Robotics

  In one of MIT’s most eagerly awaited annual events, Thursday night dozens of robots designed and built by undergraduates in a mechanical engineering class endured hours of intense, boisterous, and often jubilant competition as they scrambled to rack up points in one-on-one clashes on special “Star Wars”-themed playing arenas.

    According to a report from FreeAgent, the majority of UK accountants think that automation will play a significant role in the accountancy profession within the next five years.

Advancements in Rajant's Kinetic Mesh Wireless Network technology have been announced that will power in-air mesh networks, enabling drone manufacturers to strengthen drone-to-drone and drone-to-ground communications. Kinetic Mesh delivers communication and video backhaul capabilities, supporting public safety, border security, search and rescue, and site survey applications.

Most robots are programmed using one of two methods: learning from demonstration, in which they watch a task being done and then replicate it, or via motion-planning techniques such as optimisation or sampling, which require a programmer to explicitly specify a task’s goals and constraints. Both methods have drawbacks. Robots that learn from demonstration can’t easily transfer one skill they’ve learned to another situation ...

Researchers have discovered that industrial robots can be remotely hacked to cause potentially devastating damage, as serious concerns over the safety and security of Internet of Things (IoT) devices continue to mount. Researchers at security firm Trend Micro and Italy's Politecnico Milano found that many internet-connected industrial machines run on outdated software or have poor software protection.

Researchers from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and University of Florence are developing a bio-inspired robot equipped with special chemical sensors able to detect the pH of water. A group of researchers from Centre for Automation and Robotics (CAR CSIC-UPM) in collaboration with researchers from University of Florence are designing autonomous underwater vehicle with biosensors to monitor water quality.

Engineering researchers at the University of Minnesota have developed a process for 3D printing stretchable electronic sensory devices that could give robots the ability to feel their environment. The discovery is also a major step forward in printing electronics on real human skin. The research will be published in Advanced Materials and is currently online.

With over 5,000 amputations carried out in the UK every year, prosthetic and bionic limbs are becoming increasingly popular; therefore it is important that the technology behind them keeps advancing. The latest designed bionic hand works by ‘seeing’ objects, so now it can now immediately decide what type of grip to use when picking up items.

  The ability to quickly change the speed and rotational direction of its motors is the key to a drone’s performance, which makes the ESC (Electronic Speed Control) module a very important subsystem. Faster motor speed changes also make for greater stability, which saves energy thereby enabling longer flight times.

At the XPONENTIAL show for Unmanned Systems and Robotics, taking place 8-11th May this year, MKS Instruments will be announcing the Ophir LightIR compact, continuous zoom lens. LightIR is a lightweight, infrared (IR) thermal imaging lens for cooled detectors in commercial applications, including drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), marine, and handheld devices.