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Social robot for at-home cognitive monitoring. Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-09-18 Melisa Yashinski
A socially assistive robot can administer in-home neuropsychological tests for cognitive monitoring of older adults.
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A versatile knee exoskeleton mitigates quadriceps fatigue in lifting, lowering, and carrying tasks Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-09-18 Nikhil V. Divekar, Gray C. Thomas, Avani R. Yerva, Hannah B. Frame, Robert D. Gregg
The quadriceps are particularly susceptible to fatigue during repetitive lifting, lowering, and carrying (LLC), affecting worker performance, posture, and ultimately lower-back injury risk. Although robotic exoskeletons have been developed and optimized for specific use cases like lifting-lowering, their controllers lack the versatility or customizability to target critical muscles across many fatiguing
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Hexagonal electrohydraulic modules for rapidly reconfigurable high-speed robots Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-09-18 Zachary Yoder, Ellen H. Rumley, Ingemar Schmidt, Philipp Rothemund, Christoph Keplinger
Robots made from reconfigurable modular units feature versatility, cost efficiency, and improved sustainability compared with fixed designs. Reconfigurable modules driven by soft actuators provide adaptable actuation, safe interaction, and wide design freedom, but existing soft modules would benefit from high-speed and high-strain actuation, as well as driving methods well-suited to untethered operation
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Visual seafloor mapping with autonomous robots. Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-09-11 Amos Matsiko
Autonomous robots adopt navigation-aided hierarchical reconstruction to visually map the seafloor.
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Restoration of grasping in an upper limb amputee using the myokinetic prosthesis with implanted magnets Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-09-11 Marta Gherardini, Valerio Ianniciello, Federico Masiero, Flavia Paggetti, Daniele D’Accolti, Eliana La Frazia, Olimpia Mani, Stefania Dalise, Katarina Dejanovic, Noemi Fragapane, Luca Maggiani, Edoardo Ipponi, Marco Controzzi, Manuela Nicastro, Carmelo Chisari, Lorenzo Andreani, Christian Cipriani
The loss of a hand disrupts the sophisticated neural pathways between the brain and the hand, severely affecting the level of independence of the patient and the ability to carry out daily work and social activities. Recent years have witnessed a rapid evolution of surgical techniques and technologies aimed at restoring dexterous motor functions akin to those of the human hand through bionic solutions
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Stretchable Arduinos embedded in soft robots Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-09-11 Stephanie J. Woodman, Dylan S. Shah, Melanie Landesberg, Anjali Agrawala, Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio
To achieve real-world functionality, robots must have the ability to carry out decision-making computations. However, soft robots stretch and therefore need a solution other than rigid computers. Examples of embedding computing capacity into soft robots currently include appending rigid printed circuit boards to the robot, integrating soft logic gates, and exploiting material responses for material-embedded
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Real-world exoskeletons are better than those in the movie Atlas. Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-08-28 Robin R Murphy
The recent movie Atlas misses fundamental robotics advances in self-stabilization and human-robot interaction.
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Collection of microrobots for gentle cell manipulation. Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-08-28 Melisa Yashinski
Optically actuated soft microrobotic tools were designed for cell transportation, manipulation, and cell-to-cell interactions.
