Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering: Robotics Research
Published

Biodegradable artificial muscles: Going green in the field of soft robotics      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists have developed fully biodegradable, high-performance artificial muscles. Their research project marks another step towards green technology becoming a lasting trend in the field of soft robotics.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Space Space: Exploration Space: General Space: The Solar System
Published

Uracil found in Ryugu samples      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Samples from the asteroid Ryugu collected by the Hayabusa2 mission contain nitrogenous organic compounds, including the nucleobase uracil, which is a part of RNA.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering: Robotics Research
Published

Head-worn device can control mobile manipulators      (via sciencedaily.com) 

New research aims to increase autonomy for individuals with such motor impairments by introducing a head-worn device that will help them control a mobile manipulator. Teleoperated mobile manipulators can aid individuals in completing daily activities, but many existing technologies like hand-operated joysticks or web interfaces require a user to have substantial fine motor skills to effectively control them. Research led by robotics Ph.D. student Akhil Padmanabha offers a new device equipped with a hands-free microphone and head-worn sensor that allows users to control a mobile robot via head motion and speech recognition.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General Engineering: Graphene Engineering: Nanotechnology Engineering: Robotics Research
Published

Mind-control robots a reality?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have developed biosensor technology that will allow you to operate devices, such as robots and machines, solely through thought control.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering: Robotics Research Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

A sowing, pruning, and harvesting robot for SynecocultureTM farming      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Synecoculture, a new farming method, involves growing mixed plant species together in high density. However, it requires complex operation since varying species with different growing seasons and growing speeds are planted on the same land. To address this need, researchers have developed a robot that can sow, prune, and harvest plants in dense vegetation growth. Its small, flexible body will help large-scale Synecoculture. This is an important step towards achieving sustainable farming and carbon neutrality.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology
Published

Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral was historical first in using iron reinforcements in the 12th century      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The Notre-Dame de Paris is the first known cathedral of Gothic-style architecture to be initially constructed with extensive use of iron to bind stones together. The 2019 fire that significantly damaged the cathedral enabled analyses leading to this discovery.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

Resilient bug-sized robots keep flying even after wing damage      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have developed resilient artificial muscles that can enable insect-scale aerial robots to effectively recover flight performance after suffering severe damage.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Exploration Space: General
Published

Mix-and-match kit could enable astronauts to build a menagerie of lunar exploration bots      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The Walking Oligomeric Robotic Mobility System, or WORMS, is a reconfigurable, modular, multiagent robotics architecture for extreme lunar terrain mobility. The system could be used to assemble autonomous worm-like parts into larger biomimetic robots that could explore lava tubes, steep slopes, and the moon's permanently shadowed regions.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering: Robotics Research
Published

Robots can help improve mental wellbeing at work -- as long as they look right      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Robots can be useful as mental wellbeing coaches in the workplace -- but perception of their effectiveness depends in large part on what the robot looks like.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General Mathematics: General Mathematics: Modeling
Published

Researcher solves nearly 60-year-old game theory dilemma      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A researcher has solved a nearly 60-year-old game theory dilemma called the wall pursuit game, with implications for better reasoning about autonomous systems such as driver-less vehicles.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General Energy: Technology Engineering: Robotics Research
Published

Researchers develop soft robot that shifts from land to sea with ease      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Most animals can quickly transition from walking to jumping to crawling to swimming if needed without reconfiguring or making major adjustments. Most robots cannot. But researchers have now created soft robots that can seamlessly shift from walking to swimming, for example, or crawling to rolling using a bistable actuator made of 3D-printed soft rubber containing shape-memory alloy springs that react to electrical currents by contracting, which causes the actuator to bend. The team used this bistable motion to change the actuator or robot's shape. Once the robot changes shape, it is stable until another electrical charge morphs it back to its previous configuration.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General
Published

Artificial intelligence (AI) reconstructs motion sequences of humans and animals      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Imagine for a moment, that we are on a safari watching a giraffe graze. After looking away for a second, we then see the animal lower its head and sit down. But, we wonder, what happened in the meantime? Computer scientists have found a way to encode an animal's pose and appearance in order to show the intermediate motions that are statistically likely to have taken place.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General Offbeat: Computers and Math
Published

Will future computers run on human brain cells?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A 'biocomputer' powered by human brain cells could be developed within our lifetime, according to researchers who expect such technology to exponentially expand the capabilities of modern computing and create novel fields of study.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering: Nanotechnology Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: Plants and Animals Physics: Optics
Published

Tiny new climbing robot was inspired by geckos and inchworms      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A tiny robot that could one day help doctors perform surgery was inspired by the incredible gripping ability of geckos and the efficient locomotion of inchworms.

Ecology: Extinction Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Offbeat: Plants and Animals Paleontology: Dinosaurs Paleontology: General
Published

Dinosaur claws used for digging and display      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Dinosaur claws had many functions, but now a team has shown some predatory dinosaurs used their claws for digging or even for display.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Published

Real or fake text? We can learn to spot the difference      (via sciencedaily.com) 

While apprehensions about employment and schools dominate headlines, the truth is that the effects of large-scale language models such as ChatGPT will touch virtually every corner of our lives. These new tools raise society-wide concerns about artificial intelligence's role in reinforcing social biases, committing fraud and identity theft, generating fake news, spreading misinformation and more. A team of researchers is seeking to empower tech users to mitigate these risks. The authors demonstrate that people can learn to spot the difference between machine-generated and human-written text.

Anthropology: General Archaeology: General Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology
Published

Archaeologists uncover early evidence of brain surgery in Ancient Near East      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A recent excavation in Megiddo, Israel, unearthed the earliest example of a particular type of cranial surgery in the Ancient Near East -- and potentially one of the oldest examples of leprosy in the world.