Robotics

San Francisco lawmakers approve lethal robots – but they can't carry guns

Updated Update: Plan pulled after public outcry

Security30 Nov 2022 | 55

Japanese convenience store chain opens outlet staffed by avatars and robots

Like Clippy, but for snacks, booze, and cigarettes

AI + ML29 Nov 2022 | 55

San Francisco politicians to vote on policy endorsing lethal force for robots

Asimov would like a word

Personal Tech24 Nov 2022 | 67

Fujitsu to test robot datacenter inspector that – trust us – won't take your jobs

Robots aren't hard. 5G in a room full of metal is. So is explaining why you need a bot to look at blinkenlights

Networks08 Nov 2022 | 14

Boffins propose Slinky-like robot that can build stuff in space

E-Walker is a 'seven degrees-of-freedom fully dexterous end-over-end walking robot'

Science18 Oct 2022 | 20

Want to crawl inside a nuke plant swinging a hammer? No? Toshiba's inspection bots will do it instead

Go ahead, feel redundant: machines reduce maintenance time by 12 days and go places humans cannot

Software13 Oct 2022 | 12

ULA's Vulcan Centaur to launch in early '23, with lunar lander and first Amazon broadband sats

Two down, 3,234 to go for Amazon's Kuiper service as it chases Starlink

Networks13 Oct 2022 | 7

Amazon halts work on ‘Scout’ delivery-bot that delivered parcels no faster than humans

Meanwhile in China, Alibaba runs 500 delivery-bots and they’ve delivered 10 million items to Easy Street

AI + ML07 Oct 2022 | 62

If someone weaponizes our robots, we'll be really, really sad, says Boston Dynamics

Maybe finally a good use for DRM, eh? Preventing armed modifications

Science06 Oct 2022 | 73

Tesla has a lot of work to do on its Optimus robot

Optimus Sub-Prime? For something meant to revolutionize production lines, reveal wasn't quite there yet

AI + ML03 Oct 2022 | 99

This rope-laying, ever-growing robot may one day explore your blood vessels

Video You wouldn't make this the butt of any jokes, right?

Science29 Sep 2022 | 12

Teams of aerial drones might one day help to build houses

Wasp-like technique could be used to 3D-print structures in that remote place you plan to retire in

Science23 Sep 2022 | 19

Japanese boffins build solar-powered, remote-controlled cyborg cockroach

Neat idea until you remember that roaches and sunlight, not a good mix

Science22 Sep 2022 | 30

Google teaches robots to serve humans – with large language models the key

Video Is this it? The robo-butler dream is coming true?

AI + ML18 Aug 2022 | 24

Russian military uses Chinese drones and bots in combat, over manufacturers' protests

Testimonials from Russian generals not welcomed by DJI or Unitree Robotics

Security17 Aug 2022 | 46

US Space Force deploys robot dogs at Cape Canaveral base

Patrolling quadrupeds not fitted with 7.62mm tank machine guns – yet

Offbeat09 Aug 2022 | 34

Remember the humanoid Tesla robot? It's ready for September reveal, says Musk

Find it next to the Cybertruck, Boring tunnel maps, Twitter acquisition and my sense of commitment

Personal Tech05 Aug 2022 | 91

Scientists use dead spider as gripper for robot arm, label it a 'Necrobot'

Videos Our ancestors made tools from bones … so why not freeze a spider instead of 3D printing parts?

Science28 Jul 2022 | 121

Russian ChessBot breaks child opponent's finger

But don't get all 'Rise of the Machines' on this one – Russian media says the 'bot has played for years without problems

AI + ML25 Jul 2022 | 60

Automation outfit ABB sees supply chain woes easing

How can you have these worries as a software business? Just ask Cisco

Software21 Jul 2022 |

Tencent Cloud slaps googly eyes on a monitor, says it can care for oldies

It's called 'i-Care' and it screams 'I don't, actually'

Personal Tech01 Jul 2022 | 30

Tata Consultancy Services to create touchy feely 'Internet of Actions'

Gets a grip on tech from Japanese startup to make it work

Personal Tech29 Jun 2022 | 8

Amazon shows off robot warehouse workers that won't complain, quit, unionize...

Mega-corp insists it's all about 'people and technology working safely and harmoniously together'

Science22 Jun 2022 | 60

Look to insects if you want to build tiny AI robots that are actually smart

Flying, swarming, decision making already in production in nature

AI + ML16 Jun 2022 | 21

Taser maker offers electric-shock drones to stop school shootings

For $50,000 annually plus building work, budget-strapped teachers can (maybe) zap gunmen, for the kids

Personal Tech03 Jun 2022 | 192

World’s smallest remote-controlled robots are smaller than a flea

Video So small, you can't feel it crawl

Science27 May 2022 | 34

Human-made hopper out-leaps rival robots in artificial jumping contest

Applications in lunar exploration and Earth-bound locomotion are possible

Science01 May 2022 | 29

Amazon to spend 11 days of annual profit developing robot warehouse workers

Who will win? Staff unions or $1bn of venture capital?

