Over the past decades, dozens of animal species have become extinct, while thousands of others are now at risk of disappearing. Endangered species include various pollinators, including bees and some types of moths, butterflies, and flies.
Robotics
Study explores why human-inspired machines can be perceived as eerie
Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms and robots are becoming increasingly advanced, exhibiting capabilities that vaguely resemble those of humans. The growing similarities between AIs and humans could ultimately bring users to attribute human feelings, experiences,...
A dexterous four-legged robot that can walk and handle objects simultaneously
Four-legged robots, also known as quadrupedal robots, have advantageous characteristics, including the ability to rapidly walk on challenging terrains and keep a low center of gravity. Some four-legged robots can also manipulate objects in their surroundings, yet this...
A rimless wheel robot that can reliably overcome steps
Robots with wheels could potentially navigate a variety of indoor and outdoor environments, traveling for longer distances and with fewer risks of losing balance. While some wheeled robots have achieved very promising results in recent years, most of them are unable...
A miniaturized vision-based tactile sensor based on fiber optic bundles
Researchers at Meta AI, Stanford University, Technische, Universität Dresden and the German Cancer Research Center (DFKZ) recently developed DIGIT Pinki, a miniature-sized sensor that can detect tactile information. This sensor, presented in a paper posted...
A fusion SLAM system that enhances the sensing and localization capabilities of biped climbing robots
Climbing robots could have many valuable real-world applications, ranging from the completion of maintenance tasks on roofs or other tall structures to the delivery of parcels or survival kits in locations that are difficult to access. To be successfully deployed in...
A scalable reinforcement learning–based framework to facilitate the teleoperation of humanoid robots
The effective operation of robots from a distance, also known as teleoperation, could allow humans to complete a vast range of manual tasks remotely, including risky and complex procedures. Yet teleoperation could also be used to compile datasets of human motions,...
A framework to improve air-ground robot navigation in complex occlusion-prone environments
Robotic systems have so far been primarily deployed in warehouses, airports, malls, offices, and other indoor environments, where they assist humans with basic manual tasks or answer simple queries. In the future, however, they could also be deployed in unknown and...
A method to enhance the planning of missions completed by multiple UAVs
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, have already proved to be valuable tools for tackling a wide range of real-world problems, ranging from the monitoring of natural environments and agricultural plots to search and rescue missions and the filming...
A model that could broaden the manipulation skills of four-legged robots
Robotic systems have become increasingly sophisticated over the past decades, evolving from rudimental stiff robots to a wide range of soft, humanoid, animal-inspired robots. Legged robots, particularly quadrupeds, have been found to be particularly promising for...