IEEE Robotics & Automation Society Italian Chapter (I-RAS)

New research finds that for a budget of roughly $1000, it is possible for someone to track your location and app use by purchasing and targeting mobile ads. The team hopes to raise industry awareness about the potential privacy threat.

Engineers have developed a flexible sensor 'skin' that can be stretched over any part of a robot's body or prosthetic to accurately convey information about shear forces and vibration, which are critical to tasks ranging from cooking an egg to dismantling a bomb.

Depth sensors, such as those of the Microsoft Kinect, are very powerful, but unfortunately they do not work equally well on all materials, which leads to noisy data or even missing measurements.

How many robots does it take to screw in a light bulb? The answer: just one, assuming you're talking about a newly created robotic gripper. The engineering team has designed and built a gripper that can pick up and manipulate objects without needing to see them and needing to be trained.

Many manufacturing jobs require a physical presence to operate machinery. But what if such jobs could be done remotely? Researchers have now presented a virtual-reality (VR) system that lets you teleoperate a robot using an Oculus Rift headset.

Single unmanned autonomous vehicles (UAVs) directed by joysticks, radio controllers, and mobile phones are already accomplishing a variety of useful tasks, such as aerial photography and security patrols. But using multiple drones requires multiple human operators, and this presents a coordination problem.

A Case Western Reserve University researcher has turned the origami she enjoyed as a child into a patent-pending soft robot that may one day be used on an assembly line, in surgery or even outer space.

A Case Western Reserve University researcher has turned the origami she enjoyed as a child into a patent-pending soft robot that may one day be used on an assembly line, in surgery or even outer space.

Researchers have succeeded in developing a method for predicting molecular infrared spectra based on artificial intelligence. These chemical 'fingerprints' could only be simulated by common prediction techniques for small molecules in high quality. The team was able to carry out simulations that were previously not possible.

Robots perform many tasks that humans can't or don't want to perform, getting around on intricately designed wheels and limbs. If they tip over, however, they are rendered almost useless. Mechanical engineers and entomologists are looking to click beetles, who can right themselves without the use of their legs, to solve this robotics challenge.

Scientists have created the world's first 'molecular robot' that is capable of performing basic tasks including building other molecules.

A team of computer scientists is teaching artificial intelligence agents how to interact with the world in a way that makes sense.

Researchers have developed a 3-D-printable synthetic soft muscle that can lift 1,000 times its own weight. The muscle has intrinsic expansion ability and, unlike previous artificial muscles, it does not require an external compressor or high voltage equipment, signaling a breakthrough in the creation of soft robots that can move independently. The new material also has a strain density -- an ability to expand -- that is 15 times larger than natural muscle.

A team of researchers from the University of Houston has reported a breakthrough in stretchable electronics that can serve as an artificial skin, allowing a robotic hand to sense the difference between hot and cold, while also offering advantages for a wide range of biomedical devices.

As demand grows for more versatile, advanced robotics and other technologies, the need for components that can enable these applications also increases. Producing such components en masse has been a major challenge. But now, researchers report that they have developed a way to help meet this need by printing electronics that can fold themselves into a desired shape.

Researchers have developed self-reconfiguring modular robots that can merge, split and even self-heal while retaining full sensorimotor control. The work may take us closer to producing robots that can autonomously change their size, shape and function.

Computer algorithms developed by engineering researchers can accurately determine when drivers are texting or engaged in other distracting activities.

Mobile phone use during pregnancy is unlikely to have any adverse effects on child neurodevelopment, according to new research. These findings provide further evidence that exposure to radio frequency electromagnetic fields associated with maternal use of mobile phones during pregnancy is not linked to neurodevelopment in children.

Computer scientists have developed an Alexa-like system that allows robots to understand a wide range of commands that require contextual knowledge about objects and their environments. They've dubbed the system 'ComText,' for 'commands in context.'

Scientists have successfully taught robots to perform a challenging brain technique only previously mastered by a handful of humans.