Seven tech highlights from CES 2021
Coronavirus pushed Las Vegas' annual Consumer Electronics Show online, but there was still plenty to see. Here are seven highlights, including heated sex toys, an AI pet robot and a toilet with its own app. More
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Foster + Partners adopts Spot the Boston Dynamics robot dog
Architecture firm Foster + Partners has employed a robot dog named Spot, designed by Boston Dynamics, to oversee construction at Battersea Power Station in London. More
Moxie is a smart robot companion that teaches children life lessons
Technology company Embodied has developed a robot companion for children that uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to process and respond to natural conversation and facial expressions. More
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Elon Musk unveils updated Neuralink brain implant design and surgical robot
Elon Musk's neuroscience startup Neuralink has revealed the "dramatically simplified" design for an implant that aims to create brain-to-machine interfaces, alongside the robot that inserts it and several pigs that have the device installed. More
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Scientists make first living robots from frog cells
A team of scientists at Tufts University in the US have created xenobots, tiny robots made from frog skin and heart cells that can walk, work together and heal themselves. More
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Eight cute and kitschy robots from CES 2020
Smart-home technology and innovative cars were overshadowed at CES by tiny robots designed to be human companions. We've rounded up eight of the kitschiest offerings at this year's event. More
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Ballie the rolling robot is Samsung's near-future vision of personal care
Samsung introduced its vision of robots as "life companions" at this year's Consumer Electronics Show – a tiny, ball-shaped AI device that rolls around the house and responds to commands like a pet dog. More
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V&A Dundee curator selects five designs that map the evolution of robotics
An exhibition at the V&A Dundee explores the evolving relationship between humans and robots. From 1920s sci-fi films to brain-controlled exoskeletons, curator Kirsty Hassard picks five highlights. More
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Rael San Fratello 3D prints earth structures to demonstrate potential of mud architecture
To explore the possibilities of mud architecture, Rael San Fratello has created 3D-printed prototypes that take cues from historical earthen construction built along the Rio Grande river. More
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Danish designers propose using roaming 3D-printing robots to repair environments
Buildings and coastlines could be monitored by fleets of autonomous repair robots, according to a Danish initiative that advocates "freeing" 3D printers to fix global problems. More
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RoundAround dynamic "bridge" is made of autonomous boats
Carlo Ratti and his team at MIT's Senseable City Lab have come up with a "bridge" made of continuously circling autonomous boats for a tricky patch of Amsterdam's waterway. More
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Olafur Eliasson and Carlo Ratti collaborate on robot that charts the sun
Artist Olafur Eliasson and architect Carlo Ratti have collaborated on a celestial mapping robot that brings together their hit design brands Little Sun and Scribit. More
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Movie shows soft robotic muscles that are three times stronger than humans'
Our latest captioned movie shows how researchers at Columbia Engineering have developed 3D-printed synthetic soft muscles for robots that are three times stronger than human muscle. More
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AI robot Ai-Da presents her original artworks in University of Oxford exhibition
An exhibition of paintings, drawings and sculpture made by Ai-Da, a humanoid robot with artificial intelligence, has been unveiled at a gallery in the UK. More
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Sony explores robot-human relationships with Affinity in Autonomy exhibition
Sony has staged an artificial intelligence-themed exhibition, featuring a field of white spheres that move as if they have their own personalities. More
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CounterBug is a digital self-defence device that eases cyber paranoia
Glasgow School of Art graduate Erlend Prendergast has designed a modular robotic device that talks back to Amazon's virtual assistant Alexa in order to protect users from digital surveillance. More
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Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to deploy robots
Robots made by Japanese automaker Toyota will be deployed across the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic sites to provide assistance to workers and attendees at the Games next year. More
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Watch MIT's modular Mini Cheetah robot land a backflip
Our new captioned movie shows MIT's "virtually indestructible" Mini Cheetah robot performing a host of athletic manoeuvres, including stretching, running and jumping. More
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Tech companies' development of AI is "unethical" says Robot Love curator
AI development should not be left in the hands of mega-companies like Facebook and Google, warns Ine Gevers, curator of an exhibition in Eindhoven that examined the importance of emotion in the relationship between humans and robots. More
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Robot hand with sense of touch lets humans feel delicate objects remotely
Tasks like bomb disposal, space exploration and construction could be made safer for humans using this dextrous robot hand, which can transmit feeling of touch. More
