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Reading time 4 min. NewIn: Achim Lilienthal In this "NewIn" release, we introduce Achim Lilienthal. He is building robots with a sense of smell that can detect dangerous gases to prevent accidents. In Munich, he aims to establish a high-tech laboratory for the sense of smell in robotics as a focal point for researchers from all over the world working on this topic.

Their task is to monitor the condition of ecosystems, for instance in the forest floor - and crumble to dust when their work is done: bio-gliders modeled on the Java cucumber, which sails its seeds dozens of meters through the air. researchers have developed these sustainable flying sensors from potato starch and wood waste.

The three-fingered robotic gripper can "feel" with great sensitivity along the full length of each finger - not just at the tips. Previous image Inspired by the human finger, MIT researchers have developed a robotic hand that uses high-resolution touch sensing to accurately identify an object after grasping it just one time.

Smart heating saves bees from cold death Up to a third of bee colonies worldwide die over the winter, often due to excessively low temperatures. In cooperation with the Swiss École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), the team of the Artificial Life Lab at the University of Graz has developed a high-tech honeycomb that can monitor the animals during the cold season and regulate the heat supply in the hive.

Researchers have developed a temperature-modulating robotic system that can be seamlessly integrated into notoriously sensitive honeybee hives, providing both a never-before-seen view of honeybee behavior and a means to influence it. Honeybees are famously finicky when it comes to being studied. Research instruments and conditions and even unfamiliar smells can disrupt a colony's behavior.

A new system enables makers to incorporate sensors into gears and other rotational mechanisms with just one pass in a 3D printer. Close Integrating sensors into rotational mechanisms could make it possible for engineers to build smart hinges that know when a door has been opened, or gears inside a motor that tell a mechanic how fast they are rotating.

New repair techniques enable microscale robots to recover flight performance after suffering severe damage to the artificial muscles that power their wings. Close Bumblebees are clumsy fliers. It is estimated that a foraging bee bumps into a flower about once per second, which damages its wings over time.

Scientists from the Adolphe Merkle Institute and Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, USA) have developed a flexible robot, inspired by earthworms, that can squeeze into small spaces and move in all directions regardless of the surface . Soft robots with worm-like mechanical properties and shape can, in principle, move over rough terrain and into tight spaces inaccessible to other robots.

The untethered soft robot could one day help doctors perform surgery A tiny robot that could one day help doctors perform surgery was inspired by the incredible gripping ability of geckos and the efficient locomotion of inchworms. The new robot, developed by engineers at the University of Waterloo, utilizes ultraviolet (UV) light and magnetic force to move on any surface, even up walls and across ceilings.

There is 'great potential for using robots in the public education system' E ngineering researchers at the University of Waterloo are successfully using a robot to help keep children with learning disabilities focused on their work. This was one of the key results in a new study that also found both the youngsters and their instructors valued the positive classroom contributions made by the robot.

The system's simple repeating elements can assemble into swimming forms ranging from eel-like to wing-shaped. Underwater structures that can change their shapes dynamically, the way fish do, push through water much more efficiently than conventional rigid hulls. But constructing deformable devices that can change the curve of their body shapes while maintaining a smooth profile is a long and difficult process.

Study: Three strikes and you are out!: The impacts of multiple human-robot trust violations and repairs on robot trustworthiness Humans are less forgiving of robots after multiple mistakes-and the trust is difficult to get back, according to a new University of Michigan study. Similar to human co-workers, robots can make mistakes that violate a human's trust in them.

Researchers from EPFL and JTEKT Corporation have developed an automated driving system based on the concept of 'collaborative steering', which aims to increase transportation safety, efficiency, and comfort by encouraging active interaction between autonomous vehicles and their human drivers. Autonomous driving technologies have already been integrated into many mass-produced vehicles, providing human drivers with steering assistance in tasks like centering a vehicle in its lane.

Until now, microscopic robotic systems have had to make do without arms. Now researchers at ETH Zurich have developed an ultrasonically actuated glass needle that can be attached to a robotic arm. This lets them pump and mix minuscule amounts of liquid and trap particles. We are all familiar with robots equipped with moving arms.

Combining biology and robotics, scientists at EPFL have built a robotic microsurgery platform that can perform high-precision, micrometer-resolution dissections to advance our understanding of how the vertebrate body forms during embryonic development. Understanding the biology behind an embryo's development is crucial not only from a basic science perspective, but also from a medical one.

Researchers have developed a method that allows a flapping-wing robot to land autonomously on a horizontal perch using a claw-like mechanism. The innovation could significantly expand the scope of robot-assisted tasks. A bird landing on a branch makes the maneuver look like the easiest thing in the world, but in fact, the act of perching involves an extremely delicate balance of timing, high-impact forces, speed, and precision.

Creators at Johns Hopkins envision 'gelbots' crawling through human bodies to deliver medicine A new gelatinous robot that crawls, powered by nothing more than temperature change and clever design, brings "a kind of intelligence" to the field of soft robotics. The inchworm-inspired work is detailed today in Science Robotics .

CMU, Berkeley researchers design robust legged robot system This little robot can go almost anywhere. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science and the University of California, Berkeley, have designed a robotic system that enables a low-cost and relatively small legged robot to climb and descend stairs nearly its height; traverse rocky, slippery, uneven, steep and varied terrain; walk across gaps; scale rocks and curbs; and even operate in the dark.

A team of researchers at the University of Toronto has found a way to enhance the visual perception of robotic systems by coupling two different types of neural networks.

Together with EPFL and ETH Zurich colleagues, an Empa team is developing next-generation VR gloves that will make virtual worlds tangible. The glove is to be tailored to each user and capable of being produced largely automatically - using a 3D printing process. Research sometimes needs a sacrifice.