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                                     The Robotics Collection
                                The Robotics Collection
                            
                        The use of robotics in industrial settings continues to accelerate at a rapid pace. Explore this collection to learn more about automation, cobots, AI-enabled robots, customized robots, and drones.
 
     
                    Article
                    Jul 28, 2025
        Untethered Minirobot Takes to the Air
                
Researchers build a magnetically powered flying machine the size of a penny.        
     
     
                    Article
                    Jun 30, 2025
        Technique Adds Dimension to Lab-Grown Muscles
                
MIT engineers develop way to grow muscles that flex more like natural ones, opening the door to biohybrid robots.         
     
     
                    Article
                    Jun 16, 2025
        Ones to Watch: Victoria Webster-Wood
                
This expert in biohybrid robotics is rewriting the book on how to build autonomous machines. That’s why she’s on Mechanical Engineering’s Watch List 2025.        
     
    Quiz
                    May 23, 2025
        Quiz: Robotic Arms Now Part of Real Life
                
Reliable machines—mechanical versions of human shoulders, arms, and hands—do most of the industrial pulling, pushing, pressing, and lifting and are now moving out of the factories into the real world.        
     
     
                    Article
                    May 19, 2025
        Pressurized Haptic Sleeve Breaks New Ground in Wearables
                
New wearable technology has implications for both social and medical applications as the knitted sleeve allows wearers to interact with the world through pressure-based haptics.        
     
     
                    Article
                    Apr 22, 2025
        Leveraging Robotic Insects to Support Mechanical Pollination
                
Roboticists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a tiny, yet powerful robot that more accurately mimics the bumblebee.        
     
    Podcast
                    Apr 14, 2025
        Podcast: Robot Laborers Ahead
                
Leo Ma, founder and CEO of AI robotics startup RoboForce, chats with ASME TechCast about his “Robo-Labor” system and what it takes to go from concept to commercialization.        
     
     
                    Article
                    Mar 4, 2025
        The Best of Both Worlds for Robotic Swarms
                
Using the central nervous system as inspiration, researchers from Université Libre de Bruxelles have developed a hybrid approach to programming self-organizing groups of robots.        
     
     
                    Article
                    Jan 30, 2025
        Mobile Robot Prints Customized Designs Where Needed
                
MobiPrint—a mobile 3D printer—can produce custom designs directly where needed to help users with accessibility or to add an extra bit of fun to any living space.        
     
     
                    Article
                    Jan 6, 2025
        Robot Assistance that Starts at the Knees
                
Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed a new kind of exoskeleton to better support lifting and carrying.        
     
     
                    Article
                    Nov 25, 2024
        Rethink Robots Returns
                
The one-time trailblazer, Rethink Robotics has introduced a new line of robots to meet the needs of industry.         
     
     
                    Article
                    Nov 18, 2024
        There’s a Twist to Improving Soft Robots
                
Attach an auxetic structure—that expands when pulled on—to a servo motor and you’ve got a more useful hardy soft robot.         
     
     
                    Article
                    Sep 18, 2024
        Microscale Hydraulic Gripper Features Soft Touch
                
A shape memory polymer allows the gripper to be more efficient than a purely hydraulic system. Roboticists may soon create miniature tools for minimally invasive surgery.         
     
     
                    Article
                    Jul 22, 2024
        Simple Instructions Make a Robot Swarm
                
Like schools of fish or flocks of birds, “smart swarms” of micro-robots move in concert based on what’s happening in the environment.        
     
     
                    Article
                    Jul 18, 2024
        Six-Armed Robot Stickbug Works as a Precision Pollinator
                
With six arms, a Kiwi drive, and custom detectors designed for contact-based pollination, the precision Stickbug reaches flowers growing above the greenhouse floor while navigating narrow plant rows.        
     
     
                    Article
                    Jul 15, 2024
        Spring Assist Makes for Better Actuator
                
As an add-on to electric or hydraulic motors, an efficient spring-assisted actuator could be a “game changer” for robotics.        
     
     
                    Article
                    Jul 8, 2024
        New Approach May Make More Reliable and Safe Robots
                
Northwestern University researchers have developed a method that allows robots to learn to perform new tasks reliably and safely using less data.        
     
     
                    Article
                    Jun 17, 2024
        Why Animals Are Still Faster Than Robots
                
Despite advances in robotic components, a new study finds that modern robots lack the integration capabilities to support locomotion at the same level as the animals that often inspire their design.        
     
     
                    Article
                    Jun 10, 2024
        Punyo: A Leap Forward in Soft Robotics
                
Toyota Research Institute’s Punyo soft robot is an innovation in whole-body manipulation research.         
     
    Podcast
                    Apr 22, 2024
        Podcast: Space Exploration and the Engineering Workforce
                
Discover what a cognizant engineer is, and why it's important to broaden the engineering pipeline.         
     
     
                    Article
                    Mar 25, 2024
        From Minifig to Walking Mini-Robot
                
After contemplating a Lego, researchers at Carnegie Mellon have developed a small robot with complex mobility.