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Sensorimotor control of robots mediated by electrophysiological measurements of fungal mycelia Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-08-28 Anand Kumar Mishra, Jaeseok Kim, Hannah Baghdadi, Bruce R. Johnson, Kathie T. Hodge, Robert F. Shepherd
Living tissues are still far from being used as practical components in biohybrid robots because of limitations in life span, sensitivity to environmental factors, and stringent culture procedures. Here, we introduce fungal mycelia as an easy-to-use and robust living component in biohybrid robots. We constructed two biohybrid robots that use the electrophysiological activity of living mycelia to control
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Online tree-based planning for active spacecraft fault estimation and collision avoidance Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-08-28 James Ragan, Benjamin Riviere, Fred Y. Hadaegh, Soon-Jo Chung
Autonomous robots operating in uncertain or hazardous environments subject to state safety constraints must be able to identify and isolate faulty components in a time-optimal manner. When the underlying fault is ambiguous and intertwined with the robot’s state estimation, motion plans that discriminate between simultaneous actuator and sensor faults are necessary. However, the coupled fault mode and
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Bistable soft jumper capable of fast response and high takeoff velocity Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-08-21 Daofan Tang, Chengqian Zhang, Chengfeng Pan, Hao Hu, Haonan Sun, Huangzhe Dai, Jianzhong Fu, Carmel Majidi, Peng Zhao
In contrast with jumping robots made from rigid materials, soft jumpers composed of compliant and elastically deformable materials exhibit superior impact resistance and mechanically robust functionality. However, recent efforts to create stimuli-responsive jumpers from soft materials were limited in their response speed, takeoff velocity, and travel distance. Here, we report a magnetic-driven, ultrafast
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Intrinsic sense of touch for intuitive physical human-robot interaction Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-08-21 Maged Iskandar, Alin Albu-Schäffer, Alexander Dietrich
The sense of touch is a property that allows humans to interact delicately with their physical environment. This article reports on a technological advancement in intuitive human-robot interaction that enables an intrinsic robotic sense of touch without the use of artificial skin or tactile instrumentation. On the basis of high-resolution joint-force-torque sensing in a redundant arrangement, we were
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Variable-stiffness–morphing wheel inspired by the surface tension of a liquid droplet Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-08-14 Jae-Young Lee, Seongji Han, Munyu Kim, Yong-Sin Seo, Jongwoo Park, Dong Il Park, Chanhun Park, Hyunuk Seo, Joonho Lee, Hwi-Su Kim, Jeongae Bak, Hugo Rodrigue, Jin-Gyun Kim, Joono Cheong, Sung-Hyuk Song
Wheels have been commonly used for locomotion in mobile robots and transportation systems because of their simple structure and energy efficiency. However, the performance of wheels in overcoming obstacles is limited compared with their advantages in driving on normal flat ground. Here, we present a variable-stiffness wheel inspired by the surface tension of a liquid droplet. In a liquid droplet, as
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High energy density picoliter-scale zinc-air microbatteries for colloidal robotics Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-08-14 Ge Zhang, Sungyun Yang, Jing Fan Yang, David Gonzalez-Medrano, Marc Z. Miskin, Volodymyr B. Koman, Yuwen Zeng, Sylvia Xin Li, Matthias Kuehne, Albert Tianxiang Liu, Allan M. Brooks, Mahesh Kumar, Michael S. Strano
The recent interest in microscopic autonomous systems, including microrobots, colloidal state machines, and smart dust, has created a need for microscale energy storage and harvesting. However, macroscopic materials for energy storage have noted incompatibilities with microfabrication techniques, creating substantial challenges to realizing microscale energy systems. Here, we photolithographically
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Virus-blocking mosquitoes take flight in the fight against dengue. Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-07-31 Jacob E Crawford
Drone-based mosquito releases facilitate the introduction of dengue-blocking bacteria in wild mosquito populations.
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Robot behavior that can adapt to user interaction. Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-07-31 Melisa Yashinski
Artificial neuroendocrine system responds to interaction with users and modulates robot behavior.
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Field deployment of Wolbachia -infected Aedes aegypti using uncrewed aerial vehicle Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-07-31 Ya-Hsun Lin, Dirk Albert Joubert, Sebastian Kaeser, Cameron Dowd, Jurg Germann, Anam Khalid, Jai Andrew Denton, Kate Retski, Aminiasi Tavui, Cameron Paul Simmons, Scott Leslie O’Neill, Jeremie Roger Lionel Gilles
Over the past 50 years, there has been a marked increase in diseases like dengue fever, chikungunya, and Zika. The World Mosquito Program (WMP) has developed an approach that, instead of attempting to eliminate vector species, introduces Wolbachia into native Aedes aegypti populations through the release of Wolbachia -infected mosquitoes. Using this approach, a randomized controlled study recently
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Would robots really bother with a bloody uprising? Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-07-31 Robin R. Murphy
In the amusing 1982 novel Software , robots punish their human overlords by raising prices on longevity drugs and organ transplants.
