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DARPA's two-armed robot handles tools at less cost

(Phys.org) —DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is getting closer to its goal of securing robotic hands that mimic the hand’s finer movements, at an affordable cost. A research project has been under way to develop artificial hands; the main goals have been of an economic as well as technical nature; DARPA has been looking for robotic hand systems that offer not only optimal dexterity but can also come at a lower cost than in the past.

NVIDIA shakes up sub-$200 graphics market with new GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST GPU

Gamers looking to play this year’s hottest PC games at a highly affordable price—with in-game settings cranked up to high—got their wish today with the introduction of the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST GPU. Based on the NVIDIA Kepler architecture and equipped with 768 NVIDIA CUDA cores, the GTX 650 Ti BOOST GPU is available in 2GB and 1GB configurations at an estimated $169 and $149, respectively.

New full HD CMOS image sensor delivers high-resolution imagery to surveillance and automotive…

Toshiba America Electronic Components, today announces its newest device for the security/surveillance and automotive markets, a full HD (1080p) CMOS image sensor with industry-leading 100dB high dynamic range (HDR) , fast frame rate of 60 frames per second (fps) and also featuring better color reproduction in low-light conditions with color noise reduction (CNR) technology. The TCM5117PL is a CIS-type 1/3 inch optical format image sensor providing high-resolution picture quality in low-to-bright light conditions making it ideal for implementation in security/surveillance cameras and automotive systems.

Eagle-eyeing researchers design swooping quadrotors with claws (w/ video)

(Phys.org) —Scientists working on robots often concentrate on how to mimic the shape and movements of animals that show exceptional efficiencies in varied tasks; a recent team accomplishment takes a page out of the study of eagles, in order to create a flying robot that can similarly swoop down and grab objects the way an eagle can fish with its natural claws. Fundamentally, they were after a goal of devices capable of high-speed aerial grasping and manipulation

Tearing through the gadget Teardowns

We traditionally base the Gadget Master competition questions on a roundup-style post, and it is now high time for another one! How about tearing through all the teardowns we have featured? They are always popular posts – next to a shiny new gadget, the next best thing is taking apart a shiny new gadget! So, check out these posts covering Kindles, Sony VAIO laptops, MacBook Airs and a Galaxy Tab…

Brainless bristlebots found to exhibit swarming behavior

(Phys.org) —A robot research team at Harvard University has found that tiny robots that move by vibrating bristle strands when grouped together, form spontaneously into groups—exhibiting, what the team describes as swarming behavior. In their paper the team has uploaded to the preprint server arXiv, the group describes how they built tiny robots out of tiny vibrating motors, a battery and bristles and then allowed them to roam randomly, and found that once a certain number were placed in a confined space, they grouped together forming what looked like a swarm.

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