Biological systems, from multicellular organisms to social insects (“superorganisms”), get tremendous mileage from the cooperation of vast numbers of cheap, unreliable, and limited individuals. This lab builds modular robots, robot swarms, sensor networks, programmable materials to achieve the same end goal of creating swarms of cooperative cheap robots. This video shows the single component of […]
We all know that trash is one of the world’s biggest environmental problems: trash is finding its way out of landfills and into oceans, where chemicals hurt the environment and the animals living in it. In the city of Queens, however, a smarter solution has been developed. One of the main reasons why trash isn’t […]
I’m not going to lie. When I heard about it… I thought it was a joke. What use could a tentacle arm possibly have? Then, the European Robotics Commission funds the project and I take it a bit more seriously But what exactly is the appeal of having an octopus? The conceptual design for the robot includes the […]
Imagine if you took pixels off a computer screen, zoomed in, and could watch as they moved in complex patterns in space, changing color all the while. This is what the SENSEable City Laboratory and ARES Lab have been working on. Called Flyfire, the single “pixels” are single gyroscopes that have a controlled flight. They […]
Hexapods are robots that can walk on six legs. And as if that wasn’t hard enough to build, consultant engineer Kåre Halvorsen in Norway set out build his “MorpHex” — a creepy-looking little robot that is not only able to walk, but can fold its legs in to form a ball and roll around. The […]
It looks like the robots are taking over the food preparation industry too! Made by a group of students from LASA (Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory), the Chief Cook Robot can learn how to prepare and cook food after being taught just one time. By moving the robot’s limbs around manually the first time, the […]
