Research
A humanoid robot gets a fast touch reflex that softens unexpected impacts
China: researchers report a reflex layer on a Unitree G1 humanoid that reacts to harmful contact faster than its learned control policy.
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Research · 4 Nov
A research team tests plain-language mission orders for fleets of underwater robots in simulation
A language model reads the operator's instructions, an optimiser assigns tasks, and each vehicle carries on if another fails. Tested in simulation only.
Research · 4 Nov
Humanoid robot plans operating-room tasks using a wall camera, in simulation
United States: Johns Hopkins researchers combine a room camera with a humanoid's own camera so a language-model agent can plan tasks; results are mostly from simulation.
Research · 3 Nov
WayTrace: a robot followed web-map walking directions in four real missions, with two operator command changes on the longest
Research: a language model reads the route and an onboard model draws the path; the 1.37 km mission needed two operator command changes.
Research · 3 Nov
A routing fix reduces task interference in one robot policy: 68.4% success in simulation, 43% on real two-armed tasks
The comparison is the authors' own; the paper is accepted for publication in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters.
Research · 3 Nov
Spanish Army specialists say legal and bureaucratic procedures are slowing its shift to FPV drones
Spain: ten army specialists told a University of Granada researcher that legal and bureaucratic procedures, more than technology, are slowing the shift to FPV attack drones.
Research · 3 Nov
A Purdue professor shows a drone that follows a runner through forest without GPS or a map
United States: the onboard system predicts where a person will go when trees block the view; the source is a 44-second demonstration video.
Research · 3 Nov
Relay robot chains keep a line-of-sight link to an operator, with a connectivity guarantee tested in simulation
Research: the control method guarantees the link stays connected, and was tested only in simulation.
Research · 3 Nov
A humanoid planner that scores candidate moves before acting beat GR00T N1.7 on seven real-robot tasks
On a real G1 humanoid it reached 85.7% success against the baseline's 70.0%; with unseen object layouts the gap was 65.7% to 48.6%.
Research · 3 Nov
Formal safety checking for robots, fast enough for the control loop: 112 Hz on a GPU, 66 Hz on an embedded board
Hamilton-Jacobi reachability, a formal method normally computed offline, runs online in these benchmarks; no physical robot has flown with it yet.
Research · 3 Nov
ETH Zurich's FlexiQuad drone flexes on impact and keeps flying
Switzerland: ETH Zurich researchers built a ring-shaped drone frame that deforms in collisions but stays stiff vertically for flight.
Research · 3 Nov
Indonesia plans a drone cloud-seeding test with salt particles in Kalimantan on 5 November
Indonesia: the research agency head says the trial is to help prevent forest fires, and hopes it will prove effective.
Research · 3 Nov
Robots learned manipulation from ordinary human videos, with 82% success on 12 real tasks
The method beat the UniVLA baseline's 70.4% on an Astribot S1 arm and scored 91.3% on the LIBERO simulation benchmark.
Research · 30 Oct
Rendezvous Robotics funds a self-assembling satellite test
A $20 million round backs tiles intended to assemble and reconfigure in orbit.
Research · 29 Oct
A robot wiggles a rope before moving it
Carnegie Mellon uses a brief motion to estimate how a flexible object will behave.
Research · 27 Oct
NTSB calls for national safety rules for uncrewed boats after a Lake Erie collision
United States: investigators found a NOAA research drone boat was hard to see and inadequately monitored when it collided with a recreational boat in 2024.
Research · 27 Oct
Spot moves a heavy tire outside the lab
Spot moves a 15 kg tire using its own cameras and onboard computing.
Research · 26 Oct
Saildrone begins a five-year Southern Ocean mission
Southern Ocean: The first of four Saildrone Explorer uncrewed sailing vessels left Hobart, Tasmania, on 19 September to start a five-year project led by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Columbia
Research · 22 Oct
Modular robots assemble a second body
Columbia researchers demonstrate hardware budding with magnetic modules under human control.
Research · 17 Oct
A quadruped solves a giant cube with its feet
ETH researchers report three autonomous hardware solves, each taking eight to nine minutes.
Research · 16 Oct
EmArm balances a basketball by touch
HKUST demonstrates a robotic arm that uses tactile feedback to adjust its posture and respond to contact.
Research · 13 Oct
BeetleBot carries objects under finger control
A soft robot combines artificial muscles, an onboard camera and contact sensing in a physical demonstration.
Research · 7 Oct
A small robot hops on land and paddles through water
A physical prototype uses snapping elastic rods to turn small motor movements into jumps.
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Tsinghua UniversityResearch organizationUnitree G1ProductUnitree RoboticsOrganizationGalbotOrganizationJohns Hopkins UniversityResearch organizationPeking UniversityResearch organizationUniversity of PisaResearch organizationETH ZurichResearch organizationUniversity of California, BerkeleyResearch organizationAstribotOrganizationAstribot S1ProductBeijing Institute of TechnologyResearch organizationDumakronProductFederal University of Minas GeraisResearch organization