Laser-powered bubblebots have independent streak

Worm-like robot climbs clothes with alacrity

Roboethics: Three ways to make sure future robots have morals

Build functional mini robots ... out of paper

LEGO robots help scientists build artificial bones

Students help NASA control robots from space

Toyota shows machines to help sick, elderly move

Toyota unveiled its ambitions for high-tech health care Tuesday, displaying experimental robots that the auto giant says can lift disabled patients from their hospital beds or help them walk.

From R2-D2 to Robocop, five robots who rock

We love robots. Whether they are quirky or resourceful, cute or heroic, metal men have been a fixture in Hollywood, for decades.

Robot makes cookies from (almost) scratch

The future of robots is shaping up to be wonderful for couch potatoes: they can , , and now they can even bake cookies.

Pa. robot institute attracts presidential visit

Need help defusing a bomb, mowing a lawn or scraping old paint?

Japan taps US robots for reactor cleanup help

In this country of break-dancing androids and artificially intelligent pets, nuclear cleanup crews on the tsunami-ravaged northern coast are depending on U.S.-made robots to enter damaged reactor units where it is still too dangerous for humans to tread.

Kaspar the friendly robot helps autistic kids

Eden Sawczenko used to recoil when other little girls held her hand and turned stiff when they hugged her. This year, the 4-year-old autistic girl began playing with a robot that teaches about emotions and physical contact — and now she hugs everyone.

Futurist: Michigan economy can boom making robots

Michigan's economy, battered over the past decade by hundreds of thousands of lost manufacturing jobs, could surge again in coming decades by making robots for use in everyday life, futurist George Friedman said Tuesday.

Army of undersea robots at work on Gulf oil spill

They're like Superman, but underwater: able to withstand 5,000 pounds of subsea pressure, lift up to a ton, take 3D video images and transfer hydraulic power to other equipment.

Military robots seen as lifesavers

On the outside, it looks like a normal SUV. But the prototype "autonomous robot car" — fitted with sensors and scanners, multifocal camera systems and powerful computers — might one day help avoid military fatalities from bombings and ambushes — or so its designers hope.

NASA and GM develop ‘Robonaut2’ robot

Engineers from NASA and General Motors have jointly developed what they tout as “the world’s most dexterous robot” called “Robonaut2” to supplement human activity both in space and in the factory.

Scientists, lawyers mull effects of home robots

Eric Horvitz illustrates the potential dilemmas of living with robots by telling the story of how he once got stuck in an elevator at Stanford Hospital with a droid the size of a washing machine.

What happens when good robots go ‘bad’?

It’s been a long day at the office and all you want to do is grab a cold one and plop down in front of the TV. But just as you’re getting comfy, you notice something odd on the floor in front of you. It’s a message spelled out in your son’s Legos, only he’s not quite old enough to spell. And if he were, he certainly wouldn’t write “DIE!” on the living room floor in colorful plastic bricks.

Japanese professor creates baseball-playing robots

Look out Ichiro Suzuki and Daisuke Matsuzaka. A pair of baseball-playing robots that can pitch and hit with incredible results have been developed in Japan.

Robots with fins, tails demonstrate evolution

Robots wag their tail fins and bob along like bathtub toys in a pool at a Vassar College lab. Their actions are dictated by microprocessors housed in round plastic containers, the sort you'd store soup in.

How to survive in a world ruled by robots

Let’s pretend it’s the not-so-distant future. There you are, standing in the pile of rubble that used to be your home, minding your own business, when suddenly you’re confronted by a hulking humanoid robot with glowing red eyes.

Climbing no obstacle for snakebots

Snake-like robots that can climb scaffolding to inspect high-rise construction sites, bend at will to defuse roadside bombs or roll down your esophagus to peer at your digestive tract may soon be lending construction workers, soldiers and doctors a flexible hand.

How to be a disagreeable (but likable) robot

“Open the pod bay doors, HAL.”

