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

A research team has developed a multimodal ion-electronic skin that distinguishes temperature from mechanical stimuli. This skin can detect various movements and is applicable in fields including humanoid skin and temperature sensors.

Researchers have developed artificial intelligence (AI) models that help them better understand the brain computations that underlie thoughts.

When the words 'artificial intelligence' (AI) come to mind, your first thoughts may be of super-smart computers, or robots that perform tasks without needing any help from humans. Now, a multi-institutional team has accomplished something not too far off: They developed an AI algorithm called CAMEO that discovered a potentially useful new material without requiring additional training from scientists.

Machine learning has delivered amazing results, but there also have been failures, ranging from the harmless to potentially deadly. New work suggests that common assumptions about the cause behind these supposed malfunctions may be mistaken, information that is crucial for evaluating the reliability of these networks.

Researchers have designed a system that lets robots autonomously learn complicated tasks from a very small number of demonstrations -- even imperfect ones. While current state-of-art methods need at least 100 demonstrations to nail a specific task, this new method allows robots to learn from only a handful of demonstrations.

Researchers have used machine learning, a type of artificial intelligence, to develop a prediction model for the early diagnosis of opioid use disorder.

Researchers have developed a way for deep learning neural networks to rapidly estimate confidence levels in their output. The advance could enhance safety and efficiency in AI-assisted decision making, with applications ranging from medical diagnosis to autonomous driving.

An easy way to make millirobots by coating objects with a glue-like magnetic spray has been developed. Driven by the magnetic field, the coated objects can crawl, walk, or roll on different surfaces. As the magnetic coating is biocompatible and can be disintegrated into powders when needed, this technology demonstrates the potential for biomedical applications, including catheter navigation and drug delivery.

Curved origami structures provide tunable flexibility to robots.

Researchers have created new artificial intelligence software that gives robots the speed and skill to grasp and smoothly move objects, making it feasible for them to soon assist humans in warehouse environments.

Researchers have created tiny building blocks that exhibit unique mechanical properties, such as the ability to produce a twisting motion when squeezed. These subunits could potentially be assembled by robots into a nearly limitless variety of objects with built-in functionality, including vehicles, large industrial parts, or specialized robots that can be repeatedly reassembled in different forms.

Scientists have devised a system that combines robotics and artificial intelligence to fully automate the routine aspects of synthesizing, testing, and optimizing new materials according to fabrication conditions. Their approach can produce and test compounds ten times faster than scientists doing manual work, allowing for the rapid creation of huge shared databases. In turn, the autonomous system and database will be used to discover exotic material properties and new laws of physics.

Natural language processing (NLP) has taken great strides recently -- but how much does AI understand of what it reads? Less than we thought, it seems. Despite advances, AI still doesn't have the common sense needed to generate plausible sentences.

New tech combines the core software needed to drive AI with image-capturing hardware - in one electronic chip. The light-driven prototype device imitates the way the human brain processes visual information. It's a significant advance towards the ultimate in electronics: a brain-on-a-chip that can learn from its environment just like humans do.

A team of researchers demonstrated that popular robotic household vacuum cleaners can be remotely hacked to act as microphones.

As engineers increasingly turn to machine learning methods to develop adaptable robots, new work makes progress on safety and performance guarantees for robots operating in novel environments with diverse types of obstacles and constraints.

Researchers, armed with artificial intelligence tools, can rate a movie's content in a matter of seconds, based on the movie script and before a single scene is shot.

Cornell University researchers have created a fiber-optic sensor that combines low-cost LEDs and dyes, resulting in a stretchable ''skin'' that detects deformations such as pressure, bending and strain. This sensor could give soft robotic systems - and anyone using augmented reality technology - the ability to feel the same rich, tactile sensations that mammals depend on to navigate the natural world.

Two challenges in the field of artificial intelligence have been solved by adopting a physical concept introduced a century ago to describe the formation of a magnet during a process of iron bulk cooling. Using a careful optimization procedure and exhaustive simulations, researchers have demonstrated the usefulness of the physical concept of power-law scaling to deep learning. This central concept in physics has also been found to be applicable in AI, and especially deep learning.

If the smart textiles of the future are going to survive all that we throw at them, their components are going to need to be resilient. Now, researchers have developed an ultra-sensitive, seriously resilient strain sensor that can be embedded in textiles and soft robotic systems. It could be used in everything from virtual reality simulations and sportswear to clinical diagnostics for neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's Disease.