A human clearing junk out of an attic can often guess the contents of a box simply by picking it up and giving it a shake, without the need to…

For a robot, the real world is a lot to take in. Making sense of every data point in a scene can take a huge amount of computational effort and…

Insect-scale robots can squeeze into places their larger counterparts can’t, like deep into a collapsed building to search for survivors after an earthquake. However, as they move through the rubble,…

When major disasters hit and structures collapse, people can become trapped under rubble. Extricating victims from these hazardous environments can be dangerous and physically exhausting. To help rescue teams navigate…

The SeaPerch underwater robot is a popular educational tool for students in grades 5 to 12.  Building and piloting SeaPerch, a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), involves a variety of hand…

Drone shows are an increasingly popular form of large-scale light display. These shows incorporate hundreds to thousands of airborne bots, each programmed to fly in paths that together form intricate…

With a more efficient method for artificial pollination, farmers in the future could grow fruits and vegetables inside multilevel warehouses, boosting yields while mitigating some of agriculture’s harmful impacts on…

Neural networks have made a seismic impact on how engineers design controllers for robots, catalyzing more adaptive and efficient machines. Still, these brain-like machine-learning systems are a double-edged sword: Their…

Five years ago, what began as three nervous Norwegians spotting each other across a study room has evolved into a drone company enabling sustainable deliveries, elder care, and more against…

At the top of many automation wish lists is a particularly time-consuming task: chores.  The moonshot of many roboticists is cooking up the proper hardware and software combination so that…