One of Google's self-driving cars got into an accident earlier this week. But Google is claiming the auto-pilot-equipped Prius was actually flipped into manual mode when the accident happened, making this a case of user error.
Fully autonomous herds of robots could be the future of farming, or at least that's what one roboticist thinks. Trossen Robotics forum member Vanmunch has developed an "Autonomous Micro Planter," which he's named Prospero.
More than ever, people are taking their online and real-life privacy more seriously. Swedish inventor Niklas Roy also felt that his privacy was being invaded on a more basic level--by passers-by looking in through his large workshop window. Most might have just opted for a normal curtain, but Niklas got inventive and created the robotic curtain.
A military robot sent into the collapsed Pike River mine on New Zealand’s West Coast to survey conditions for the 29 trapped miners has broken down, mine officials have said.
If you're a homeowner and have done any sort of do-it-yourself home projects, chances are you've had to get into the crawlspace beneath your home on some occasion. It's a dirty job, sure, but somebody's got to do it. However, a robot out of Japan can save the hassle.
Developments are still continuing apace in the field of delicious-food-making robots. This time we have an automated cake decorator that extrudes designs onto your cake in a process that's one part frosting, one part spirograph, and 100% awesome.
Meet the next generation of robots that shape-shift, are squish-able, and can troll the world's oceans for months on a single battery charge. iRobot, best known for its Roomba disc-shaped robotic floor sweeper, is going way beyond scooping potato chips from under couches with its latest robot offspring.
Google <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/207416/googles_selfdriving_cars_a_ride_drive_down_memory_lane.html">self-driving cars</a> may someday let us nap at the wheel, but in Hollywood driverless cars such as K.I.T.T. are old news. Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently announced the search engine giant was <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/what-were-driving-at.html">actively testing autonomous cars</a> and had already logged 140,000 miles with its fleet. The technology isn't quite ready, but don't tell that to Hollywood.
MIT researchers have used nanotechnology to develop a robot that can autonomously navigate across the surface of the ocean to clean up an oil spill.
The Demilitarized Zone ("DMZ") is a 160-mile long, 2.5-mile wide strip of land that separates the two Koreas. South Korea has recently bumped up the security on its side of the DMZ with something straight out of your favorite sci-fi novel or videogame: a machinegun-equipped robot.
Advocates of the concept called singularity envision a future in which humans and technology fully converge, but a keynote speaker at the World Future Society conference voiced skepticism about the idea, citing the complexities of the human mind.
A California-based start-up called Willow Garage is hoping to accelerate the adoption of robots into human society by lending eleven robots to different research institutions across the world. To kick off the new program, Willow Garage held a "graduation ceremony" earlier this week at the company's Menlo Park, California headquarters.
Robots are always one of two things: unbelievably adorable, or terrifying, creepy, and ready to take over the world.
Fujitsu has developed a robot teddy bear that's designed to motivate children and stimulate the elderly.
NASA is building a six-legged robot that can walk or roll on wheels, and, it hopes, ultimately help set up a habitat on Mars for the later arrivals of astronauts.