Robotics

Most people likely think of robots as complex electronic devices, made up of many parts that have to be assembled in factories. An experimental new non-electronic bot, however, can be 3D-printed all in one piece, and it's powered by nothing but air.

Engineers at MIT have devised an ingenious new way to produce artificial muscles for soft robots that can flex in more than one direction, similar to the complex muscles in the human body. It could soon unlock new capabilities for squishy bots.

I love me a bioinspired robot that pulls off challenging feats with cues from nature. Researchers have shown off the one-legged Salto bot mimic the way squirrels leap effortlessly between precarious branches and stick the landing on the first attempt.

LimX launched a versatile bipedal robot last year with modular foot ends to walk or roll around as needed. Now the company has demonstrated its agility chops by having the squat bot hop over low fencing, climb stairs and clear obstacles with aplomb.

Rise Robotics is looking to make a Guinness World Record that has remained unbroken for nearly a decade by using a unique belt-driven linkage system.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have come up with a better prosthetic hand that uses a hybrid design and a complex sensor system to carefully grip various objects with just the right amount of pressure.

You may not know what a springtail is but man, those little things can jump! Scientists have now copied the creatures' jumping mechanism in a small robot that could one day explore places that people can't go.

Figure is leveling up its humanoid robot business far more rapidly than any other robotics company I can think of. CEO Brett Adcock just announced it plans to begin alpha testing its robots in the home sometime in 2025 – two years ahead of schedule.

If a robot is going to excel at traversing multiple types of terrain, it shouldn't have an unadaptable "Jack of all trades, master of none" body shape. That's where the GOAT comes in, as it automatically changes shape depending on the landscape.

Cue the self-replicating robot revolution: Apptronik's humanoid Apollo robot is gearing up to assist in manufacturing copies of itself. The Texas-based company is dropping the bipedal bot on to assembly lines to produce more Apollos this year.

If a robot is being used to gather data in sensitive aquatic environments, it shouldn't have a whirring propeller that could harm wildlife or get caught in weeds. A new bot addresses that issue by utilizing a swimming mechanism inspired by flatworms.

1X has just dropped a video of its new at-home robot helper, the Neo Gamma. It can clean, serve, and act as a voice companion. Never has a humanoid robot looked so huggable. Or in such need of a hug.

Inspired by the humble bee, robotics researchers at MIT have designed insect-sized aerial bots with a reimagined wing system that can fly for up to 1,000 seconds – 100 times more than any similar bots we've seen in the past.

Only weeks after Figure.ai announced ending its collaboration deal with OpenAI, the Silicon Valley startup has announced Helix – a commercial-ready humanoid robot with an entirely new type of "hive-mind" AI brain called Helix VLA.

California's Clone Robotics has just posted a video of its full-body Protoclone humanoid robot, and well … it's a wee bit creepy. The prototype's less disturbing Clone descendants, however, could one day be vacuuming our carpets.