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Upscaling the production of sterile male mosquitoes with an automated pupa sex sorter Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-07-31 Jun-Tao Gong, Wadaka Mamai, Xiaohua Wang, Jian Zhu, Yongjun Li, Julian Liu, Qixian Tang, Yuanhui Huang, Jixin Zhang, Jiayi Zhou, Hamidou Maiga, Nanwintoum Séverin Bimbilé Somda, Claudia Martina, Simran Singh Kotla, Thomas Wallner, Jérémy Bouyer, Zhiyong Xi
Effective mosquito population suppression has been repeatedly demonstrated in field trials through the release of male mosquitoes to induce sterile mating with wild females using the incompatible insect technique (IIT), the sterile insect technique (SIT), or their combination. However, upscaling these techniques requires a highly efficient and scalable approach for the sex separation of mass-reared
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Merging sociality and robotics through an evolutionary perspective. Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-07-24 Fabiola Diana,Lola Cañamero,Ruud Hortensius,Mariska E Kret
Robotics, using social mechanisms like hormonal modulation, may accelerate our understanding of core sociality principles.
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Multimodal soft valve enables physical responsiveness for preemptive resilience of soft robots Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-07-24 Marco Pontin, Dana D. Damian
Resilience is crucial for the self-preservation of biological systems: Humans recover from wounds thanks to an immune system that autonomously enacts a multistage response to promote healing. Similar passive mechanisms can enable pneumatic soft robots to overcome common faults such as bursts originating from punctures or overpressurization. Recent technological advancements, ranging from fault-tolerant
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Bilateral Back Extensor Exosuit for multidimensional assistance and prevention of spinal injuries Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-07-24 Jae In Kim, Jaeyoun Choi, Junhyung Kim, Junkyung Song, Jaebum Park, Yong-Lae Park
Lumbar spine injuries resulting from heavy or repetitive lifting remain a prevalent concern in workplaces. Back-support devices have been developed to mitigate these injuries by aiding workers during lifting tasks. However, existing devices often fall short in providing multidimensional force assistance for asymmetric lifting, an essential feature for practical workplace use. In addition, validation
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Visual route following for tiny autonomous robots Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-07-17 Tom van Dijk, Christophe De Wagter, Guido C. H. E. de Croon
Navigation is an essential capability for autonomous robots. In particular, visual navigation has been a major research topic in robotics because cameras are lightweight, power-efficient sensors that provide rich information on the environment. However, the main challenge of visual navigation is that it requires substantial computational power and memory for visual processing and storage of the results
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Crawling, climbing, perching, and flying by FiBa soft robots Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-07-17 Terry Ching, Joseph Zhi Wei Lee, Shane Kyi Hla Win, Luke Soe Thura Win, Danial Sufiyan, Charlotte Pei Xuan Lim, Nidhi Nagaraju, Yi-Chin Toh, Shaohui Foong, Michinao Hashimoto
This paper introduces an approach to fabricating lightweight, untethered soft robots capable of diverse biomimetic locomotion. Untethering soft robotics from electrical or pneumatic power remains one of the prominent challenges within the field. The development of functional untethered soft robotic systems hinges heavily on mitigating their weight; however, the conventional weight of pneumatic network
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Scale-inspired programmable robotic structures with concurrent shape morphing and stiffness variation Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-07-17 Tianyu Chen, Xudong Yang, Bojian Zhang, Junwei Li, Jie Pan, Yifan Wang
Biological organisms often have remarkable multifunctionality through intricate structures, such as concurrent shape morphing and stiffness variation in the octopus. Soft robots, which are inspired by natural creatures, usually require the integration of separate modules to achieve these various functions. As a result, the whole structure is cumbersome, and the control system is complex, often involving
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Would you risk humanity's survival on a robot built in two years? Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-06-26 Robin R Murphy
Project Hail Mary reflects real-world technical readiness assessment processes for robotics.
