Robots: Gecko-like coating gives robot hand a delicate touch

Robotic hands often trade strength for adaptability, but a sticky coating inspired by gecko feet has given this artificial hand a delicate touch Technology 15 December 2021 By Matthew Sparkes The gecko-inspired robot hand farmHand/Standford University Mechanical hands with human-like fingers are more adaptable than the simple two-pronged clamps found on industrial robots, but they … Read more

Robots: Human-like hand can crush beer cans and hold eggs without breaking them

A robot hand that has the lightness of touch to hold delicate objects and the strength to crush cans could one day be used as a prosthetic Technology 14 December 2021 By Carissa Wong A highly dexterous, human-like robotic hand with fingertip touch sensors can delicately hold eggs, use tweezers to pick up computer chips … Read more

Living robots: Xenobots made from frog cells can self-replicate in a dish by pulling cells into clumps

Swarms of tiny “xenobots” can self-replicate in the lab by pushing loose cells together – the first time this form of reproduction has been seen in multicellular organisms Life 29 November 2021 By Carissa Wong Swarms of tiny living robots can self-replicate in a dish by pushing loose cells together. The xenobots – made from … Read more

Robots: Watch a robotic arm play table tennis after just 90 minutes of training

By Chris Stokel-Walker A table tennis-playing robot can keep up a rally against humans, but like many amateur players, it struggles when attempting fancier shots. Yapeng Gao, Jonas Tebbe and Andreas Zell at the University of Tübingen in Germany began by designing a computer simulation in which a virtual robot arm equipped with a table tennis racket … Read more