Reading Modes
Papers & Evaluations with links to supporting source material.
109 selected reportsLast 30 days 92 recordsAll coverage 788 records
Engineers at MIT and EPFL have developed a flapping-wing robot, or FAAV, that can swim underwater and then flap into the air, mimicking the movement of diving birds. The robot, weighing less than 300 grams, can transition between water and air using optimized wing size, flapping frequency, and tail angle. The study, published in Science, could enable new aerial-aquatic drones for oceanographic research and environmental monitoring.
MIT researchers have developed FloatForm, a system of small robotic boats that can autonomously assemble into floating structures, disassemble, and reconfigure. Inspired by ant rafts, the system uses decentralized control and modular components to create dynamic, programmable water-based infrastructure. The work has potential applications in urban planning, emergency response, and adaptive public spaces.
NASA's AstroPix gamma-ray sensor technology will be tested on a robotic arm demonstration mission as part of the Fly Foundational Robots mission, set to launch in late 2027. The sensors are designed to measure gamma rays between 20,000 and 700,000 electron volts, addressing gaps in current detection capabilities for high-energy gamma rays. The mission also includes a robotic servicing demonstration and will host the AstroPix payload in an Orbital Replacement Unit.
Clearpath Robotics highlights research presented at ICRA 2026, showcasing how their robots are used in autonomous navigation, human-robot interaction, and agricultural applications. The papers demonstrate methods for far-field image-based mapping, social preference learning for crowd navigation, and shared control for UGVs in orchards.
Sanctuary AI has demonstrated zero-shot in-hand manipulation using their proprietary hydraulic hand, autonomously reorienting a lettered cube ten times without dropping it. This showcases successful simulation-to-reality transfer, overcoming challenges in simulating dexterous hands and highlighting the company's advanced robotic hardware and policy training capabilities.
NASA showcased its robotic technologies and future space exploration vision at the 2025 FIRST Robotics World Championship, engaging over 55,000 students and 75,000 parents and mentors. The event featured interactive exhibits, including lunar rovers, robotic arms, and the Mars Perseverance Rover, with NASA centers highlighting innovations like automated assembly systems and surface manipulation technologies.
Sanctuary AI has demonstrated advanced manipulation skills using reinforcement learning to train dexterous policies for their high-performance hydraulic hands. The system successfully reorients objects in the real world under gravity and with added weight, showcasing the effectiveness of their approach. This represents the first successful transfer of such policies to five-fingered hands, highlighting the company's proprietary technology and hardware capabilities.
Sanctuary AI has demonstrated industry-leading sim-to-real transfer of dexterous manipulation policies using their high-degree-of-freedom hydraulic hands. The company leverages NVIDIA Isaac Lab, an open-source framework for robot learning, to simulate dexterity-focused training environments. This approach enables efficient training of autonomous robots, with the ability to train thousands of hands simultaneously and accelerate the learning process through online reinforcement learning.
NIST and IEEE have developed a standard for robotics ontologies, designed to improve robot programming, communication, and task execution. The standard, known as IEEE P1872, provides a formal framework for representing robot knowledge and enables efficient information exchange. It is a foundational step toward creating a shared understanding among robots and humans.
Article dates follow your selected timezone. Briefing editions use Hong Kong time (UTC+8).