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The future lies in a pair of tactile hands. Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-06-26 Nathan F Lepora
Advancing robot hand dexterity with optical tactile sensing raises questions about humanoid robotics.
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When performing actions with robots, attribution of intentionality affects the sense of joint agency Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-06-26 Uma Prashant Navare, Francesca Ciardo, Kyveli Kompatsiari, Davide De Tommaso, Agnieszka Wykowska
Sense of joint agency (SoJA) is the sense of control experienced by humans when acting with others to bring about changes in the shared environment. SoJA is proposed to arise from the sensorimotor predictive processes underlying action control and monitoring. Because SoJA is a ubiquitous phenomenon occurring when we perform actions with other humans, it is of great interest and importance to understand
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SimPLE, a visuotactile method learned in simulation to precisely pick, localize, regrasp, and place objects Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-06-26 Maria Bauza, Antonia Bronars, Yifan Hou, Ian Taylor, Nikhil Chavan-Dafle, Alberto Rodriguez
Existing robotic systems have a tension between generality and precision. Deployed solutions for robotic manipulation tend to fall into the paradigm of one robot solving a single task, lacking “precise generalization,” or the ability to solve many tasks without compromising on precision. This paper explores solutions for precise and general pick and place. In precise pick and place, or kitting, the
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Biohybrid microrobots regulate colonic cytokines and the epithelium barrier in inflammatory bowel disease Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-06-26 Zhengxing Li, Yaou Duan, Fangyu Zhang, Hao Luan, Wei-Ting Shen, Yiyan Yu, Nianfei Xian, Zhongyuan Guo, Edward Zhang, Lu Yin, Ronnie H. Fang, Weiwei Gao, Liangfang Zhang, Joseph Wang
Cytokines have been identified as key contributors to the development of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), yet conventional treatments often prove inadequate and carry substantial side effects. Here, we present an innovative biohybrid robotic system, termed “algae-MΦNP-robot,” for addressing IBD by actively neutralizing colonic cytokine levels. Our approach combines moving green microalgae with macrophage
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The role of low-cost robots in the future of spaceflight. Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-06-19 Paul E Glick,J Bob Balaram,Michael R Davidson,Elizabeth Lyons,Michael T Tolley
Lessons from the CubeSat and Mars Exploration programs may guide the infusion of robotics for planetary science and exploration.
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Optimality principles in spacecraft neural guidance and control Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-06-19 Dario Izzo, Emmanuel Blazquez, Robin Ferede, Sebastien Origer, Christophe De Wagter, Guido C. H. E. de Croon
This Review discusses the main results obtained in training end-to-end neural architectures for guidance and control of interplanetary transfers, planetary landings, and close-proximity operations, highlighting the successful learning of optimality principles by the underlying neural models. Spacecraft and drones aimed at exploring our solar system are designed to operate in conditions where the smart
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Exploring beyond Earth using space robotics Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-06-19 Steve A. Chien, Gianfranco Visentin, Connor Basich
Robotic spacecraft enable exploration of our Solar System beyond our human presence. Although spacecraft have explored every planet in the Solar System, the frontiers of space robotics are at the cutting edge of landers, rovers, and now atmospheric explorers, where robotic spacecraft must interact intimately with their environment to explore beyond the reach of flyby and orbital remote sensing. Here
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Soft robotic platform for progressive and reversible aortic constriction in a small-animal model Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-06-12 Luca Rosalia, Sophie X. Wang, Caglar Ozturk, Wei Huang, Jean Bonnemain, Rachel Beatty, Garry P. Duffy, Christopher T. Nguyen, Ellen T. Roche
Our understanding of cardiac remodeling processes due to left ventricular pressure overload derives largely from animal models of aortic banding. However, these studies fail to enable control over both disease progression and reversal, hindering their clinical relevance. Here, we describe a method for progressive and reversible aortic banding based on an implantable expandable actuator that can be
