Mesobot can track squid, jellyfish, and other deep-sea creatures for up to a day at a time.
Category: robotics/AI – Page 1,734
Skyborg AI Computer “Brain” Successfully Flew A General Atomics Avenger Drone
After the program was first revealed in 2019, the Air Force’s then-Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Will Roper stated he wanted to see operational demonstrations within two years. The latest test flight of the Skyborg-equipped Avenger shows the service has clearly hit that benchmark.
The General Atomics Avenger was used in experiments with another autonomy system in 2020, developed as part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Collaborative Operations in Denied Environment (CODE) program that sought to develop drones that could demonstrate “collaborative autonomy,” or the ability to work cooperatively.
An approach to achieve compliant robotic manipulation inspired by human adaptive control strategies
Over the past few decades, roboticists have created increasingly advanced and sophisticated robotics systems. While some of these systems are highly efficient and achieved remarkable results, they still perform far poorly than humans on several tasks, including those that involve grasping and manipulating objects.
Researchers from Guangdong University of Technology, Politecnico di Milano, University of Sussex and Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL) at University of the West of England have recently developed a model that could help to improve robot manipulation. This model, presented in a paper published in IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, draws inspiration from how humans adapt their manipulation strategies based on the task they are trying to complete.
“Humans have the remarkable ability to deal with physical contact and complete dynamic tasks, such as curving, cutting and assembly, optimally and compliantly,” Professor Chenguang Yang, the corresponding author for the paper working at BRL, told TechXplore. “Although these tasks are easy for humans, they are quite challenging for robots to perform, even advanced ones.”
China shares sights and sounds of its rover’s first moves on Mars
Back in May, China became just the third nation to land on the surface of Mars as it touched down with its Tianwen-1 probe. Packed aboard was the country’s first interplanetary rover, named Zhurong, which can be seen and heard making its very movements on the Red Planet in newly released recordings.
China’s Tianwen-1 mission set off for Mars last July and came to land on a plain in the planet’s northern hemisphere called Utopia Planitia following a 10-month journey. The Zhurong rover remained aboard the lander module for around a week surveying its surroundings and checking its instruments, before rolling down to the dusty surface to begin its explorations.
Recordings gathered by the China National Space Administration and shared by state-funded broadcaster CCTV show the rover’s start to life on Mars in intriguing new light. The first includes the first audio collected by a Chinese Mars rover, with an onboard recording device capturing the sounds as its engine was started, of the Martian winds and of the machinations of the robot as it made its way down to the surface.
Amazon plans to build delivery robot tech in Finland
Amazon announced Thursday that it plans to develop new technology for its autonomous delivery vehicles in Helsinki, Finland.
The Seattle-headquartered tech giant said in a blog post that it is setting up a new “Development Center” to support Amazon Scout, which is a fully electric autonomous delivery robot that is being tested in four U.S. locations.
Two dozen engineers will be based at the Amazon Scout Development Center in Helsinki initially, the company said, adding that they will be focused on research and development.
Autonomous excavators ready for around the clock real-world deployment
Researchers from Baidu Research and the University of Maryland have developed a robotic excavator system that integrates perception, planning, and control capabilities to enable material loading over a long duration with no human intervention.
