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

Filtering information for search engines, acting as an opponent during a board game or recognizing images: Artificial intelligence has far outpaced human intelligence in certain tasks. Researchers are showing how ideas from computer science could revolutionize brain research. They illustrate how a self-learning algorithm decodes human brain signals that were measured by an electroencephalogram (EEG).

In what could be a small step for science potentially leading to a breakthrough, an engineer has taken steps toward using nanocrystal networks for artificial intelligence applications.

Can you really use Outlook to make sure your office floor gets vacuumed? Absolutely! Engineers are developing an intelligent cleaning concept for smart offices. A robot vacuum cleaner automatically takes care of upcoming cleaning jobs that have been scheduled in Outlook.

Researchers have devised a method enabling computers to mine databases of patents, inventions and research papers, identifying ideas that can be repurposed to solve new problems or create new products.

Today, the desired book, toy or household appliance can be purchased by a click only -- thanks to online mail order business and smart logistics. The bottleneck in logistics, however, is the high-bay store, where many picking and detection processes cannot yet be executed automatically by robots. At the Amazon Robotics Challenge in Nagoya, Japan, a team has demonstrated how future warehousing may work.

Today's 3-D printers have a resolution of 600 dots per inch, which means that they could pack a billion tiny cubes of different materials into a volume that measures just 1.67 cubic inches. Such precise control of printed objects' microstructure gives designers commensurate control of the objects' physical properties. But evaluating the physical effects of every possible combination of even just two materials, for an object consisting of tens of billions of cubes, would be prohibitively time consuming. A new software lets designers exploit this issue of extremely high resolution.

Researchers have examined how people react to robots that exhibit faulty behavior compared to perfectly performing robots. The results show that the participants took a significantly stronger liking to the faulty robot than the robot that interacted flawlessly.

Who is the better experimentalist, a human or a robot? When it comes to exploring synthetic and crystallization conditions for inorganic gigantic molecules, actively learning machines are clearly ahead, as recently demonstrated.

Computer science researchers have developed a tool for use with the game Skyrim that can be used to create nonplayer characters that allow for more variability and flexibility in game play. The tool, called CIF-CK, is an artificial intelligence architecture program that uses social behavior models to make individual NPCs more reactive and adaptable to player behavior.

Researchers have developed a hybrid rigid-soft robotic arm for endoscopes with integrated sensing, flexibility, and multiple degrees of freedom. This arm -- built using a manufacturing paradigm based on pop-up fabrication and soft lithography -- lies flat on an endoscope until it arrives at the desired spot, then pops up to assist in surgical procedures.

Engineers have been developing new technologies to enable robots and humans to move faster and jump higher. Soft, elastic materials store energy in these devices, which, if released carefully, enable elegant dynamic motions. A pair of new computational methods takes first steps towards automating the design of the dynamic mechanisms behind these movements.

3.6 out of 1,000 children in the US are diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Their symptoms can include abnormal gait patterns such as crouch gait, characterized by excessive flexion of the hips, knees, or ankles. A pilot study demonstrates a robotic training method that improves posture and walking in children with crouch gait by enhancing their muscle strength and coordination.

'Using a robotic arm to immerse an object on an axis at various angles, and measuring the volume displacement of each dip, we combine each sequence and create a volumetric shape representation of an object,' says an expert.

InstantCAD, a tool that lets designers interactively edit, improve, and optimize CAD models using a more streamlined and intuitive workflow, has now been created by researchers, allowing manufacturers to simulate, optimize CAD designs in real-time.

New and improved rescue robots tough enough to function in extreme and hostile environments were unveiled recently at a demonstration at Tohoku University, Japan.

Among the many factors that impact digital marketing and online advertising strategy, a new study provides insight to a growing trend among firms and big brands: weather-based advertising. According to the study, certain weather conditions are more amenable for consumer responses to mobile marketing efforts, while the tone of your ad content can either help or hurt such response depending on the current local weather.

A newly developed vine-like robot can grow across long distances without moving its whole body. It could prove useful in search and rescue operations and medical applications.

An algorithm that adjusts how a mobile harness, suspended from the ceiling, assists patients suffering from spinal cord injury or stroke has been developed by researchers. In a clinical study with over 30 patients, the scientists showed that the patients wearing the smart walking assist immediately improved their locomotor abilities, enabling them to perform activities of daily living that would not be possible without the support.

Folding robots based on origami have emerged as an exciting new frontier of robotic design, but generally require onboard batteries or a wired connection to a power source, limiting their functionality. Scientist have now created battery-free folding robots that are capable of complex, repeatable movements powered and controlled through a wireless magnetic field.

Scientists have developed an algorithm for a robot-assistive rehabilitation approach that helps people learn to walk again after neurological injuries.