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A portable inflatable soft wearable robot to assist the shoulder during industrial work Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-06-12 Yu Meng Zhou, Cameron J. Hohimer, Harrison T. Young, Connor M. McCann, David Pont-Esteban, Umut S. Civici, Yichu Jin, Patrick Murphy, Diana Wagner, Tazzy Cole, Nathan Phipps, Haedo Cho, Franchesco Bertacchi, Isabella Pignataro, Tommaso Proietti, Conor J. Walsh
Repetitive overhead tasks during factory work can cause shoulder injuries resulting in impaired health and productivity loss. Soft wearable upper extremity robots have the potential to be effective injury prevention tools with minimal restrictions using soft materials and active controls. We present the design and evaluation of a portable inflatable shoulder wearable robot for assisting industrial
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Conductive block copolymer elastomers and psychophysical thresholding for accurate haptic effects Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-06-12 Rachel Blau, Abdulhameed Abdal, Nicholas Root, Alexander X. Chen, Tarek Rafeedi, Robert Ramji, Yi Qie, Taewoo Kim, Anthony Navarro, Jason Chin, Laura L. Becerra, Samuel J. Edmunds, Samantha M. Russman, Shadi A. Dayeh, David P. Fenning, Romke Rouw, Darren J. Lipomi
Electrotactile stimulus is a form of sensory substitution in which an electrical signal is perceived as a mechanical sensation. The electrotactile effect could, in principle, recapitulate a range of tactile experience by selective activation of nerve endings. However, the method has been plagued by inconsistency, galvanic reactions, pain and desensitization, and unwanted stimulation of nontactile nerves
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Avian eye-inspired artificial vision takes a step forward. Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-05-29 Qing Liu,Yihui Zhang
Bioinspiration from avian eyes allows development of artificial vision systems with foveated and multispectral imaging.
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Evaluating initial usability of a hand augmentation device across a large and diverse sample Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-05-29 Dani Clode, Lucy Dowdall, Edmund da Silva, Klara Selén, Dorothy Cowie, Giulia Dominijanni, Tamar R. Makin
The advancement of motor augmentation and the broader domain of human-machine interaction rely on a seamless integration with users’ physical and cognitive capabilities. These considerations may markedly fluctuate among individuals on the basis of their age, form, and abilities. There is a need to develop a standard for considering these diversity needs and preferences to guide technological development
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Excitation of natural spinal reflex loops in the sensory-motor control of hand prostheses Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-05-29 Patrick G. Sagastegui Alva, Anna Boesendorfer, Oskar C. Aszmann, Jaime Ibáñez, Dario Farina
Sensory feedback for prosthesis control is typically based on encoding sensory information in specific types of sensory stimuli that the users interpret to adjust the control of the prosthesis. However, in physiological conditions, the afferent feedback received from peripheral nerves is not only processed consciously but also modulates spinal reflex loops that contribute to the neural information
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Avian eye–inspired perovskite artificial vision system for foveated and multispectral imaging Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-05-29 Jinhong Park, Min Seok Kim, Joonsoo Kim, Sehui Chang, Mincheol Lee, Gil Ju Lee, Young Min Song, Dae-Hyeong Kim
Avian eyes have deep central foveae as a result of extensive evolution. Deep foveae efficiently refract incident light, creating a magnified image of the target object and making it easier to track object motion. These features are essential for detecting and tracking remote objects in dynamic environments. Furthermore, avian eyes respond to a wide spectrum of light, including visible and ultraviolet
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Microsaccade-inspired event camera for robotics Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-05-29 Botao He, Ze Wang, Yuan Zhou, Jingxi Chen, Chahat Deep Singh, Haojia Li, Yuman Gao, Shaojie Shen, Kaiwei Wang, Yanjun Cao, Chao Xu, Yiannis Aloimonos, Fei Gao, Cornelia Fermüller
Neuromorphic vision sensors or event cameras have made the visual perception of extremely low reaction time possible, opening new avenues for high-dynamic robotics applications. These event cameras’ output is dependent on both motion and texture. However, the event camera fails to capture object edges that are parallel to the camera motion. This is a problem intrinsic to the sensor and therefore challenging
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A guiding light for stimulating paralyzed muscles. Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-05-22 Jordan Williams
Improving the performance of closed-loop optogenetic nerve stimulation can reproduce desired muscle activation patterns.
