A pioneering surgical procedure provides amputees with bionic limbs that are directly controlled by the nervous system, enabling patients to sense the limb’s position in space. Scientists demonstrated the success of this technique in a new study of seven people who received bionic legs, which was published Monday (July 1) in the journal Nature Medicine. … Read more
Engineers have assembled an autonomous underwater drone that the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) plans to use for long-range missions in the ocean, pictures show. Dubbed “Manta Ray,” the drone is modeled after filter-feeding fish of the same name with diamond-shaped bodies and wing-like fins. The prototype, designed and built by the aerospace … Read more
A Chinese bipedal robot has set a new world speed record for a humanoid robot — and can maintain its balance when knocked off course. The newest version of Unitree’s H1 robot, called “Evolution V3.0”, is a bipedal robot that stands a little over 5 foot 11 inches (1.8 meters) tall and weighs less than … Read more
Smiling humanoid robots have been shown to sort objects, drop off packages and even tidy up a child’s toys in eerie new footage. The near-silent video, released by robotics company 1X, shows dozens of the company’s EVE robots performing these various tasks in a large test environment that simulated office spaces and a living room. … Read more
Very soon, a robot surgeon may begin its practice in orbit — and though it won’t quite be a metallic, humanoid machine wearing a white coat and holding a scalpel, its mission is fascinating nonetheless. On Tuesday (Jan. 30), scientists sent a slew of innovative experiments to the International Space Station (ISS) via Northrop Grumman’s … Read more
Scientists in China have created a robot chemist powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that can extract oxygen from Martian water without human supervision. Synthesizing useful resources from local materials on Mars will be essential for humans’ survival on the Red Planet. Extracting oxygen from materials — in a process called oxygen evolution reaction (OER) — is particularly … Read more
Scientists have created a tiny “Terminator 2”-like robot that can melt and resolidify itself on command, enabling it to easily escape from confined spaces. To make the phase-shifting robot, scientists embedded microscopic chunks of magnetic neodymium, boron and iron into liquid gallium (a metal with a low melting point) and left it to solidify. And … Read more
Viewers were left “creeped out” by Jason Derulo’s robotic backup dancers during a pre-Super Bowl performance. Derulo performed at the NFL’s TikTok Tailgate event to get fans excited for Super Bowl LVII, but one aspect of his performance didn’t have the desired effect. Derulo was joined on stage by a number of human backup dancers, … Read more
The creation of bionic eyes, as a result of recent advances in science and technology, are restoring hope to many who are unable to see or are partially sighted due to injury, illness or genetics. With nearly 40 million people suffering from blindness worldwide and another 135 million affected by low vision, according to the … Read more
Welcome to the latest installment of “Writer Fuel – cool real-world stories that might inspire your little writer heart. Check out our Writer Fuel page on the LimFic blog for more inspiration. Today: Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics has released a holiday video featuring its dog-like Spot robot, and it’s turned out as creepy as ever. Happy … Read more
