Cybernetics and Robotics News

Researchers unveil whiskered robot rat

Thursday, July 02, 2009 00:00 MST

A team of scientists have developed an innovative robot rat which can seek out and identify objects using its whiskers. The SCRATCHbot robot will be demonstrated this week at an international workshop looking at how robots can help us examine the workings of the brain.

Can a new implant coating technique create a new six million dollar man?

Wednesday, July 01, 2009 00:00 MST

Tel Aviv University develops superior method for coating orthopaedic and dental implants

News on The First International Reconfigurable Robot Conference

Wednesday, July 01, 2009 00:00 MST

More than 130 delegates from 24 countries and regions came to present and discuss research on new robots developed in the past decade and their mechanisms. Topics of research and discussion included new properties and uses of robots for domestic, medical, hazardous, out-space and manufacturing environments, and the adaptability and reconfiguration of robots.

Reading the brain without poking it

Tuesday, June 30, 2009 00:00 MST

Experimental devices that read brain signals have helped paralyzed people use computers and may let amputees control bionic limbs. But existing devices use tiny electrodes that poke into the brain. Now, a University of Utah study shows that brain signals controlling arm movements can be detected accurately using new microelectrodes that sit on the brain but don't penetrate it.

'Neurologger' reads bird brains in flight

Friday, June 26, 2009 00:00 MST

Using a "neurologger" specially designed to record the brain activity of pigeons in flight, researchers reporting online on June 25 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, have gained new insight into what goes through the birds' minds as they fly over familiar terrain. The study is the first to simultaneously record electrical brain activity integrated with large-scale navigational movements of free-flying birds, according to the researchers.

New therapy found to prevent heart failure

Wednesday, June 24, 2009 00:00 MST

A landmark study has successfully demonstrated a 29 percent reduction in heart failure or death in patients with heart disease who received an implanted cardiac resynchronization therapy device with defibrillator (CRT-D) vs. patients who received only an implanted cardiac defibrillator (ICD-only).

Autonomous robot detects shrapnel

Friday, June 19, 2009 00:00 MST

Bioengineers at Duke University have developed a laboratory robot that can successfully locate tiny pieces of metal within flesh and guide a needle to its exact location -- all without the need for human assistance.

International Conference on Reconfigurable Mechanisms and Robots

Thursday, June 18, 2009 00:00 MST

Robotics conference in London to feature expert robotics researchers from around the world.

New research program BioInterfaces launched

Friday, June 12, 2009 00:00 MST

BioInterfaces represents an ambitious new "Key Technologies" research program supported by the Helmholtz Association, the largest German scientific funding organization. The program brings together a team of biologists, chemists, physicists, materials scientists and informaticians. With an annual budget of approximately 20 million euro ($27.6 million), the 67 research teams will work closely together to develop innovative tools and technologies for precisely controlling the behavior of cells.

Brain-computer interface begins new clinical trial for paralysis

Thursday, June 11, 2009 00:00 MST

BrainGate, technology that allows the detection of signals from the brain and uses those signals to control assistive devices, is about to begin a second, larger clinical trial based at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

First heart patients implanted with next-generation mechanical heart pump

Friday, June 05, 2009 00:00 MST

Three patients at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center were among the first in the United States to be implanted with a next-generation artificial heart pump called the DuraHeart Left-Ventricular Assist System. The surgeries took place earlier this year. NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia is one of only three centers in the US currently enrolling patients in a clinical trial studying the device.

Hybrid remotely operated vehicle 'Nereus' reaches deepest part of the ocean

Thursday, June 04, 2009 00:00 MST

Nereus is first vehicle to enable routine scientific investigation to the deepest ocean depths worldwide

Artificial liver may extend lives

Wednesday, June 03, 2009 00:00 MST

Device uses human liver cells to assist organ's functions

Air Force funds new generation of energy efficient UAVs

Friday, May 29, 2009 00:00 MST

With Air Force funding, a team from the University of Michigan is working on a project to integrate solar power cheaply and easily into the base materials used to build unmanned aerial vehicles.

Robotic therapy holds promise for cerebral palsy

Friday, May 22, 2009 00:00 MST

Devices can help children learn to grasp and manipulate objects