EPFL

Isn’t it wonderful that there are researchers out there whose job is quite simply to make a robotic bird? That’s certainly the goal of this lab, whose flapping-wing drone, or ornithopter,

Drosophila melanogaster, the common fruit fly, is in some ways a simple creature. But in others it is so complex that, as with any form of life, we are only scratching the surface of understanding it.

If you’ve never picked a raspberry, well, first of all that’s too bad, because a fresh raspberry is a beautiful thing. But second, and more immediately relevant in this case, you would not

A research group has taught AI to magnetically wrangle a high-powered stream of plasma used for fusion research — but wait! Put away your EMPs and screwdrivers, this is definitely a good thing, not

An artificial retina would be an enormous boon to the many people with visual impairments, and the possibility is creeping closer to reality year by year. One of the latest advancements takes a differ

The Dyatlov Pass incident is the mother of all cold cases: nine people found dead in 1959, deep in the Ural mountains, under circumstances no one has ever been able to satisfactorily explain. But new

Research papers come out far too rapidly for anyone to read them all, especially in the field of machine learning, which now affects (and produces papers in) practically every industry and company. Th

Nature is a good source of inspiration for roboticists, but it's rare that nature's elegance and genius can be replicated in any real way. Still, we're getting closer. This tiny insect-like robot is m

Prosthetic limbs are getting better every year, but the strength and precision they gain doesn't always translate to easier or more effective use, since amputees have only a basic level of control ove

While the agility of a Spot or Atlas robot is something to behold, there's a special merit reserved for tiny, simple robots that work not as a versatile individual but as an adaptable group. These "tr

Researchers have created a prosthetic hand that offers its users the ability to feel where it is and how the fingers are positioned — a sense known as proprioception. The headline may be in jest, bu

The clean energy boffins in their labs are always upping the theoretical limit on how much power you can get out of sunshine, but us plebes actually installing solar cells are stuck with years-old tec

Few things in the world of technology can really ever be said to be "done," and certainly exoskeletons are not among their number. They exist, but they are all works in progress, expensive, heavy, and

Soft robots are a major area of research right now, but the general paradigm seems to be that you pump something (a muscle or tube) full of something else (air, fluid) causing it to change its shape.

The next time you're swimming in Lake Geneva, don't be surprised when you feel something eel-like and yet artificial touch your leg. That would be Envirobot, the latest biomimetic creation from Swiss

It's truly amazing, the wealth of information we all have at our fingertips — that is, of course, unless your fingertips are how you have to access that information. An innovative new tablet that us

Biometrics may not be the perfect solution for security, but they can be useful — as long as they're robust and well thought out. TouchID is all well and good, but you wouldn't secure a nuclear site

If you want to walk among the crocodiles, first you must become a crocodile, as the saying goes. But short of an Ace Ventura-style setup, a robot is probably your best bet if all you want is some swee

Robotic exoskeletons are one of those technologies that tend to be associated with warfare or at least the industrial sector, but soft robotics and artificial muscles like these ones created by Swiss

We've come a long way since the days of selecting a CPU player for the other Pong paddle, tank or hand-to-hand combatant. Now the computers are taking it to us, in meatspace, and seemingly no tabletop