At its annual Snap Partner Summit on Tuesday, Snapchat announced that it’s introducing a new AI video-generation tool for creators. The tool will allow select creators to generate AI videos from text prompts and, soon, from image prompts. Snap says the tool will be available in beta on the web starting today for a small […]
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Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.
Enjoy today’s videos!
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and ETH Zurich have developed a robotic leg with artificial muscles. Inspired by living creatures, it jumps across different terrains in an agile and energy-efficient manner.
Thanks, Toshi!
ETH Zurich researchers have now developed a fast robotic printing process for earth-based materials that does not require cement. In what is known as “impact printing,” a robot shoots material from above, gradually building a wall. On impact, the parts bond together, and very minimal additives are required.
[ ETH Zurich ]
How could you not be excited to see this happen for real?
[ arXiv paper ]
Can we all agree that sanding, grinding, deburring, and polishing tasks are really best done by robots, for the most part?
Thanks, David!
Using doors is a longstanding challenge in robotics and is of significant practical interest in giving robots greater access to human-centric spaces. The task is challenging due to the need for online adaptation to varying door properties and precise control in manipulating the door panel and navigating through the confined doorway. To address this, we propose a learning-based controller for a legged manipulator to open and traverse through doors.
[ arXiv paper ]
Isaac is the first robot assistant that’s built for the home. And we’re shipping it in fall of 2025.
Fall of 2025 is a long enough time from now that I’m not even going to speculate about it.
[ Weave Robotics ]
By patterning liquid metal paste onto a soft sheet of silicone or acrylic foam tape, we developed stretchable versions of conventional rigid circuits (like Arduinos). Our soft circuits can be stretched to over 300% strain (over 4x their length) and are integrated into active soft robots.
[ Science Robotics ] via [ Yale ]
NASA’s Curiosity rover is exploring a scientifically exciting area on Mars, but communicating with the mission team on Earth has recently been a challenge due to both the current season and the surrounding terrain. In this Mars Report, Curiosity engineer Reidar Larsen takes you inside the uplink room where the team talks to the rover.
[ NASA ]
I love this and want to burn it with fire.
[ Carpentopod ]
Very often, people ask us what Reachy 2 is capable of, which is why we’re showing you the manipulation possibilities (through teleoperation) of our technology. The robot shown in this video is the Beta version of Reachy 2, our new robot coming very soon!
[ Pollen Robotics ]
The Scalable Autonomous Robots (ScalAR) Lab is an interdisciplinary lab focused on fundamental research problems in robotics that lie at the intersection of robotics, nonlinear dynamical systems theory, and uncertainty.
[ ScalAR Lab ]
Astorino is a 6-axis educational robot created for practical and affordable teaching of robotics in schools and beyond. It has been created with 3D printing, so it allows for experimentation and the possible addition of parts. With its design and programming, it replicates the actions of #KawasakiRobotics industrial robots, giving students the necessary skills for future work.
[ Astorino ]
I guess fish-fillet-shaping robots need to exist because otherwise customers will freak out if all their fish fillets are not identical, or something?
[ Flexiv ]
Watch the second episode of the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover mission—Europe’s ambitious exploration journey to search for past and present signs of life on Mars. The rover will dig, collect, and investigate the chemical composition of material collected by a drill. Rosalind Franklin will be the first rover to reach a depth of up to two meters below the surface, acquiring samples that have been protected from surface radiation and extreme temperatures.
[ ESA ]
Users will get their first chance to try Adobe’s AI model for video generation in just a couple months. The company says features powered by Adobe’s Firefly Video model will become available before the end of 2024 on the Premiere Pro beta app and on a free website. Adobe says three features — Generative Extend, […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Bouncy’s Ready to Learn Resilience Program is anchored by Breathing Bouncy(TM), a bilingual animatronic service dog. The program uses a multi-sensory approach to help children in grades preK-1, develop positive, secure relationships and build essential social emotional competencies needed for school success.
