The DARPA SubT Challenge: A Robot Triathlon

One of the biggest urban legends growing up in New York City were rumors about alligators living in the sewers. This myth even inspired a popular children’s book called “The Great Escape: Or, The Sewer Story,” with illustrations of reptiles crawling out of apartment toilets. To this day, city dwellers anxiously look at manholes wondering … Read more

Disaster Recovery Robots Working Overtime

Since Labor Day, North America has been hit with an unprecedented wave of natural disasters, from forest fires still raging in California to multiple catastrophic hurricanes in the Atlantic to an earthquake shattering one of the world’s most populated cities. If there is one silver lining from these events, it has been the wide deployment … Read more

Snake Robots Slither Into Our Hearts, Literally

The biblical narrative of the Garden of Eden describes how the snake became the most cursed of all beasts: “you shall walk on your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.” The reptile’s eternal punishment is no longer feared, but embraced for its versatility and flexibility. The snake is fast … Read more

The Uncanny Valley Of Human-Robot Interactions

The device named “Spark” flew high above the man on stage with his hands waving in the direction of the flying object. In a demonstration of DJI’s newest drone, the audience marveled at the the Coke can-sized device’s most compelling feature – gesture controls. Instead of a traditional remote control, this flying selfie machine follows hand movements across … Read more