Robotics

Leila Takayama imagines a world where human-friendly robots interact successfully with people. But it's not always easy teaching a 500-pound machine not to block the office coffee maker.

1 | May 20, 2013 3:00am | By Christina Hernandez Sherwood

The future of robotics looks promising. We talk with iRobot CTO Tom Wagner about what robots can really do, what they can't, and why humans are the key to an effective 'bot.

1 | February 24, 2011 4:59am | By Andrew Nusca

Brewing and serving coffee with a precision typically reserved for manufacturing might just be the answer to a wired, mobile, impatient, caffeine-hungry world. Austin-based Briggo is betting on it.

3 | June 3, 2013 3:00am | By Melanie D.G. Kaplan

Flying robots that play the James Bond theme song? Micro-robots powered by bacteria? A car that drives itself? They may sound like works of science-fiction, but Vijay Kumar of Penn's General...

3 | April 30, 2012 4:32am | By Molly Petrilla

In the same way that teams of people have to spend time getting to know each other, researchers at MIT believe that robots and humans have exactly the same issues.

1 | February 11, 2013 6:14am | By Charlie Osborne

Social roboticist Heather Knight believes we can neither be too optimistic nor too negative when we think about our future with robots.

4 | September 7, 2012 5:00am | By Christie Nicholson

With emergence of robots doing everything from driving cars to dispensing medicine, time to consider the legal implications, conference organizers say.

1 | December 11, 2011 4:00am | By Joe McKendrick

What animals are the source of inspiration for modern robotic development?

2 | March 6, 2012 3:05am | By Charlie Osborne

Pieter Abbeel discusses why he designed a robot to fold laundry.

4 | April 29, 2011 2:43pm | By Boonsri Dickinson

Advances in robot technology are leading factories and distributors to use one robot to replace five workers or more.

18 | August 22, 2012 3:00am | By Laura Shin

Land or sea is no problem to the Salamandra Robotica II.

March 20, 2013 5:19am | By Charlie Osborne

Could a new algorithm make it safe for humans and robots to work side by side?

June 12, 2012 3:05am | By Charlie Osborne

German researchers created a collision boundary for a robotic arm, so it would prevent the robot from slashing human flesh. As robots make their way into our homes and workplace, establishing...

8 | May 10, 2010 6:20am | By Boonsri Dickinson

Robots are helping perform surgeries in the operating room, catching the journalism bug and even working on late-night TV. Now, researchers are working to instill in robots the movement...

11 | June 8, 2010 3:30am | By Christina Hernandez

The rise of robots may come sooner than we think. It's important to start thinking about laws and consequences.

25 | August 24, 2011 7:42am | By Christie Nicholson

Highly social robots could be highly engaging, and even be persuasive to the point of helping people maintain healthy habits. There's a lot of potential for business applications as well.

5 | June 9, 2011 8:41am | By Joe McKendrick

SHANGHAI - China is set to become the world's biggest market for industrial robots next year, and robot manufacturers are rushing to meet growing Chinese demand.

2 | April 17, 2012 4:10am | By Tom Hancock

What if you could go to a store, pick out a design for a robot to help with chores - and have it built in a matter of hours?

April 4, 2012 5:12am | By Charlie Osborne

With the IkeaBot system, two orange robots can put together your Lack end table.

1 | May 7, 2013 10:00pm | By Janet Fang

"The Morning Briefing" is SmartPlanet's daily roundup of must-reads from the web. This morning we're reading about the robotics industry.

August 13, 2012 12:46am | By Charlie Osborne