If smartwatches are going to create a gadget future beyond smartphones, they’ll have to up their game. Researchers from Carnegie Mellon may have just the thing with a new smartwatch interface that uses that fleshy bezel right next to the typically tiny displays: your arm.
DARPA is working on the next-generation of fighting vehicle. And instead of making them safer through extra armor, they’re betting that speed and agility are the future of ground war.
While I talked with the legendary roboticist Red Whittaker in his lab at Carnegie Mellon, a half-moon shaped remnant of a Lifesaver was resting on his knee. He nibbled on it as we talked about sending autonomous robots to explore the Moon. That’s when he told me about the Moon caves that could be humanity’s future…
Though it may look like a spider, the legs of this hexapod are actually made from the same technology that allows for sidewinding robotic snakes. The result is a rather creepy, but surprisingly strong and resilient, "snake monster."
The star of the new Disney-Marvel movie Big Hero 6 is a poofy robot named Baymax who can assess your health with a laser-enabled two-second full-body scan. He also might soon be a reality. Baymax and other robots in the film were inspired by eight actual robots, some of which were designed and built in labs at MIT,…
It's impossible enough to find a decent apartment these days, let alone the humans to share it who won't dismember you in the night. Far more difficult, however, is deciding which roommate pays which portion of the rent, which has been known to end more than one friendship before it even started. A new online tool…
In addition to completely freaking us out, it turns out that the robotic snakes being developed at universities like Carnegie Mellonsome serve some practical purposes as well. A company called Medrobotics Corporation will soon begin marketing robot snake-assisted surgical device designed to crawl down a patient's…
Science fiction has given us a vision of the future where humans might one day enjoy super-strength and abilities while wearing a rigid robotic exoskeleton suit. But back here in reality, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a soft bio-robotic socks designed to assist those who have difficulty with…
We expect our devices to know what's going on. Automatic doors, smartphones, temperature control systems and beyond all perform actions when they detect certain conditions. And it seems like it would just be convenient to put cameras on everything so devices could have eyes on all different situations. It would also…
We already have autonomous robots that can drive, fly, swim—even operate in space. And now, thanks to researchers at the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute, we'll soon be dealing with bots that can tackle the final frontier here on earth—or should we say inside earth—with a self-burrowing robot that works…
Anyone who's ever done any home renovation knows what a messy job removing paint can be. But imagine that instead of a flat wall you were tasked with stripping a curvy streamlined fighter plane. And the paint you were removing was designed to endure the stresses of supersonic flight. It's a daunting task, which is why…
Today the US Department of Defense announced that they would be collaborating with Carnegie Mellon University to develop an autonomous copilot for DARPA's upcoming "helicopter jeep" project. Yes, the military is developing a helicopter jeep.
In a basement at Carnegie Mellon University, a computer is reading the web. It's been doing so for nearly nine months, teaching itself the complexities and nuances of the English language. And the smarter it gets, the faster it learns.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Intel Labs have developed a system of "whack gestures" that could allow any phone with an accelerometer to be silenced with a punch. This is brilliant.
Remember that bizarre, inflatable touchscreen with buttons that crawled out of Carnegie Mellon University's labs a few months back? Those same researchers—who can't get enough of unorthodox input methods—have another one for you: scratch input!
The adorable pink counterpart to Prime-8, Penbo is supposedly the "first real robot for girls." It uses the same locomotion tech derived from the buggy RHex robot, but cutified so it waddles:
What's special about Bossa Nova's Prime-8 robot—a $100 descendant of DARPA and Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute's $20,000-a-pop all-terrain RHex designed for 10-year-old boys? It's the fastest bipedal toy robot ever. Just watch.
The same algorithm developed by the government to protect people from applying for fraudulent social security numbers is now being adapted by Carnegie Mellon researchers to guess—within a few points of accuracy—your entire SSN.
A couple of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, apparently tired of this whole touchscreen vs. button debate, have decided to just do away with the distinction entirely.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a robotic arm that can be controlled remotely and help medics assist wounded soldiers that can't be carried off the battlefield.
