What lurks beneath

The presence of mines underneath the water has driven the training of marine mammals by navies. The job is one that is an obvious choice for a robotic proxy, but there are many problems. This article on the economist's Babbage blog makes for interesting reading on the pitfalls of sensing and navigating under water.

It seems we have a little way to go before precision undersea robotics becomes autonomous...

Now you see me

These rubbery robots show just how far thinking about robotic form has come. I am sometimes surprised that these things haven't happened before, but many of these advances come to fruition with the development of new technologies and materials. 

A parallel frontier is opening with the development of synthetic tissues to create movement. It is only a matter of time before we move from servos and actuators to biologically analogous materials. 

Robots of all types would of course benefit from new motion technologies, but we mustn't forget that wheels and rotors are still very much the preserve of the made world and jolly useful they are too.

17 and flying...

This project tells me that our next generation scientists have a great future ahead of them! Incredible application and innovation - and not even out of school. Well done Brittany.

Ping.

A fantastic example of where autonomous robotics helps us in those hard to reach environments.

Autosub scans the depths

Time to learn Python? Or buy a raspberry pi?

This flypig.co.uk post is great fun. Makes me think about python as an alternative to the java/processing/wiring path I'm on...