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Wearable robots for the real world need vision. Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-05-22 Letizia Gionfrida,Daekyum Kim,Davide Scaramuzza,Dario Farina,Robert D Howe
To enhance wearable robots, understanding user intent and environmental perception with novel vision approaches is needed.
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Closed-loop optogenetic neuromodulation enables high-fidelity fatigue-resistant muscle control Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-05-22 Guillermo Herrera-Arcos, Hyungeun Song, Seong Ho Yeon, Omkar Ghenand, Samantha Gutierrez-Arango, Sapna Sinha, Hugh Herr
Closed-loop neuroprostheses show promise in restoring motion in individuals with neurological conditions. However, conventional activation strategies based on functional electrical stimulation (FES) fail to accurately modulate muscle force and exhibit rapid fatigue because of their unphysiological recruitment mechanism. Here, we present a closed-loop control framework that leverages physiological force
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An ultrawide field-of-view pinhole compound eye using hemispherical nanowire array for robot vision Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-05-15 Yu Zhou, Zhibo Sun, Yucheng Ding, Zhengnan Yuan, Xiao Qiu, Yang Bryan Cao, Zhu’an Wan, Zhenghao Long, Swapnadeep Poddar, Shivam Kumar, Wenhao Ye, Chak Lam Jonathan Chan, Daquan Zhang, Beitao Ren, Qianpeng Zhang, Hoi-Sing Kwok, Mitch Guijun Li, Zhiyong Fan
Garnering inspiration from biological compound eyes, artificial vision systems boasting a vivid range of diverse visual functional traits have come to the fore recently. However, most of these artificial systems rely on transformable electronics, which suffer from the complexity and constrained geometry of global deformation, as well as potential mismatches between optical and detector units. Here
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What to give your robot mother on Mother’s Day Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-05-15 Robin R. Murphy
Jung_E , the 2023 science-fiction movie from South Korea, suggests that a novel leg-wheel hybrid for robot locomotion might be appreciated.
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Stereoscopic artificial compound eyes for spatiotemporal perception in three-dimensional space Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-05-15 Byungjoon Bae, Doeon Lee, Minseong Park, Yujia Mu, Yongmin Baek, Inbo Sim, Cong Shen, Kyusang Lee
Arthropods’ eyes are effective biological vision systems for object tracking and wide field of view because of their structural uniqueness; however, unlike mammalian eyes, they can hardly acquire the depth information of a static object because of their monocular cues. Therefore, most arthropods rely on motion parallax to track the object in three-dimensional (3D) space. Uniquely, the praying mantis
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Fully neuromorphic vision and control for autonomous drone flight Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-05-15 F. Paredes-Vallés, J. J. Hagenaars, J. Dupeyroux, S. Stroobants, Y. Xu, G. C. H. E. de Croon
Biological sensing and processing is asynchronous and sparse, leading to low-latency and energy-efficient perception and action. In robotics, neuromorphic hardware for event-based vision and spiking neural networks promises to exhibit similar characteristics. However, robotic implementations have been limited to basic tasks with low-dimensional sensory inputs and motor actions because of the restricted
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Grasping objects with the aid of haptics. Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-04-24 Amos Matsiko
A smart suction cup uses haptics to supplement vision for exploration of objects in a grasping task.
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Legged robots take a leap forward. Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-04-24 Amos Matsiko
Legged robots take a leap forward.
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Robot pack mules remain science fiction for now. Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-04-24 Robin R Murphy
The plot of the 2014 science-fiction movie Young Ones revolves around a robot pack mule based on the real-world BigDog.
