Scienceblogtwo

In a proof-of-concept study, University of Pennsylvania researchers showed that dental plaque and germs that cause tooth decay could be successfully treated and removed by a hands-free device. In the future, a shape-changing robotic microswarm could replace the need for separate toothbrushes, rinses, and dental floss. The technology, developed by a multidisciplinary team at the University of Pennsylvania, may offer a fresh, automated way to do the daily tasks of brushing and flossing, which are tedious but crucial. This technique could be very beneficial for persons who lack the physical dexterity to effectively clean their teeth on their own. Iron oxide nanoparticles with catalytic and magnetic characteristics make up these tiny robots. Using a magnetic field, scientists were able to manipulate their motion and design, producing either elongated threads that can slide between teeth like floss or bristle-like structures that remove dental plaque off the vast surfaces of teeth. In both ...

A robot developed by Columbia Engineers learns more about itself than about its surroundings. As every athlete or fashion-conscious person knows, our impression of our bodies is not always accurate or practical, but it plays an important role in how we behave in society. While you play ball or get ready, your brain is continuously planning for movement so that you can move your body without bumping, tripping, or falling. Infant humans create their own bodily models, and robots are now beginning to do the same. Today, a team at Columbia Engineering announced the creation of a robot that, for the first time, can learn a model of its entire body from scratch without the assistance of a human. In a recent work published in Science Robotics, the researchers describe how their robot constructed a kinematic model of itself and how it used that model to plan motions, achieve goals, and avoid obstacles in a variety of circumstances. Even physical damage was automatically found and repaired. A r...

Lightning bugs use their luminosity for communication in order to attract a partner, fend off predators, or lure prey, lighting up dark backyards on warm summer evenings. Researchers at MIT were similarly inspired by these shimmering fireflies. They created electroluminescent soft artificial muscles for flying, insect-scale robots, taking inspiration from nature. When the robots fly, the tiny artificial muscles that drive their wings generate a colored light. The robots may be able to converse with one another because to this electroluminescence. For instance, a robot that finds survivors while on a search-and-rescue mission within a fallen building could use lights to alert others and request assistance. These paper-clip-sized microscale robots are now one step closer to flying on their own outside of the lab thanks to their capacity to generate light. Since these robots are too light to carry sensors, researchers must track them using large infrared cameras that are ineffective in th...

Individual agents, such as robots or drones, can cooperate and finish a task when communication channels are open. What happens, though, if their technology is insufficient or the signals are jammed, making communication impossible? Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign began with this more challenging task. They created a technique using multi-agent reinforcement learning, a form of artificial intelligence, to teach many agents to cooperate. Huy Tran, an aeronautical engineer at Illinois, noted that it is simpler when agents can communicate with one another. "But we wanted to achieve this in a decentralized manner, so that they don't communicate with one another. We also concentrated on circumstances in which it is unclear what the various duties or responsibilities of the agents should be." Because it's unclear what one agent should do in contrast to another agent, Tran claimed that this scenario is far more complicated and a harder difficu...

Shikhar Bahl opened the refrigerator door while the robot observed. It observed his actions, the way the door swung open, the position of the refrigerator, and other details before evaluating the information and getting ready to imitate what Bahl had done. It first failed, occasionally entirely missing the handle, gripping it at the wrong place, or dragging it in the wrong direction. However, after some practice, the robot was successful in opening the door. "Imitation is a terrific approach to learn," said Bahl, a Ph.D. candidate at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute (RI). Although it's still a challenge, this effort significantly advances the possibility of allowing robots to learn by directly observing people. In-the-Wild Human Imitating Robot Learning, or WHIRL for short, is a novel technique that Bahl created with Deepak Pathak and Abhinav Gupta, both professors at the RI. The one-shot visual imitation algorithm WHIRL is effective. Robots are ideally...