Shadow’s Dexterous Hand
It’s not easy to build a robot that can compete with that astounding piece of machinery called the human hand. But the UK company Shadow has a solid contender. And while its robotic hands imitate nature, why keep nature’s limitations? Shadow’s Dexterous Hand “sees” the shape of the object approaching it to help it determine how to hold it. (Video)
Continue reading… “Shadow’s robotic hand uses AI to grip any object”
Landesgartenschau Exhibition Hall
As part of the ‘Robotics in Timber Construction’ research project at the University of Stuttgart, the peanut-shaped pavilion, Landesgartenschau Exhibition Hall, was created. Constructed entirely by a robotic prefab building system, it showcases the current developments and innovations in computational design and robotic fabrication for lightweight timber construction. (Video)
Continue reading… “The Landesgartenschau Exhibition Hall was built entirely by robots”
Pepper will understand human emotions.
Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son announced last week they have developed an amazing new robot called Pepper. The most amazing feature isn’t that it will only cost $2,000, or that Pepper is intended to babysit your kids and work the registers at retail stores. What’s really remarkable is that Pepper is designed to understand and respond to human emotion.
Continue reading… “Advances in emotional computing will give businesses an unfair advantage”
Arrival of human level automated systems marks a transformative time in history.
Nearly half of U.S. jobs could be at risk of computerization over the next two decades, according to a new study from the Oxford Martin Program on the Impacts of Future Technology. This does not necessarily need to be bad news, says futurist Thomas Frey in a recent Futurist Magazine essay.
Continue reading… “Jobs lost to automation may not be all doom and gloom”
Jimmy is a $16,000 research robot powered by a Core i7 chip.
Last week, Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich showed off a pair of robots claiming that one of them, powered by its embedded Edison processor, would be available for sale by the end of the year. (Videos)
Continue reading… “Intel’s robot you can customize with a 3D printer”
Printable robotic components that, when baked, automatically fold into prescribed three-dimensional configurations.
MIT researchers have developed some printable robotic components that fold into a specific 3D shape when they are ‘baked’ under heat. The team, led by Professor Daniela Rus, has introduced the “bakeable robots” in the hope that they lead to a variety of self-assembling designs that function on their own and fold together like origami.
Continue reading… “Robots that self-assemble when heated up”
SporoBot would increase the speed of production 20 – 30 times over.
What if you had developed a vaccine for malaria that, in early trials, was 100% effective. But you couldn’t get the funding you needed to produce enough of the vaccine to market it because of political wrangling over the budget. What would you do? (Video)
Continue reading… “Sanaria will use robots to mass produce a promising new malaria vaccine”
Supernumerary Robotic Limbs
MIT creates robotic limbs that, when worn, give you more limbs than you’d normally have. The Supernumerary Robotic Limbs (SRLs) are not designed to replace biological limbs that you might be missing, but rather robotic limbs designed to augment the number of limbs that you have already. (Videos)
Continue reading… “MIT creates wearable set of robotic arms to give a helping hand”
Futurist Thomas Frey: Imagine stepping out of the shower in the morning, and rather than reaching for a towel, a swarm of thousands of flying drones will surround you and begin to dry you off.
Continue reading… “Will there be Swarmbots in Your Future?”
Electric cars and robotic cars are moving to the market hand-in-hand.
Google’s new experimental fleet of robotic cars are electric. That’s important because as one of the leaders of developing the software and artificial intelligence that will move autonomous cars through the streets, Google is now also helping set the path for the hardware of the future industry, and it’s skewing that path toward electric vehicles.
Continue reading… “Thanks to Google and Tesla, the first driverless cars will be electric”
Dragonbot is designed to support long-term learning interactions between children and robots.
Advances in exponential technology happen fast This week Singularity Hub points to significant developments to keep people in the know. (Videos)
Continue reading… “Advances in technology from robotic furniture to stuffed animals”
Advances in robotics and 3D printing are improving people’s lives.
Thanks to an international collaboration between universities such as Colorado State University, the Technical University of Munich and the Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience of Natal in Brazil, a paralyzed teen is set to open this year’s World Cup by kicking a football while wearing a motorized exoskeleton controlled by his or her brain. (Video)
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.