Category: Industrial

We’re in a new era of spaceflight: The national space agencies are no longer the only game in town, and space is becoming more accessible. Rockets built by commercial players like Blue Origin are now bringing private citizens into orbit. That said, Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Virgin Galactic are all backed by billionaires with enormous… Continue reading Building Human-Robot Relationships Through Music and Dance

A study led by researchers from Vanderbilt University’s Center for Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology reveals a breakthrough tool to assess the effect of exoskeletons on injury risk. The tool, called Exo-LiFFT, is an interactive calculator that will help companies looking for ways to overcome workforces struggling with musculoskeletal injuries, missed work, and accelerated retirement… Continue reading Breakthrough tool to show how much exoskeletons reduce back injury risk — ScienceDaily

A person who requires insulin must walk a tightrope. Blood-glucose concentration can swing dramatically, and it is particularly affected by meals and exercise. If it falls too low, the person may faint; if it rises too high and stays elevated for too long, the person may go into a coma. To avoid repeated episodes of… Continue reading Years Later, Alphabet’s Everyday Robots Have Made Some Progress

In an age of online restaurant reviews and product ratings, landing in first place on a “top 10” list can confer great benefits on the top-ranked option, magnifying the differences between it and all other choices and blinding people to important details that might otherwise affect their decision-making, according to research published by the American… Continue reading Relying on rankings can cause people to tune out other useful information — ScienceDaily

The ability to make decisions autonomously is not just what makes robots useful, it’s what makes robots robots. We value robots for their ability to sense what’s going on around them, make decisions based on that information, and then take useful actions without our input. In the past, robotic decision making followed highly structured rules—if… Continue reading Video Friday: Dronut – IEEE Spectrum

While all this is going on, the fighter jet’s autonomous wingmen establish an ad hoc, high-bandwidth mesh communication network that cuts through the jamming by using unjammed frequencies, aggregating signals across different radio channels, and rapidly switching among different channels. Through a self-organizing network of communication nodes, the piloted fighter in the air connects to… Continue reading iRobot CEO: Why Voice is the Future​ of Robot Control

The early bird might get the worm, but if you’re a night owl looking to invest in the next big startup, making that decision first thing in the morning might not be the best idea, according to a new study by researchers at Indiana University and the University of Central Florida. The study, which appears… Continue reading Time of day can have significant impact on choosing wise investments — ScienceDaily

While all this is going on, the fighter jet’s autonomous wingmen establish an ad hoc, high-bandwidth mesh communication network that cuts through the jamming by using unjammed frequencies, aggregating signals across different radio channels, and rapidly switching among different channels. Through a self-organizing network of communication nodes, the piloted fighter in the air connects to… Continue reading Video Friday: FridgeBot – IEEE Spectrum

It turns out that you don’t need a lot of hardware to make a flying robot. Flying robots are usually way, way, way over-engineered, with ridiculously over the top components like two whole wings or an obviously ludicrous four separate motors. Maybe that kind of stuff works for people with more funding than they know… Continue reading Flexible Monocopter Drone Can Be Completely Rolled Up

Late last year, Japanese robotics startup GITAI sent their S1 robotic arm up to the International Space Station as part of a commercial airlock extension module to test out some useful space-based autonomy. Everything moves pretty slowly on the ISS, so it wasn’t until last month that NASA astronauts installed the S1 arm and GITAI… Continue reading GITAI’s Autonomous Robot Arm Finds Success on ISS