In the future, soft robotic hands with advanced sensors could help diagnose and care for patients or act as more lifelike prostheses.
But one roadblock to encoding soft robotic hands with human-like sensing capabilities and dexterity has been the stretchability of pressure sensors. Although pressure sensors—needed for a robotic hand to grasp and pick up an object, or even take a pulse from a wrist—have been able to bend or stretch, their performance has been significantly affected by such movement.
Researchers at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) at the University of Chicago have found a way to address this issue and have designed a new pressure sensor that can be stretched up to 50 percent while maintaining almost the same sensing performance. It is also sensitive enough to sense the pressure of a small piece of paper, and it can respond to pressures almost instantaneously.
Fundamental Research On Ethical & Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence, For Health, Environment, And A Sustainable Future — Dr. Patrick van der Smagt, Ph.D., Director, ArtificiaI Intelligence Research, Volkswagen.
Dr. Patrick van der Smagt is Director of ArtificiaI Intelligence Research, Volkswagen AG, and Head of Argmax. AI (https://argmax.ai/), the Volkswagen Group Machine Learning Research Lab, in Munich, focusing on a range of research domains, including probabilistic deep learning for time series modelling, optimal control, reinforcement learning robotics, and quantum machine learning.
Dr. van der Smagt is also a research professor in the Computer Science faculty at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest.
Dr. van der Smagt previously directed a lab as professor for machine learning and biomimetic robotics at the Technical University of Munich while leading the machine learning group at the research institute fortiss, and before that, founded and headed the Assistive Robotics and Bionics Lab at DLR, the German Aerospace Center.
Besides publishing numerous papers and patents on machine learning, robotics, and motor control, Dr. van der Smagt has won a number of awards, including the 2013 Helmholtz-Association Erwin Schrödinger Award, the 2014 King-Sun Fu Memorial Award, the 2013 Harvard Medical School/MGH Martin Research Prize, the 2018 Webit Best Implementation of AI Award, and best-paper awards at various machine learning and robotics conferences and journals.
Since the early 2000s, private companies, governments, and research labs have been developing prosthesis that are a lot more advanced than previous designs. WIRED talked with Easton LaChapelle, founder and CEO of Unlimited Tomorrow, to understand how he designed, tested, and adopted his prosthetic arm.
The movie GENERATION IMPACT: THE INVENTOR, follows 25-year old innovator Easton LaChappelle, who developed the world’s lightest weight and most affordable bionic limb. GENERATION IMPACT: THE INVENTOR, can be viewed on HP.com’s digital hub, the Garage (http://hp.com/generation-impact) and YouTube.
A US$500 billion accelerator of human progress — mansoor hanif, executive director, emerging technologies, NEOM.
Mansoor Hanif is the Executive Director of Emerging Technologies at NEOM (https://www.neom.com/en-us), a fascinating $500 billion planned cognitive city” & tourist destination, located in north west Saudi Arabia, where he is responsible for all R&D activities for the Technology & Digital sector, including space technologies, advanced robotics, human-machine interfaces, sustainable infrastructure, digital master plans, digital experience platforms and mixed reality. He also leads NEOM’s collaborative research activities with local and global universities and research institutions, as well as manages the team developing world-leading Regulations for Communications and Connectivity.
Prior to this role, Mr Hanif served as Executive Director, Technology & Digital Infrastructure, where he oversaw the design and implementation of NEOM’s fixed, mobile, satellite and sub-sea networks.
An industry leader, Mr Hanif has over 25 years of experience in planning, building, optimizing and operating mobile networks around the world. He is patron of the Institute of Telecommunications Professionals (ITP), a member of the Steering Board of the UK5G Innovation Network, and on the Advisory Boards of the Satellite Applications Catapult and University College London (UCL) Electrical and Electronic Engineering Dept.
Prior to joining NEOM, Mr Hanif was Chief Technology Officer of Ofcom, the UK telecoms and media regulator, where he oversaw the security and resilience of the nation’s networks.
Even though it appears like something out of the Ironman films, the exoskeleton is finding a niche in everyday life, such as helping people lift heavy objects and supporting medical rehabilitation.
It is unclear if the technology will break out of specific use cases, as it is expensive and does not fit naturally into day-to-day life.
A technology company in China uses robotics and artificial intelligence to provide paraplegics with a feeling they may have forgotten: walking.
You are on the PRO Robots channel and today we present you a digest from the Gitex 2021 robot exhibition in Dubai. Hearing, understanding and thinking like humans robotic assistants, humanoid robots, robotic surgeons, cars of the future and other innovations, as well as the main trends in Hi-Tech industry from the exhibition of technology GITEX 2021 in Dubai. Watch the video to the end and write in the comments, which technology and development impressed you more than others?
0:00 In this video. 0:23 Alfred the humanoid robotic neurologist. 1:00 iLaser. 1:28 Exoskeleton from Human In Motion. 1:40 Alba robotic chair. 1:51 RobotoGym. 2:00 Robot assistants from Neura Robotics. 3:05 Alex, a humanoid robot. 3:20 Roboy humanoid robot. 3:38 Mission Critical 5-G 4:05 Unmanned flying car on the Etisalat platform. 4:23 Mercedes-Benz Vision Avtr. 5:24 Haptx Glove with 133 5:44 Robotic Hands. 6:01 Tactile robotic arms from Shadow Robotics. 6:15 Delivery robotics. 6:40 Robodogs. 6:50 Pepper robots. 7:09 New AutoML platform. 7:27 Intelligent retail solutions.
“With an encyclopaedic knowledge of transhumanism and a deep philosophical grounding, especially in Nietzschean thought, Stefan Sorgner tackles some of the most challenging ethical issues currently discussed, including gene editing, digital data collection, and life extension, with uncommon good sense and incisive conclusions. This study is one of the most detailed and comprehensive analyses available today. Highly recommended for anyone interested in transhumanist/posthumanist ideas and in these issues generally.” N. Katherine Hayles, University of California, Los Angeles.
“An eye-opening, wide-ranging and all-inclusive study of transhumanism. Sorgner’s account avoids both the utopian trap and the bogeyman spectre. He makes a compelling case for placing ourselves on the transhuman spectrum. How we continue to use technologies is in our hands. Sorgner’s book is both a comprehensive introduction to transhumanist thought and a clear-sighted vision for its future realisation.” Julian Savulescu, University of Oxford.
For people with motor impairments or physical disabilities, completing daily tasks and house chores can be incredibly challenging. Recent advancements in robotics, such as brain-controlled robotic limbs, have the potential to significantly improve their quality of life.
Researchers at Hebei University of Technology and other institutes in China have developed an innovative system for controlling robotic arms that is based on augmented reality (AR) and a brain-computer interface. This system, presented in a paper published in the Journal of Neural Engineering, could enable the development of bionic or prosthetic arms that are easier for users to control.
“In recent years, with the development of robotic arms, brain science and information decoding technology, brain-controlled robotic arms have attained increasing achievements,” Zhiguo Luo, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told TechXplore. “However, disadvantages like poor flexibility restrict their widespread application. We aim to promote the lightweight and practicality of brain-controlled robotic arms.”