Japan robot startups join efforts

Four of Japan's leading robot startups joined forces Wednesday, brought together by a common concern that neighboring South Korea could pull ahead in the race to transform robots from science fiction fantasy to commercial success.

New breed of robots could soon wander Antarctica

Robotic rovers have patrolled deep space and the deepest seas, but scientists are still struggling to create drones that can overcome the multiple challenges of exploring Antarctica.

Great pix from Camilla and Charles's current visit to Canada for the Diamond Jubilee Tour.

Looking to get more popular on Facebook? Alex Melen will sell you 1,000 "likes" for about $75. Melen runs an Internet marketing company. About six months ago, companies he worked with started coming to him more and more with a simple problem: They had created pages on Facebook …

Two people who are virtually paralyzed from the neck down have learned to manipulate a robotic arm with just their thoughts, using it to reach out and grab objects. One of them, a woman, was able to retrieve a bottle containing coffee and drink it from a straw — the first t …

USING only her thoughts, a Massachusetts woman paralysed for 15 years has directed a robotic arm to pick up a bottle of coffee and bring it to her lips.

Nowadays everyone hems and haws about the uncanny valley, but we don't realize how good we have it in the 21st century. Decades ago, anthropomorphic machines and animal-like automata straddled the line between goofy and "I did not sign up for this." Here's some irrefutable proo …

By now you’ve probably owned, or had a friend that owned, a Roomba.

Scientists at the University of Sussex, the University of Belgrade, and the Artificial Intelligence Lab of the University of Zurich have been working on a new humanoid robot that has muscles and joints, just like real humans.

Imagine robots that can do everything you can do — and probably do it even better. Brace yourself, because that era might be here sooner than you think: The Pentagon agency behind some of the most important robotics research will soon challenge experts worldwide to come  …

The sinking of the Titanic is one of the 20th century's great dramas, a mystery that has confounded scientists and historians for decades. There is still an aura of mysticism that remains around that fateful ship and new photos that will be published in the April 2012 edition  …

Narrative Science, a Chicago-based joint research group originating from Northwestern University Schools of Engineering and Journalism, has created an artificial intelligence that is capable of automatically producing reports, articles and summaries from structured data sour …

The Navy is preparing to field firefighting droids.  Ha!  Star Wars has come to us.  Now, where are those Imperial Star Destroyers at?

BEIJING — The announcement Saturday that Foxconn Technology — one of the world’s largest electronics manufacturers — will sharply raise salaries and reduce overtime at its Chinese factories signals that pressure from workers, international markets and co …

Even more embarrassing than a student discovering your GPS tracking device on his car, as the FBI found out last year, is having to ask him to give the expensive piece of equipment back.

Canada-based aerospace firm MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. is designing a spacecraft that will serve as an orbiting gas station and mechanic.

US President Barack Obama tested a new prototype Tuesday for his commander-in-chief's arsenal -- a high-powered marshmallow gun that sent a tasty missile screaming through the White House. Watched over by a brooding portrait of his hero Abraham Lincoln, the US president fired  …

If you live in a family of average size, you know the bathroom can get pretty crowded.

For a president who promotes technology at every opportunity, Barack Obama often strikes an awed, self-effacing pose in the presence of technicians, scientists and high tech machinery. “If I’m nodding, you should just assume that everything you said is going comple …

Canadian scientists are developing a robot that mimics the human face's expressions and human hand’s tactile processes, which they say will be useful in areas like nursing, nuclear plant maintenance, and explosive device disposal. It could even act as a companion

Do You Really Want To See The Singularity Happen?

Yes, in our minds, many of us would love to see robots have the equivalent intelligence and capabilities of human beings.

`Rock 'Em Sock 'Em robots are back, and they're bigger and more kick-ass than ever.' -- CNET

Have the country, its businesses and its markets changed in some fundamental way, leaving millions of Americans with skills that are no longer needed? Economists are sharply divided on that point, but two from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology make a compelling argument t …