What killer robots mean for the future of war
You might have heard of killer robots, slaughterbots or terminators – officially called lethal autonomous weapons (LAWs) – from films and books. And the idea of super-intelligent weapons running rampant is still science fiction. But as AI weapons become increasingly sophisticated, public concern is growing over fears about...
Could Artemis be the last mission for NASAs astronauts?
Neil Armstrong took his historic “one small step” on the Moon in 1969. And just three years later, the last Apollo astronauts left our celestial neighbour. Since then, hundreds of astronauts have been launched into space but mainly to the Earth-orbiting International Space Station. None has, in fact,...
Nasa considers sending swimming robots to habitable ‘ocean worlds’ of the Solar System
Nasa has recently announced US$600,000 (£495,000) in funding for a study into the feasibility of sending swarms of miniature swimming robots (known as independent micro-swimmers) to explore oceans beneath the icy shells of our Solar System’s many “ocean worlds”. But don’t imagine metal humanoids swimming frog-like underwater. They...
Meet LEONARDO – a bipedal robot who can ride a skateboard and walk a tightrope
Engineers at Caltech have developed a bipedal walking robot that can fly, tightrope, and skateboard. LEONARDO (LEgs ONboARD drOne, or LEO for short) works by combining two different locomotion mechanisms. The robot can achieves complex manoeuvres that require delicate balancing, such as walking on a slackline and...
VW reveal working prototype of autonomous robotic charging point
Volkswagen has revealed its' working prototype for a robot which can autonomously charge your electric cars. The German carmaker has named the RD-D2-Esque charging droid a 'Mobile Charging Robot'. The idea is simple - rather than having multiple stations where every car has to park; you can...
Meet the USAF robot dogs
The United States Air Force has revealed its first generation of semi-autonomous quadrupedal unmanned ground vehicles (Q-UGV) ... aka robot dogs! The US will be the first nation to put these robot dogs into operational use however, despite looking like something out of a terminator fever dream, they...