In addition to being used as part of whole class instruction, Bouncy the Service Dog provides a just-in-time, evidence-based response to support students when they are dysregulated. Unique, proprietary technology differentiates Breathing Bouncy from other edtech solutions in that he breathes at a slowed pediatric rate, allowing children to soothe and self-regulate when they hold him belly-to-belly and feel his chest move in sync with his breathing. While the physical Breathing Bouncy anchors the research-based learning system, the program features both physical and digital elements.
Used across settings, the program includes character-driven apps, music videos, games, interactive books and more to reinforce the relationship and provide differentiated, play-based skill practice and reinforcement.
Many of the elements are available in Spanish and English. In several pilots studies conducted with children identified as chronically disruptive, the program resulted in an increased ability [of children] to slow breathing on demand. Furthermore, those same children were able, in real-time, to transfer self-regulation skills during meltdown situations, which led to a reduction in problem behaviors, freeing up substantially more instruction time for the teacher.
For these reasons and more, Bouncy’s Ready to Learn Resilience Program from Ripple Effects was named “Best Early Childhood Learning Solution” as part of The EdTech Awards from EdTech Digest. Learn more.
The post Bouncy’s Ready to Learn Resilience Program from Ripple Effects appeared first on EdTech Digest.
Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.
Enjoy today’s videos!
At ICRA 2024, in Tokyo last May, we sat down with the director of Shadow Robot, Rich Walker, to talk about the journey toward developing its newest model. Designed for reinforcement learning, the hand is extremely rugged, has three fingers that act like thumbs, and has fingertips that are highly sensitive to touch.
[ IEEE Spectrum ]
Food Angel is a food delivery robot to help with the problems of food insecurity and homelessness. Utilizing autonomous wheeled robots for this application may seem to be a good approach, especially with a number of successful commercial robotic delivery services. However, besides technical considerations such as range, payload, operation time, autonomy, etc., there are a number of important aspects that still need to be investigated, such as how the general public and the receiving end may feel about using robots for such applications, or human-robot interaction issues such as how to communicate the intent of the robot to the homeless.
[ RoMeLa ]
The UKRI FLF team RoboHike of UCL Computer Science of the Robot Perception and Learning lab with Forestry England demonstrate the ANYmal robot to help preserve the cultural heritage of an historic mine in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, UK.
This clip is from a reboot of the British TV show “Time Team.” If you’re not already a fan of “Time Team,” let me just say that it is one of the greatest retro reality TV shows ever made, where actual archaeologists wander around the United Kingdom and dig stuff up. If they can find anything. Which they often can’t. And also it has Tony Robinson (from “Blackadder”), who runs everywhere for some reason. Go to Time Team Classics on YouTube for 70+ archived episodes.
[ UCL RPL ]
UBTECH humanoid robot Walker S Lite is working in Zeekr’s intelligent factory to complete handling tasks at the loading workstation for 21 consecutive days, and assist its employees with logistics work.
[ UBTECH ]
Current visual navigation systems often treat the environment as static, lacking the ability to adaptively interact with obstacles. This limitation leads to navigation failure when encountering unavoidable obstructions. In response, we introduce IN-Sight, a novel approach to self-supervised path planning, enabling more effective navigation strategies through interaction with obstacles.
[ ETH Zurich paper / IROS 2024 ]
When working on autonomous cars, sometimes it’s best to start small.
[ University of Pennsylvania ]
MIT MechE researchers introduce an approach called SimPLE (Simulation to Pick Localize and placE), a method of precise kitting, or pick and place, in which a robot learns to pick, regrasp, and place objects using the object’s computer-aided design (CAD) model, and all without any prior experience or encounters with the specific objects.
[ MIT ]
Staff, students (and quadruped robots!) from UCL Computer Science wish the Great Britain athletes the best of luck this summer in the Olympic Games & Paralympics.
Walking in tall grass can be hard for robots, because they can’t see the ground that they’re actually stepping on. Here’s a technique to solve that, published in Robotics and Automation Letters last year.
[ ETH Zurich Robotic Systems Lab ]
There is no such thing as excess batter on a corn dog, and there is also no such thing as a defective donut. And apparently, making Kool-Aid drink pouches is harder than it looks.
