The dragonfly is the aerial stunt of the insect world. It can hover, fly backwards and glide without moving its wings. They align their wind stroke planes to be nearly normal to the direction of the total
Over the past few years, many scientists have looked to nature for inspiration and brought us robotic animals ranging from fish to cheetahs, fleas and even bees. The Swiss Federal Institute of
A team from the University of Colorado led by Assistant Professor Nikolaus Correll has developed a swarm of miniature robots which they aim to reproduce in large quantities to tackle complex challenges
Liquid Robotics, a Silicon Valley startup behind the surfboard-sized robots known as Wave Gliders, announced today that the Papa Mau robot completed a record-breaking 9,000 mile trip across the Pacific
A kinetic energy-powered robotic “elephant clock” designed in the 13th century by Al-Jazari, the Muslim “father of robotics,” now serves as a centerpiece of the Ibn Battuta Mall in Dubai.
Rethink Robotics have created a new android that they believe could stop industrial manufacturing jobs from going overseas. The Boston-based company has created a revolutionary humanoid robot named
DARPA are experts as creating robots, such as the Cheetah, which can reportedly run faster than Usain Bolt. This week, the defense research agency unveiled their two robotic 'pack mule' prototypes known
In March, we reported that Boston Dynamics and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)'s Cheetah bot had shattered the world speed record for legged robots with a running speed of 18 mph. At
Everyone has heard of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but did you know that there was a Robot Hall of Fame? Founded in 2003 at Carnegie Mellon University, the Robot Hall of Fame was created to recognize
Over the past few years we've seen emergency services and the US military take inspiration from the natural world to create next-gen robots. They've come to include a rapid-response robot based on the
For those of you that enjoy running but sometimes require a little bit of encouragement, The Exertion Games Lab at RMIT University in Melbourne has developed a drone called Joggobot. The autonomous
We'd like to think that here at Inhabitat, we are rather clued in to the latest in robotics, however a new development has blown our minds. A group of scientists at the University of Hawaii have created
German automation company Festo has created an extraordinary helium-filled flying robot that propels itself through the air by repeatedly turning itself inside-out. The creation, known as the
Bill Washabaugh, Chico MacMurtie, and Geo Homsy developed the climate clock with these fundamental elements in mind: the Clock, the Observatory, the Carbon Cycle Simulation, the Incubator Dome, the Time
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will soon present a paper describing algorithms that could eventually enable “smart sand”; self-sculpting sand that can take on any
The Great Summer Zoofari Located next to real life counterparts at the Bronx Zoo, ¨The Great Summer Zoofari¨ is a series of animal sculptures made from our favorite Danish building blocks. Designed
Can you imagine taking a deep dive into the largest natural coral formation on Earth without leaving your desk? A joint effort between Google, the University of Queensland, and the Caitlin Group will
Today, robots have taken on a whole new role that reaches far outside the realm of science fiction. Scientists and engineers have been hard at work developing some of the most innovative robotic machines,
A recent breakthrough in DNA nanotechnology has brought to life the world's smallest autonomously functioning DNA motor - a teeny tiny train of molecules that has been programmed to navigate a network of
AeroVironment has created a tiny, mechanical, flying bird that borrows from the natural movements of the hummingbird. The Nano Hummingbird is a flying robot created through a program sponsored by DARPA
While companies around the world (but mainly in Japan) have made massive leaps in robotics over the past few years, there has always been something unnatural about the way they walk. Too jerky, too stiff
Portuguese designer Alan Monteiro has illustrated his vision of green transportation: an aerodynamic carbon swallowing, wastewater recycling, oxygen releasing, unmanned shuttle bus concept called SKhy.
If there is something that we can be sure of, it's that LEGOs really can be used to build just about anything. From computers and cameras to animals and robots, we've seen our favorite building blocks
Earth is like the Pig-Pen of the solar system: more than 100,000 objects bigger than a centimeter wide hover around our planet, accounting for 4 million pounds of junk that befoul our atmosphere and
Technology (and sloppy planning) may have gotten us into BP’s oil mess, but it also proving instrumental in the cleaning process. The Natural Resources Defense Council and Oceana just launched an
The premise of any science fiction movie worth its salt is robots operating without human supervision for long stretches of time. (Those pesky robots do get into trouble, don't they?) Researchers at the
