𝐑𝐓/ Inflatable robotic hand gives amputees real-time tactile control
Robotics biweekly vol.36, 10th August — 24th August
TL;DR
- An MIT-developed inflatable robotic hand gives amputees real-time tactile control. The smart hand is soft and elastic, weighs about half a pound, and costs a fraction of comparable prosthetics.
- Sea cucumbers have a bumpy and oblong shape. They are soft but stiffen up quickly when touched. They can shrink or stretch to several meters, and their original shape can be recovered even after they die and shrivel up with the regulation of water uptake. Recently, a POSTECH research team has developed a soft actuator inspired by this unique behavior of sea cucumbers.
- Whether a robot or a person delivers your package, the carbon footprint would essentially be the same, according to a new study that could help inform the future of automated delivery as the pandemic fuels a dramatic rise in online shopping.
- Robots that need to use their arms to make their way across treacherous terrain just got a speed upgrade with a new path planning approach. The improved algorithm path planning algorithm found successful paths three times as often as standard algorithms while needing much less processing time.
- Thanks to their swimming robot modeled after a lamprey, EPFL scientists may have discovered why some vertebrates are able to retain their locomotor capabilities after a spinal cord lesion. The finding could also help improve the performance of swimming robots used for search and rescue missions and for environmental monitoring.
- Underwater vehicles are typically designed for one cruise speed, and they’re often inefficient at other speeds. The technology is rudimentary compared to the way fish swim well, fast or slow. What if you want your underwater vehicle to travel fast through miles of ocean, then slow down to map a narrow coral reef, or speed to the site of an oil spill then throttle back to take careful measurements? Scientists discovered a key strategy for enabling these kinds of multispeed missions. They have demonstrated a simple way to implement this strategy in robots, which could ultimately inform underwater vehicle design.
- Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed a robotic disassembly system for used electric vehicle batteries to make the process safer, more efficient, and less costly while supporting the recycling of critical materials and reducing waste.
- After dominating the electric vehicle market and throwing his hat into the billionaire space race, Tesla boss Elon Musk announced the latest frontier he’s aiming to conquer: humanoid robots.
- Boston Dynamics’ latest video shows its Atlas humanoid robot has moves like Simone Biles.
- Chinese electronics company Xiaomi has unveiled CyberDog, a quadruped robot that the company describes as more personable than others in its class.
- Check out robotics upcoming events. And more!
#RT #Robotics
https://medium.com/paradigm-fund/rt-inflatable-robotic-hand-gives-amputees-real-time-tactile-control-5b7c928f8123