Personal Tech21 Apr 2022 | 14

AI with an improvisational streak is under development

Robots need to learn to adapt to chaotic humans, says German researcher

AI + ML19 Apr 2022 | 7

China rolls out bots to enforce ‘temporary closed-off management’ of Shanghai

Drones, delivery-bots and robo-sprayers at work in locked-down megacity

Personal Tech06 Apr 2022 | 17

Boston Dynamics' latest robot is a warehouse workhorse

When does this thing get to unionize?

Science02 Apr 2022 | 37

Japanese startup makes baby carrier-style sling for 'Love Robots'

Fittings open on Saturday, to make it easier to take motorized pals with you wherever you go

Bootnotes01 Apr 2022 | 33

Google helps develop AI-driven lab machine to diagnose Parkinson's

Robo-worker manipulates test tubes and pipettes, images skin cells to classify disease

AI + ML25 Mar 2022 | 15

Robot vacuum cleaner employed by Brit budget hotel chain Travelodge flees

Unit dragged back to work after being found under hedge a day later

Bootnotes24 Jan 2022 | 59

At 9 for every 100 workers, robots are rife in Singapore – so we decided to visit them

Feature They're guiding kids through museums, moving food in mega-kitchens – and cleaning where you can't see them

Personal Tech05 Jan 2022 | 22

Boffins demonstrate a different kind of floppy disk: A legless robot that hops along a surface

This is fine

Science08 Dec 2021 | 20

AI-enhanced frog stem cells start to replicate in entirely new ways

Xenobots scoop up loose cells to make more of themselves. We welcome our new overlords

Science30 Nov 2021 | 30

Japanese bloke collared after using AI software to uncensor smut and flogging it

In brief Plus: Explore the limits of language models in bizarre research experiment, and more

AI + ML23 Oct 2021 | 47

University, Nvidia team teaches robots to get a grip with OpenAI's CLIP

Gone are the days where you have to show a machine a gazillion images in different poses and lighting conditions

AI + ML01 Oct 2021 | 2

Nvidia cosies up to Open Robotics for hardware-accelerated ROS

Hopes to tempt roboticists over to its Jetson platform with new simulation features, drop-in acceleration code

AI + ML22 Sep 2021 | 2

Japan, Singapore, perhaps the whole world.... Get ready for robot waiters from Softbank and Keenon

Automation is the answer to labor shortages, social distancing, apparently

Personal Tech22 Sep 2021 | 25

Businesses put robots to work when human workers are hard to find, argue econo-boffins

The lure of shiny new tech isn't a motivator, although in the USA bots are used to cut costs

AI + ML17 Sep 2021 | 15

Tesla promises to build robot you could beat up – or beat in a race

May have unbeatable powers of distraction as automaker talks up its coming-soon-now AI supercomputer and glosses over product delays

AI + ML20 Aug 2021 | 76

Boston Dynamics spends months training its Atlas robots to perform one minute of parkour almost perfectly

Video Sarah Connor is safe for now

AI + ML18 Aug 2021 | 55

Xiaomi builds a robot dog out of smartphone cameras and an Nvidia edge AI board

Who's an open-source boy? The $1500 CyberDog, that's who

Personal Tech11 Aug 2021 | 14

With Alphabet's legendary commitment to products, we can't wait to see what its robotics biz Intrinsic achieves

Google parent hopes to inject AI into factory machines

AI + ML23 Jul 2021 | 19

Impromptu game of Robot Wars sparks fire in warehouse at UK e-tailer Ocado

Three-way crash harms no humans but shutters fulfilment centre and sees orders galore cancelled

AI + ML19 Jul 2021 | 78

Robots still suck. It's all they can do to stand up – never mind rise up

Feature Simultaneous localisation and mapping is hard so for the foreseeable future ’bots will remain bolted down

AI + ML07 Jul 2021 | 55

Boffins decide what world really needs is indestructible robot cockroaches

It's fine: they'll just be used for searching disaster sites, checking structures, spying on people

Science06 Jul 2021 | 30

Exoskeleton startup wants to slap robot arms on schoolkids

For educational purposes, of course

Personal Tech01 Jul 2021 | 16

Sony 'Workman', anyone? Consumer giant teams with Kawasaki on teleoperated ‘bots

Japan’s ageing population and COVID inspire JV to create remote work platform biz

Software24 May 2021 | 8

When humanity perishes in nuclear fire, the University of Essex's radiation-resistant robots will inherit the Earth

Never mind the Clacton-on-Sea pier. They've got £600k to build power plant butlers

Science21 May 2021 | 11

NYPD puts down $94k robot canine contract after outcry

Digidog will be returned to its Boston Dynamics owners

AI + ML30 Apr 2021 | 50

US Army develops natural-language voice-command AI for robots, tanks, etc. For search'n'rescue. For now

Judge, JUDI, and executioner?

AI + ML21 Apr 2021 | 32

Plot twist! South Korean telco uses 5G to fight coronavirus via hospital-patrolling robot

Modified Keemi disinfects, takes temperatures, tells you off for not socially distancing

Networks19 Apr 2021 | 12

Tools down: Singapore’s training bots and drones to digitize construction work

Research agency and housing board sign a deal as COVID-19 makes manpower and materials scarce

Science30 Mar 2021 | 3