Fleet-footed insect robot can turn on a dime (literally)

UC Berkeley engineers have created an insect robot that can scamper along quickly and turn on a dime – perhaps literally. The bot owes its fancy footwork to… well, its fancy feet, using varying voltages to alternate stickiness and make sharp turns.

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Tunneling snake robot takes cues from nature to keep its head in the sand

Robots are great explorers, but one environment that’s tricky for them to navigate is through the ground. Now, engineers at UCSB and Georgia Tech have developed a snake-like robot that uses a range of methods to burrow through soft sand or soil.

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“All-wheel-drive” ray sperm inspire a better swimming robot

As if the ray fishes weren't unusual enough already, it turns out that their sperm is also unique. Scientists have now created a robot inspired by those sperm, which may someday lead to smaller descendants that swim within the human body.

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Suction-cup-equipped robot designed to pick and trim farmed mushrooms

According to Pennsylvania State University's Asst. Prof. Long He, the mushroom-farming industry is currently experiencing a labor shortage. His team has thus set about addressing that problem, by developing a mushroom-picking robot.

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MIT’s Digger Finger robot can sense items buried beneath the surface

MIT scientists have developed a finger-like sensor with the ability to dig into granular media like sand or gravel to get a sense of objects buried beneath the surface, which could lead to better ways of detecting and disarming land mines.

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Synthetic cilia allow tiny soft-bodied robot to pump and scuttle

Paramecium and certain other microbes move through liquid by whipping back and forth hairlike appendages known as cilia. Scientists have now developed a new type of synthetic cilia, which could find use in micro-robots and more.

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Roborock S7 review: Hybrid robovac gets new sonic mopping technology

If you're looking for some robotic help when it comes to keeping your home clean and tidy, Roborock is one of the biggest names in the business, and the S7 is the newest model from the brand – a robovac that we've been extensively testing in recent weeks.

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Autonomous Weeder robot uses lasers to take out 100,000 plants an hour

Startup Carbon Robotics has wheeled out an autonomous machine for farmers that has weeds in its cross hairs, using a combination of computer vision and high-powered lasers to comb fields and take out thousands of the pesky plants an hour.

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Underwater robot rises from the depths to save drowning swimmers

Even though lifeguards are essential to maintaining safety at swimming pools, they can't always see everything that's happening. That's where a new swimmer-saving underwater robot is designed to come in.

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