An Italian team of researchers lead by Prof. Marco Fontana, in collaboration with the departments of Industrial Engineering of the Universities of Trento and Bologna, have created an Electrostatic Bellow Muscle (EBM) to fabricate efficient small-scale robots. The innovative robotic muscle has potential of powering itself for a long period of time beyond its preliminary charge.
Search Results for: autonomous
Smellicopter uses Antennae from Anesthetized Moths: Biomimicry
We as humans have a huge legacy of evolution yet we always fall short in front of nature. Nature has its own rate of progression and it never fails.
Interview: John A Frye, Principal Designer, Digital Modeling and Visualization Group Leader at Honda R&D Americas
Meet John A. Frye, a heavy-duty industrial designer for alternate realities from California, United States. We are fortunate enough that even in spite of his hectic schedule, John was able to squeeze in some time for this interview.
A Three Agent Robotic System For Red Planet: Mars Exploration
One of the most famous quotes from Interstellar ‘Mankind was born on Earth. It was never meant to die here”, throws light on the intrinsic fear that we all have. Fear of being extinct. Mankind wants to leave the planet Earth, thus escaping extinction. And this is the motif behind all missions of Mars.
Interview: Luca Floreanini, Founder at LucaFloreanini Design Studio, Italy
Luca Floreanini is an industrial designer from Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy. Since 1993, he has been collaborating with Italian and European companies in the ideation and development of new products. Glasses, furniture, espresso machines, bottles, hedge trimmers, scanners, shoes, motocross masks, pressure washers, food containers, lamps are some of areas where his mind dives into.
Spherical Solar Cells Boost Up Solar Energy Harvesting
Flat solar panels dominate the world market when it comes to capture solar energy directly from the Sun. However, the flat design has a major limitation as it cannot keep track of sun’s apparent motion.
Caper Smart Shopping Cart (w/Video): Trolley with Deep Learning and Machine Vision
Autonomous, by far, has limited with the use of robotics or car but lately, the concept has encircled shopping carts as well. In the coming future, retail stores would offer “consumer has it all” experience by simply grabbing and going option.
Interview: Robert Cheek, Head of Business Dev at UVify, San Jose, CA
Recently, we got the pleasure of having a virtual meet up with Drone and AI startup UVify’s, Head of Business Development, Robert Cheek. UVify’s new Draco drone was the main attraction at CES 2017. The startup has developed technologies that can provide drone racing to general public. For those who are interested, Draco is currently up for pre-order, at $499. Shipping is expected to start by the next quarter.
Muscles Powered Biohybrid Devices: Robotics with Tissue Engineering
Let’s picture the word, “Robot”, immediately, we get a glimpse of self operating machines, with nuts-and-bolts as building blocks. These machines are permeating all sections of our society. Machine human relationship has crossed the realms of science fiction. In fact, machine learning has become one of the most interesting and sought-after science, sprouting artificial intelligence (AI).
RoboRacing: Fusing AI with Automotive Technology
Driverless cars are the future of private transportation, where crashes are rare occurrences. Raj Nair, Ford’s head of product development claimed that the year 2020 will mark autonomous vehicle at SAE Level 4 [1 step below full automation] into the mainstream auto market.
Mercedes-Benz unveils Driverless Bus: Future of Public Transport
Future Bus is the new city bus coming straight from the vault of Mercedes-Benz. Unlike its previous autonomous semi-truck Actros that was targeted only for highways, CityPilot ridden technology bus is developed especially for an urban market. The German automaker has demonstrated that its self-driven bus is proficient enough of maneuvering through an urban environment stretching across a distance of 12-miles. It’s been nearly a decade since Mercedes-Benz has been working on automated driving technologies and the current CityPilot technology too is based on Actros Highway Pilot, the autonomous technology…
TF-X a reality by 2018: An Era of Flying Car Begins
Massachusetts-based Terrafugia aims to provide true door-to-door transportation with a flying car within the next decade. The firm’s concept vehicle TF-X is a solution to the ever-growing traffic, which is a pain for people who commute between work and home by car daily.
Head-up Display for Passenger Vehicles: In-car Technology
Researchers at Cambridge have unleashed an era of Head-up displays (HUD) using laser holographic techniques. The technology has introduced for the first time into Jaguar Land Rover vehicles. The human machine interface has developed to project data like speed, direction and navigation directly onto the windscreen. It’s an attempt to provide, relevant and real time information to the driver in a non-intrusive way.
Tiny Insect Eye Motion Sensor: Giving Sight to Mini Drones
Based on the vision systems of insects, researchers have created petite artificial eye for autonomous flying drones. This would make drones more practical by helping in smooth navigation, avoiding collision in restricted or cluttered areas.
Flying Cars a Reality by 2017: An Era of Self-driving, Self-flying Cars
Slovakia-based Aeromobil is making a flying car dream come true by 2017. The company has already tested prototypes that have been successful in both driving and flying. The sporty two seater, called the flying roadster will be spreading its wings in the skies in mere two years from now.