Latest robotics publications

Site selection decisions that are currently in the proof-of-concept phase include underwater, like the Microsoft undersea data centre off the coast of Scotland; and underground, like the repurposed mine in Norway and the Oracle data centre in Israel.

Bots – those little bits of code that complete digital tasks automatically – are everywhere, enabling everything from robotic process automation (RPA) to online spam. Robots – the mechanical task-completing, labour-saving automated workers – are being tested in both business and personal applications.

As part of a recent entry to Science Robotics, experts argued that “Covid-19 could be a catalyst for developing robotic systems that can be rapidly deployed with remote access […] to front lines”. It is often in times of great strife that innovation truly comes to the fore – the progress made across both public and private sectors in recent weeks is a tribute to just that, encompassing everything from advanced data analytics to the production of ventilators by the likes of McLaren, Mercedes and other F1 teams. 

Robotics is no different. Robots are currently handling room service in isolation centres, patrolling the streets to help countries achieve social distancing policies, and helping to entertain the elderly. There are even robots whose purpose aligns perfectly with the specificities of this particular pandemic. UVD Robots, a company founded in 2016 by BlueOcean Robotics, produces a mobile bot with powerful UV lights built into the hardware. The robot can kill 99.99 per cent of all pathogens in the air using those light waves, a feature which will be most welcome in hospitals around the world currently.

We need to stop defining ourselves by what we do We tend to think about work in terms of “jobs”. You are a programmer, a doctor, a consultant, or a lawyer. When we introduce ourselves, convention dictates we talk about our jobs rather than who we are. The shorthand of our titles allows us to… Read More

A two-legged robot which can maintain its balance while running and jumping has been hailed as a breakthrough in robotic engineering by researchers, who say it could one day be deployed in disaster rescue teams.