To effectively navigate their surroundings, robots typically plan paths based on pre-designed maps of the environment they are operating in and observations gathered by their sensors. While this type of navigation strategy can be useful in simple and static...
Nature can be a precious source of inspiration for researchers developing robots and artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Studies in submersible robotics, for instance, have often tried to replicate or incorporate mechanisms observed in aquatic life, such as fish...
A team of researchers at Luleå University of Technology, in Sweden, has developed a new framework for performing visual inspections of large 3-D infrastructures using fully autonomous micro aerial vehicles (MAVs). In their paper, pre-published on arXiv, they introduce...
Researchers at Siegen University and Würzberg University, in Germany, have recently carried out a study investigating the user experience and acceptability associated with the use of social robots in religious contexts. Their paper, published in Springer's...
Researchers at NTT Corporation in Japan have recently developed a user-centered reinforcement learning approach that could be used to teach 'manners' to social robots. Their method, outlined in a paper pre-published on arXiv, allows a robot to greet or attract the...
In recent years, sex dolls have become increasing sophisticated and realistic in their resemblance to human beings, including mechanized components, and are thus now referred to as humanoid sex robots. Some media outlets have gone as far as to suggest that sex robots...
Researchers at the University of Porto in Portugal and KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden have recently developed a framework that can estimate the depth and relative pose of two ground robots that are collaborating on a given task. Their framework, outlined...
Recombination, the rearrangement of genetic materials as a result of mating or of combining segments of DNA from different organisms, has numerous evolutionary advantages. For instance, it allows organisms to remove deleterious mutations from their genomes and take on...
Social robots are designed to communicate with human beings naturally, assisting them with a variety of tasks. The effective use of gestures could greatly enhance robot-human interactions, allowing robots to communicate both verbally and non-verbally.
In recent years, a growing number of studies has been aimed at developing robots inspired by nature, particularly by certain species of animals. In a study published in Atlantis Press' Journal of Robotics, Networking and Artificial Life, a team of researchers at the...