Topic description and stories

Illustration of palaeo-robots.

‘Palaeo-robots’ to help scientists understand how fish started to walk on land

23 Oct 2024

The transition from water to land is one of the most significant events in the history of life on Earth. Now, a team of roboticists, palaeontologists...

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Third Thumb holding a sliced orange

Getting to grips with an extra thumb

29 May 2024

Cambridge researchers have shown that members of the public have little trouble in learning very quickly how to use a third thumb – a controllable...

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Illustration of the human nervous system

Robotic nerve ‘cuffs’ could help treat a range of neurological conditions

26 Apr 2024

Researchers have developed tiny, flexible devices that can wrap around individual nerve fibres without damaging them.

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Robot arm handling test tubes.

Opinion: the future of science is automation

26 Feb 2024

Professor Ross King from Cambridge's Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, who originated the idea of a 'Robot Scientist', discusses...

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Robot braille reader

Robot trained to read braille at twice the speed of humans

29 Jan 2024

Researchers have developed a robotic sensor that incorporates artificial intelligence techniques to read braille at speeds roughly double that of...

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The Vice-Chancellor's Awards 2023 for Research Impact and Engagement

13 Dec 2023

Meet the winner of the Vice-Chancellor's Awards 2023 for Research Impact and Engagement and learn more about their projects.

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Robots on a manufacturing line

Robots cause company profits to fall – at least at first

03 Aug 2023

Researchers have found that robots can have a ‘U-shaped’ effect on profits: causing profit margins to fall at first, before eventually rising again...

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The life robotic: Meet the Cambridge University researchers fostering human wellbeing using robots

19 Jul 2023

The team is exploring the capacity robots have to inspire self-reflection, and support the work of psychologists and clinicians.

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Robot arm reaching for a piece of broccoli

Robot ‘chef’ learns to recreate recipes from watching food videos

05 Jun 2023

Researchers have trained a robotic ‘chef’ to watch and learn from cooking videos, and recreate the dish itself.

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Robot hand picking up a plastic ball

It’s all in the wrist: energy-efficient robot hand learns how not to drop the ball

12 Apr 2023

Researchers have designed a low-cost, energy-efficient robotic hand that can grasp a range of objects – and not drop them – using just the movement...

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Humanoid QT robot and toy-like Misty robot

Robots can help improve mental wellbeing at work – as long as they look right

15 Mar 2023

Robots can be useful as mental wellbeing coaches in the workplace – but perception of their effectiveness depends in large part on what the robot...

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Taste of the future: robot chef learns to ‘taste as you go’

04 May 2022

A robot ‘chef’ has been trained to taste food at different stages of the chewing process to assess whether it’s sufficiently seasoned.

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