[ Oxipital AI ]
Unitree has open-sourced its software to teleoperate humanoids in VR for training-data collection.
[ Unitree / GitHub ]
Nothing more satisfying than seeing point-cloud segments wiggle themselves into place, and CSIRO’s Wildcat SLAM does this better than anyone.
[ IEEE Transactions on Robotics ]
A lecture by Mentee Robotics CEO Lior Wolf, on Mentee’s AI approach.
[ Mentee Robotics ]
A comprehensive K-12 Project-Based Learning (PBL) solution serving over 120,000 teachers in over 7,500 schools nationwide, Defined Learning engages students in high-quality projects that are based on careers to deepen understanding, enhance engagement, and build necessary future-ready skills.
The platform provides teachers with the essential curriculum and assessment tools they need to engage students in PBL, including a library of standards-aligned projects, career-focused videos, research resources, editable rubrics, and more. Defined Learning’s interdisciplinary projects are based on careers and provide opportunities for students to apply their knowledge and skills to real-world challenges. It excites students about their future and empower them to build the critical future-ready skills they need to succeed in college, careers, and life.
It is the mission of the company to drive student engagement and achievement through real-world PBL. Through career exploration and experiences coupled with hands-on, real-world PBL, they want to ensure that all students have visibility into the limitless world of opportunities ahead of them. Their content leads to enhanced student skills such as: 21st Century & Workplace Skills, College & Career Readiness, Social Emotional Learning & Standards Mastery.
Research by Mida Learning Technologies showed that after utilizing PBL through Defined Learning for one year, teachers saw improvements in students’ engagement and motivation. In addition, students who used Defined Learning outperformed their peers in critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Defined Learning gives educators all they need to facilitate deeper, career-connected learning through high-quality PBL instruction that engages students and empowers them to build future-ready skills. For these reasons and more, Defined Learning is a Cool Tool Award Winner for “Best Skills Solution” as part of The EdTech Awards 2024 from EdTech Digest. Learn more.
The post Defined Learning appeared first on EdTech Digest.
The Mystery Science service is a K-5 ready-to-use multimedia science and STEM curriculum resource used in more than 50% of United States’ elementary schools each month and 3+ million students to help educators turn the conventional approach of answering children’s questions on its head. This simple student-centered approach, and the services’ ease of use, sets a new trend in science education
Discovery Education acquired Mystery Science in 2020 and the service is now available on the Discovery Education K-12 platform. This puts all the tools needed to create engaging digital learning environments at educators’ fingertips.
Mystery Science provides simple-to-use science lessons that inspire students to love science. Each lesson begins with a question that students find interesting, and students explore these questions through interactive videos of fostering a sense of wonder and actively supporting student engagement in accompanying discussion prompts and labs using simple science supplies.
Mystery Science contains everything teachers need to get students engaged in hands-on science and make that subject the best class of the day. For these reasons and more, Mystery Science from Discovery Education is a Cool Tool Award Winner for “Best Science Solution” as part of The EdTech Awards 2024 from EdTech Digest. Learn more.
The post Mystery Science by Discovery Education appeared first on EdTech Digest.
Kokotree, co-founded by Vivek Thakur and Tim Eisenhauer, is an educational learning app for toddlers and preschoolers. Originating from Vivek’s personal quest for structured, safe, and engaging digital content for his child, Kokotree offers a curated library of educational cartoons and videos, audio stories, and our letter tracing games, focusing on foundational topics like reading, writing, counting, and emotions.
Key Features:
Benefits:
Kokotree’s recognition as a finalist at The EdTech Awards 2023 ”Cool Tools” vouches for its effectiveness. Its commitment to growth is showcased by continuous content updates, user feedback implementation, and its expansion into gaming and storytelling. With an ethos rooted in ensuring a perfect blend of fun, safety, and education, Kokotree stands as a beacon in the early childhood digital learning landscape. For these reasons and more, Kokotree is a Cool Tool Award Winner for “Best Mobile App Solution” as part of The EdTech Awards 2024 from EdTech Digest. Learn more.
The post Kokotree appeared first on EdTech Digest.
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