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Magazine
In the April 14 SN: Killer heat, mass insect migrations, the latest Saturn updates, rethinking the Nobel Prize, tectonics on Venus, the science of mass shootings, ancient tool trends and more.
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News in Brief
A new soft bot mimics octopuses and inchworms to climb walls
04/09/2018 - 12:35 Robotics, TechnologyPHOENIX — Soft robots really get around. Some jump, others swim or crawl on the ground (SN Online: 12/13/16). Now, one can even scale walls.
Inspired by an octopus’s suckers, researchers have constructed an inchwormlike robot that uses a pair of suction cups to scoot around vertical surfaces. The bot can clamber across rough and smooth terrain, aboveground and underwater, carrying up to...
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News
Earwigs take origami to extremes to fold their wings
03/22/2018 - 14:10 Biophysics, Animals, Materials, RoboticsTo quickly unfurl and refold their wings, earwigs stretch the rules of origami.
Yes, those garden pests that scurry out from under overturned flowerpots can also fly. Because earwigs spend most of their time underground and only occasionally take to the air, they pack their wings into packages with a surface area more than 10 times smaller than when unfurled, using an origami-like series...
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News in Brief
Boy robot passes agility tests
12/21/2017 - 16:13 Robotics, TechnologyView the video
Robots are on their way to passing gym class.
The design of a new life-size bot named Kengoro closely resembles the anatomy of a teenage boy in body proportion, skeletal and muscular structure, and joint flexibility, researchers report online December 20 in Science Robotics. Compared with previous humanoid robots with more rigid, bulky bodies, Kengoro’s anatomically...
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Letters to the Editor
Readers inspired by SN 10 scientists’ research
Wanting more11/15/2017 - 13:17 Science & Society, Robotics, PsychologyFor the third year in a row, Science News profiled 10 early- and mid-career innovators who are transforming their fields in “The SN 10: Scientists to watch” (SN: 10/14/17, p. 16).
The profiles left some readers inspired, intrigued and wanting to know more about these scientists’ research.
“Really enjoying these portraits, thanks, SN!” online reader Maia commented...
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News in Brief
This is the lightest robot that can fly, swim and take off from water
10/25/2017 - 16:05 Robotics, Technology, PhysicsView the video
A new insect-inspired tiny robot that can move between air and water is a lightweight.
Weighing the same as about six grains of rice, it is the lightest robot that can fly, swim and launch itself from water, an international team of researchers reports October 25 in Science Robotics. The bot is about 1,000 times lighter than other previously developed aerial-aquatic...
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News
Robotic docs can boost surgery time and cost
10/24/2017 - 11:01 Health, Robotics, TechnologyWhen it comes to some operations, surgical robots may not be worth the extra time or money.
Researchers compared patients who underwent traditional laparoscopy to have a kidney removed — surgery involving several small incisions rather than one large cut — with patients who received robot-assisted laparoscopies. Although the two groups had similar complication rates and hospital stay...
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Teaser
The rise of respectful robots
10/06/2017 - 07:00 Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, TechnologyView the video
A new robot has the mobility of R2-D2 and the manners of C-3PO.
This knee-high, self-driving bot abides by social protocols as it weaves through foot traffic: keep right, pass left, respect others’ personal space. The machine, presented at the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems in Vancouver on September 25, paves the way for robots...
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News
Origami outfits help these bots change tasks swiftly
09/27/2017 - 14:00 Robotics, TechnologyView the video
Robots are taking “dress for success” to a whole other level.
A new type of shape-shifting robot can undergo complete metamorphosis in a matter of minutes. The bot is composed of a simple metal cube that wraps itself in various high-tech origami sheets that fold into wings, wheels and other appendages for getting around. By donning and doffing different origami...
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News in Brief
In these bot hookups, the machines meld their minds
09/12/2017 - 11:00 Robotics, TechnologyView the video
Meet the first fleet of hive-minded robots.
These robots can latch onto one another and link up their individual “nervous systems” — the network of connections between their computer processors, cameras, wheels and other gadgetry — to create a single-minded machine. The composite robots, reported online September 12 in Nature Communications, pave the way for a new...
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News in Brief
Robot, heal thyself
08/16/2017 - 14:09 Robotics, MaterialsA new type of soft robot can go under the knife and make a full recovery in about a day.
Researchers fashioned a robotic hand, gripper and muscle from self-healing rubbery material. To test their robots’ resilience, the engineers sliced each with a scalpel, then put them in an oven. After cranking up the heat to 80° Celsius, baking the bots for 40 minutes, then cooling them to room...