panel installed comes a simple but essential piece of maintenance: regular cleaning.

• NASA mission to capture near-Earth asteroid for study

  NASA has released an animation of an ambitious project that includes capturing a near-Earth asteroid and sending astronauts into space to study it.

• Open-source project aims to give vision to hobbyists' robots

  An open-source project aims to give a rudimentary eye to robots with the help of a camera that can detect, identify and track the movement of specific objects.

• Robots attach together to fly as one, show that teamwork isn't just for humans

  Here's the latest anxiety-inducing development for those who fear the coming robot insurrection: Researchers at ETH in Zurich developed a fleet of flying robots that can attach to one another and fly in almost any formation imaginable. The individual robots fly using a single propeller, and according to ETH researchers, one of these robots by itself "is erratic and uncontrolled" in the air. But combine the robots and attach them to one another, and they work in concert in order to achieve more stable flight.

• La Trobe Uni adds two new robots to its collection

  La Trobe University is trialing two new robots that will provide support to the elderly in their homes and nursing facilities.

• Japan's Ceatec to bring robots, 3D and gadgets

  Ceatec will be the focus for technophiles this week as a stream of new gadgets and technologies are expected at Japan's largest electronics expo.

• Girls program dancing robots to perform haka

  A team from Hukarere Girls College, a low-decile school in Hawkes Bay, is programming robots to perform the haka. The school participated in the New Zealand finals in RoboCup Junior, a robotics programming competition for school students.

• Robot revolution closer, but not here yet

  Much like the then-fledgling PC industry in the late 1970s, the robotics industry is on the verge of a revolution, contends the head of Microsoft's robotics group.

• John Deere makes it happen for local start-up

  All it took to get the ball rolling for start-up company chief executive Fady Mishriki was an email to John Deere’s US headquarters. Within five hours, the agricultural machinery giant had replied, saying it was interested in Mishriki’s proposal.

• Robots will become part of daily life: panel

  Caring for an aging population, giving manual-labour jobs to illegal immigrants and keeping production costs down as worker wages rise sound like issues reserved for a political campaign. But panelists at a recent discussion at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology believe robotics will help solve these problems and others faced by society and businesses.