The Tokyo 2020 Robot Project promises an assortment of robots to do useful things for visitors at the games. But will they be more than a novelty? Last week, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games organizing committee announced the launch of the “Tokyo 2020 Robot Project.” The project will involve the deployment of an assortment of robots to do useful things for visitors at the games, but so far, we’ve just seen specific details about two: Toyota’s Human Support Robot (HSR) […]

More than 20,000 AMRS were shipped in 2018 – double the number sold the year before – according to the results of our freshly released quarterly mobile robot market tracker which shows that AMR demand continued to surge in Q4. Source: Robotics Tomorrow

Every time University of Pennsylvania engineer Marc Miskin speaks about his research on miniature robots, someone asks the question: How does it compare to the submarine in “Fantastic Voyage”? Source: Phys Org – Robotics

A team of scientists spent six months co-designing robots with informal caregivers for people with dementia, such as family members. They found that caregivers wanted the robots to fulfill two major roles: support positive moments shared by caregivers and their loved ones; and lessen caregivers’ emotional stress by taking on difficult tasks, such as answering repeated questions and restricting unhealthy food. Source: Science Daily – Robotics

Inspired by jellyfish, researchers have created an electronic skin that is transparent, stretchable, touch-sensitive, and repairs itself in both wet and dry conditions. The novel material has wide-ranging uses, from water-resistant touch screens to soft robots aimed at mimicking biological tissues. Source: Science Daily – Robotics

The famed 19th century engineer may have been inspired by an early example of AI chicanery and hype The history of AI is often told as the story of machines getting smarter over time. What’s lost is the human element in the narrative, how intelligent machines are designed, trained, and powered by human minds and bodies. In this six-part series, we explore that human history of AI—how innovators, thinkers, workers, and sometimes hucksters have created algorithms that can replicate human […]

Your weekly selection of awesome robot videos Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your Automaton bloggers. We’ll also be posting a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months; here’s what we have so far (send us your events!): HRI 2019 – March 11-14, 2019 – Daegu, Korea ISMR 2019 – April 1-5, 2019 – Atlanta, GA, USA We Robot 2019 – April 11-13, 2019 – Miami, Florida, USA RoboSoft 2019 – April 14-18, 2019 – Seoul, Korea NIST […]

An interface system that uses augmented reality technology could help individuals with profound motor impairments operate a humanoid robot to feed themselves and perform routine personal care tasks such as scratching an itch and applying skin lotion. The web-based interface displays a ‘robot’s eye view’ of surroundings to help users interact with the world through the machine. Source: Science Daily – Robotics