robot seal

Paro, the robotic seal is a ‘mental commit’ unit designed by researchers at The Japanese National Institute of Advanced Industry and Science and is available for purchase in Japan and North America. It is currently being used in pediatric hospitals and nursing homes; the Paro site features video and FAQs related to the research [...]

robobugs

An article posted in the Washington Post in October of 2007 opened with some comments from a person who was attending an anti-war rally in Lafayette Square (Washington DC). She was aghast to see something that appeared to look like a large insect flying overhead; but it looked too mechanical to be real.
What the [...]

salamander robot

European researchers have developed an amphibious spinal cord model and implemented it in a novel fashion. The Biologically Inspired Robotics Group, or BIRG, introduced an exciting and entirely new form of animal robot this year: the swimming/walking salamander. Using the salamander as an animal model, the folks over at BIRG successfully addressed three fundamental issues [...]

robotic fish

A robotic fish has been developed by scientists from Essex University. In nature, fish have astonishing swimming ability developed after thousands years evolution. It is well known that the tuna swims with high speed and high efficiency, the pike accelerates in a flash and that eel swim skillfully into extremely small [...]

residents of the uncanny valley

The term ‘robot’ immediately conjures up imagery of super-humanoid machines capable of taking over the world and causing mass destruction. The truth is that such depictions are still firmly rooted in the realm of science fiction which is the first medium to introduce the possibilities of robotics to the general public.
The reality is that [...]