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Why animals can outrun robots Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-04-24 Samuel A. Burden, Thomas Libby, Kaushik Jayaram, Simon Sponberg, J. Maxwell Donelan
Animals are much better at running than robots. The difference in performance arises in the important dimensions of agility, range, and robustness. To understand the underlying causes for this performance gap, we compare natural and artificial technologies in the five subsystems critical for running: power, frame, actuation, sensing, and control. With few exceptions, engineering technologies meet or
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Learning robust autonomous navigation and locomotion for wheeled-legged robots Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-04-24 Joonho Lee, Marko Bjelonic, Alexander Reske, Lorenz Wellhausen, Takahiro Miki, Marco Hutter
Autonomous wheeled-legged robots have the potential to transform logistics systems, improving operational efficiency and adaptability in urban environments. Navigating urban environments, however, poses unique challenges for robots, necessitating innovative solutions for locomotion and navigation. These challenges include the need for adaptive locomotion across varied terrains and the ability to navigate
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Using machine learning and robotics to discover plastic substitutes. Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-04-17 Melisa Yashinski
Discovery of all-natural thin films with tunable properties was partially automated using robotics and machine learning.
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Real-world humanoid locomotion with reinforcement learning Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-04-17 Ilija Radosavovic, Tete Xiao, Bike Zhang, Trevor Darrell, Jitendra Malik, Koushil Sreenath
Humanoid robots that can autonomously operate in diverse environments have the potential to help address labor shortages in factories, assist elderly at home, and colonize new planets. Although classical controllers for humanoid robots have shown impressive results in a number of settings, they are challenging to generalize and adapt to new environments. Here, we present a fully learning-based approach
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Locomotion as manipulation with ReachBot Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-04-17 Tony G. Chen, Stephanie Newdick, Julia Di, Carlo Bosio, Nitin Ongole, Mathieu Lapôtre, Marco Pavone, Mark R. Cutkosky
Caves and lava tubes on the Moon and Mars are sites of geological and astrobiological interest but consist of terrain that is inaccessible with traditional robot locomotion. To support the exploration of these sites, we present ReachBot, a robot that uses extendable booms as appendages to manipulate itself with respect to irregular rock surfaces. The booms terminate in grippers equipped with microspines
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An agile monopedal hopping quadcopter with synergistic hybrid locomotion Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-04-10 Songnan Bai, Qiqi Pan, Runze Ding, Huaiyuan Jia, Zhengbao Yang, Pakpong Chirarattananon
Nature abounds with examples of superior mobility through the fusion of aerial and ground movement. Drawing inspiration from such multimodal locomotion, we introduce a high-performance hybrid hopping and flying robot. The proposed robot seamlessly integrates a nano quadcopter with a passive telescopic leg, overcoming limitations of previous jumping mechanisms that rely on stance phase leg actuation
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Learning agile soccer skills for a bipedal robot with deep reinforcement learning Sci. Robot. (IF 26.1) Pub Date : 2024-04-10 Tuomas Haarnoja, Ben Moran, Guy Lever, Sandy H. Huang, Dhruva Tirumala, Jan Humplik, Markus Wulfmeier, Saran Tunyasuvunakool, Noah Y. Siegel, Roland Hafner, Michael Bloesch, Kristian Hartikainen, Arunkumar Byravan, Leonard Hasenclever, Yuval Tassa, Fereshteh Sadeghi, Nathan Batchelor, Federico Casarini, Stefano Saliceti, Charles Game, Neil Sreendra, Kushal Patel, Marlon Gwira, Andrea Huber, Nicole
We investigated whether deep reinforcement learning (deep RL) is able to synthesize sophisticated and safe movement skills for a low-cost, miniature humanoid robot that can be composed into complex behavioral strategies. We used deep RL to train a humanoid robot to play a simplified one-versus-one soccer game. The resulting agent exhibits robust and dynamic movement skills, such as rapid fall recovery