Robotics

A new global design contest is due to kick off this summer, as announced by PowerVision. The PowerEgg Design Challenge aims to inspire both professional and amateur designers to submit outstanding external designs for the pioneering and elegant PowerEgg flying robot, PowerVision’s first consumer drone.

There are few sports where technology has been a bigger catalyst for change over the last 15-20 years than football – driving a seismic shift in attitudes towards coaching, nutrition, player physiology and health – particularly in England.

The Google Research Blog posted a message from Chris Olah of Google Research. He confirmed the publication of "a technical paper, Concrete Problems in AI Safety, a collaboration among scientists at Google, OpenAI, Stanford and Berkeley." This is great news for those who are alarmed over what limits may be over-stepped by AI systems in carrying out their actions, and whether we had better anticipate any event where an AI system does not behave acc...

As far back as 1925, Scottish inventor John Logie Baird successfully transmitted the first recognisable image using a device he called the Televisor. However, the technology was held back until after 1947 when John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley of Bell Laboratories co-invented the transistor.

The Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC) will give a glimpse into the home of the future from 21-24 June 2016 at Automatica, the international trade fair for automation and mechantronics held in Munich. Under the banner "A Home with a Brain," CITEC will exhibit its research developments at Stand 315 in Hall B4. Here, the service robot Floka will be debuted to the public for the first time.

Scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University are developing a robotic arm prototype and its control algorithm using myoelectric signals. The mechanical limb will independently recognise the motions of its owner and be able to perform all the same motions like a healthy arm. The scientists estimate the final cost of the device of 600 - 1,000 USD.

  As machines become more intelligent, they become embedded in countless facets of life. In some ways, they can act almost as full-fledged members in human-machine teams. In such cases, as with any team, trust is a necessary ingredient for good performance. But the dynamics of trust between people and machines are not yet well-understood.

  The Danish pioneer of human-robot collaboration, Universal Robots, revolutionises the automation industry with the launch of Universal Robots+ at AUTOMATICA in Munich. Today, the company presents:

This summer’s Olympic Games in Rio will feature an unprecedented amount of technology, employed by athletes and spectators alike, to help enhance performance and improve our viewing enjoyment. However, interaction between human competitor and cutting edge technology could about to be taken to the next level after a research team at the University of Electronic Science and Technology in China developed a badminton playing robot.

With football fever gripping the nation, rivals from across the world are getting ready to lock nuts and bolts at the forthcoming RoboCup 2016 robotic world championship which kicks off in Leipzig, Germany on 30 June. The University of Hertfordshire’s robot football team Bold Hearts – the oldest and most successful in the UK – will be competing against over 500 other teams from 40 countries.