Robotics

One of the most commonly suggested uses for tiny robots is the search for trapped survivors in disaster site rubble. The CLARI robot could be particularly good at doing so, as it can make itself skinnier to squeeze through tight horizontal gaps.

Most of German Bionic's power suits are designed to assist workers in industrial facilities, but the company's latest device is aimed at supporting healthcare professionals in hospitals, elderly care or rehab units.

Humanoid robots: so hot right now. Apptronik out of Austin, Texas, has pulled the covers off Apollo, a friendly-faced general purpose humanoid designed to hit the workforce and start making a useful impact as quickly as ... inhumanly possible?

While forklifts do work well for lifting and moving heavy loads indoors, they're bulky (in close quarters), expensive, and can't lift loads over a certain footprint size. That's where the FORMIC robotic transportation system is designed to come in.

While we've seen a number of quadruped "robotic dogs" lately, they all require control motors to maintain their running gait. An experimental new one, however, keeps running on its own once it's been set in motion.

A team of researchers has developed PIBOT, the world’s first humanoid robot pilot. Able to slide easily into the pilot’s seat and flip switches in the cockpit, the robot also uses AI technology to memorize flight charts and emergency protocols.

It can really get us down watching as AIs learn to write music, poetry and technology news, but watching this clever autonomous toilet-bot mop up the bogs somehow makes it all worthwhile. It's good to know robots are coming for the crappy jobs too.

China's consumer technology giant Xiaomi has unleashed the second iteration of its robot pooch. The CyberDog 2 looks much less business-like and more like a family companion, comes packed with sensors, and can still do back flips.

Just last week, we heard about a robotic baby sea turtle that can "swim" through the sand. It's not the only robo-turtle in town, though, as another one has been developed to possibly one day lead real baby turtles to the safety of the sea.

Keeping panels clear of dust in large solar farms can be a time-consuming, wasteful and costly business. A startup called the Reiwa Engine has developed an autonomous robot called SandStorm to reduce maintenance and cleaning costs by as much as 80%.

Using a novel design inspired by the Japanese art of paper cutting, researchers have developed gentle yet strong robotic grippers that can fold clothes, grasp a drop of water, lift 16,000 times their own weight, and turn the pages of a book.

When baby sea turtles hatch from their buried eggs, they use their powerful flippers to make their way up through the sand. A new "sand-swimming" robot, inspired by those hatchlings, could one day save lives or even explore other planets.

The less energy that a robot uses to perform its assigned duties, the better. A new soft robotic gripper was created with this fact in mind, as it grasps and releases objects without using any electricity at all.

Inspections of tall metal structures can be difficult for people to perform up-close and in person, and while aerial drones may help, their limited battery life is a problem. That's where the magnetic-footed Magnecko robot is intended to come in.

Chinese company Unitree has opened pre-orders on its second-gen robot dog companion. The Go2 can follow you around at jogging speeds, perform some wild gymnastic feats, and even talk to you through a GPT-enabled system that writes code on the fly.