Researchers from Intel have designed a robotic hand which can sense the shape of an object before it interacts with it. The robotic hand is based on electrolocation which means that the tips of the fingers are sending an electrical signal to the objects that will interfere with, and the hand will recognize the object before reaching it.

This technique was inspired by sharks who use electrolocation to detect electric fields better than other animals. According to Joshua Smith, a researcher from Intel, electrolocation is only the beginning as it “only provides coarse data about the shape of objects”.

Although it worked very well, in the future the researchers will try to provide the robots with “Pre Touch” which is the sense with a “longer range than touch but a shorter range than vision”. Pre Touch could be resembled with the sixth sense, but this is up to the researchers to decide.

Check out the video below to see the robotic hand in action.

Robotic surgeons are getting more and more precise and a few days ago, Calgary doctors managed to remove a brain tumor from a 21 year old woman using a two-handed robot called NeuroArm. The operation took about nine-hours and it’s the first time that a robot made a surgery like this and hopefully, there will be more like this and successful, too.

In order to perform this surgery, the doctors used remote controls and imaging screen, and in the end the egg-shaped brain tumor of Paige Nickason was removed. After this operation, the University of Calgary received many requests for surgeries like this.

The advantage of NeuroArm is that it can move in smaller increments than a human. One or two milimetres for a surgeon respectively, 50 microns for the robot.

“Paige’s brain surgery represents a technical achievement in the use of image-guided robotic technology to remove a relatively complex brain tumour,” said Dr. Garnette Sutherland, professor of neurosurgery at the University of Calgary faculty of medicine and NeuroArm team leader.

Dr. Sutherland says that the technology can be improved because for the moment, the robots don’t have the dexterity of a human, but “it’s evolving and it will continue to evolve”.

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I do not want to talk about whether the United States are planning a war with all these new spy-insects that are being developed with the help of Pentagon’s finances. After the RoBat, now DARPA has allocated funds for another flying cyborg spy.

Their project is called Hi-MEMS and it consists of “placing micro-mechanical systems inside the insects during the early stages of metamorphosis”. Until now the researchers struggled to control the bug after it reaches higher stages of life. Robert Michelson from Georgia Tech is the one that managed the breakthrough and he says that he can manipulate the spy-insects.

DARPA also managed to bring some ideas that might help to control the bugs - muscle excitation, neuron stimulation, pheromones projection or ultrasonic pulses, are some of the possibilities.

The scientists claim that this will not be just an army project as it will help to better understand the development of animal tissue and “provide new technological pathways to harness the natural sensors and power generation from insects”.

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A new video is available on YouTube showing what the BigDog robot from Boston Dynamics can do. This is a legged robot that can walk, climb and maintain its balance on almost any form of terrain.

The video proves that is has the ability to continue with the task even after being kicked from one side or after slipping on ice, while carrying a weight of hundreds of pounds on its ‘back’.

BigDog uses an advanced system of hyper-responsive hydraulic joints and a suite of sensors, gyroscopes and accelerometers. The project is funded by the U.S. Army and is likely to be used at carrying supplies for the troops on the battlefield. Unless of course they mount a machine gun on them…

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Their idea has received $8.5 million from the European Union and this funding is part of EU’s project called CILIA. This amount should be enough to develop an advanced sonar technology using sophisticated computer modeling and robotics. The two researchers will try to unravel the secret behind the sonar system of the bat and build some antennas inspired from the freaky animal.

Rolf Muller is the possessor of about 600 ear and facial parts coming from different species of bats and he had been studying them with the help of a digital CT scanner in order to make a system that simulates the echolocation of the bats. The design of the antennas is being improved with the help of a NASA scientist.

Herbert Peremans is working on some artificial ears which are inspired from the 3D scans made by Muller. After that he will put the ears on a bat-like robot called “Robat” which will have an on-board sonar and navigation system in order to produce a range of ultrasonic pings just like the bat. Although we do not have information about the time that they will complete their research, we expect that will not very long.

Scientists have developed a spy robot which will help the army and soldiers gather as much information as possible. The robot measures six-inches and is designed like a bat. The concept received $10 million for a five-year research from the University of Michigan College of Engineering and it could receive an additional $12.5 million for another five-years for the U-M Center for Objective Microelectronics and Biomimetic Advanced Technology, or COM-BAT.

The most important things of the robot are its microelectronics which consist of sensors, communication tools, batteries, cameras, microphones and detectors of nuclear radiation and other gases. When the night comes, “The Bat” will be guided with the help of a radar and a navigation system. The energy necessary for the batteries will be provided by solar and wind power, as well as other sources.

The information gathered will be reported back to station through radio signals. The Bat is only a concept for the moment, but there many universities working on this project, all of them sustained by the Army - along the University of Michigan there are the University of California and the University of New Mexico. Researchers are currently trying to improve the current technologies in order to make the Bat perform the tasks that he will accomplish. Eventually, the technologies that they will be able to improve, might be used in other domains of activity like engineering, medical or industry.

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A laser technology which could help humans control robots has been developed by a team of researchers from Georgia Tech Center for Health-care Robotics. The technique was demonstrated by Hay Nguyen, a research student who gave instructions to EL-E (robot’s name) and the robot followed the orders.

EL-E was unveiled at a conference in Amsterdam and it will be tested in medicine this summer. The designers tried to make it entertaining as the robot says some cool phrases when he completes his quests, but he doesn’t interact in any other with humans, he is doing only what you point him with a laser. After you give the instructions to grab an object, EL-E grabs it and he looks for a human face in order to hand over the object.

The developers say that the robot successfully completes its tasks in 90 percent of the times, therefore it could be helpful in medicine. The tests that will be made in the summer consist of patients with degenerative diseases and the purpose will be to “give these folks at least a level of independence”. The work of Georgia Tech has impressed many other scientists which are excited by the prospect of these helping robots.

EL-E is so good because he has at its disposal many sensors, cameras and lasers. This robot technology is only at the beginning as the scientists say that in the future they will be able to perform other tasks like light switching and to open doors. The maximum weight that EL-E can carry around is about 1.2 pounds.

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