Would You Let a Shade Tree Mechanic Repair Your Jaguar

Let’s say you decide to take your Jaguar out for a spin. Fall is in the air, and you would like to enjoy the foliage and open up your favorite car on some back roads. Of course, you always make sure to take great care of your Jaguar – you wash it, cover it, and… Read more »

Robotic Exoskeletons

You’re probably familiar with the fictional character, Iron Man. Maybe you recall reading the comic books as a kid, or maybe you’ve seen one of the films from the franchise that has collectively earned $2.4 billion in box offices worldwide. People love far-fetched fantastical stories, which is part of what has made Iron Man so… Read more »

Giant Robotic King Kong

King Kong was born way back in 1933 and has since made his way into two movie remakes, one in 1976 and in 2005, a cartoon series, comics, books, and countless examples of merchandise. Not bad for a behemoth gorilla known for rampaging across New York City. Most recently King Kong has been made into… Read more »

RFID and Robot Identification

An automaton capable of navigation and identification has been up around the pinnacle of robotics for a while now. The goal for many researchers is to create a robot that can be deployed in a home and perform meaningful tasks. It would be able to fetch a snack, or tidy up a room, or get… Read more »

Federal Robotics Commission

Should the United States have a federal commission dedicated entirely to robotics? There’s no denying that robotics is a rapidly growing field. Many world powers have already noted that robots could be key in the future and have taken measures to promote advancements in robotics. Germany and Japan are two countries known for their contribution… Read more »

Should Industry Collaborate More with Education?

You’ve undoubtedly heard of the symbiotic relationship between the water buffalo and the oxpecker.  Basically, bird pecks buffalo, buffalo is freed of parasites, bird gets a free meal, bird and buffalo are happy. It’s a classic and beautiful tale of how working together can provide mutual benefits that has been told to death by countless… Read more »

Robo-cubes and Modular Systems

A group of MIT researchers have developed an important bit of technology that could be huge for future robotics and modular systems. Robo-cubes look like something you’d find in the primordial soup on the Transformers home planets or maybe what Magneto was playing with as a toddler. Each of the cubes are modules that can… Read more »

The Gap Between Theory and Application in Robotics

Occasionally scientists will make a discovery or technological advancement that almost immediately changes the world that we live in. However, that’s rare. It’s much more common for scientists to make advancements and discoveries that provide a foundation to change the world in the future. There are constant headlines in robotics about how some new breakthrough… Read more »

Robo Brain

Imagine for a second that there’s a huge online database that is compiling images, videos, and instructions from across the web. The database translates all of that information into a robot friendly code that robots can access and download. So, hypothetically a robot who has never been programmed to turn on a light could visually… Read more »

3D Printers in Medicine

Many people think that 3D printing will be the next big thing in manufacturing. However, Colin Raney (head of global marketing at 3D printing company Formlabs) thinks otherwise. 3D printing isn’t a practical replacement for manufacturing: “The hype cycle for 3-D printing is that it will replace manufacturing, that you can print anything in the… Read more »