Over the last 15 years, researchers have invented several types of strong, powerful artificial muscles using materials ranging from high-tech carbon nanotubes to ordinary fishing line.

As a cucumber plant grows, it sprouts tightly coiled tendrils that seek out supports in order to pull the plant upward. This ensures the plant receives as much sunlight exposure as possible. Now, researchers have found a way to imitate this coiling-and-pulling mechanism to produce contracting fibers that could be used as artificial muscles for robots, prosthetic limbs, or other mechanical and biomedical applications.

For a robot to be able to "learn" sign language, it is necessary to combine different areas of engineering such as artificial intelligence, neural networks and artificial vision, as well as underactuated robotic hands.

Robotics researchers have for the first time used a commercial 3D printer to embed complex sensors inside robotic limbs and grippers. But they found that materials commercially available for 3D printing still need to be improved before the robots can be fully functional.

Swedish EV manufacturer NEVS and the Autonomous Vehicle start-up AutoX have entered into an exclusive strategic partnership to integrate AutoX ́s Autonomous Drive technology in NEVS' next-generation vehicle architecture.

Robots can drive on the plains and craters of Mars, but what if we could explore cliffs, polar caps and other hard-to-reach places on the Red Planet and beyond?

A team of researchers has developed tiny 10-gram robots that are inspired by ants: they can communicate with each other, assign roles among themselves and complete complex tasks together. These reconfigurable robots are simple in structure, yet they can jump and crawl to explore uneven surfaces.

On the 11th of June 2019 IDTechEx attended the Startup Exhibition at the 7th EcoMotion Main Event in Tel Aviv Israel. There is increasing global recognition of the huge potential of Israeli mobility-tech startups, with Tel Aviv now recognised as one of the world's top tech hubs. The following deck contains a brief profile for each of the exciting companies we spoke to at the event. \r\n\r\nCompanies interviewed include: Arbe, AdaSky, Foresight, OPSYS, Newsight Imaging, VAYAVISION, Cartica, Ottopia, Phantom Auto, AutoTalks, Tactile Mobility, Argus Cyber Security, Regulus, and Cognata.

A vegetable-picking robot that uses machine learning to identify and harvest a commonplace, but challenging, agricultural crop has been developed by engineers.

Computer scientists used artificial intelligence to control a robotic arm that provides a more efficient way to pack boxes, saving businesses time and money.

Each year, soft robots gain new abilities. They've learned to jump, squirm, and grip. And, unlike hard robots, they can handle tomatoes without bruising the fruit, resurface unscathed after being run over by a car, and journey through radiation, disaster zones, and outer-space with few scars. For people and animals, they have a "cooperative function": a soft touch.

A set of five tiny fundamental parts can be assembled into a wide variety of functional devices, including a tiny "walking" motor that can move back and forth across a surface or turn the gears of a machine.

A robotic gripping arm that uses engineered bacteria to "taste" for a specific chemical has been developed by engineers. The gripper is a proof-of-concept for biologically-based soft robotics.

Just like a 3D Printer, BotFactorys' small circuit printers allow you to prototype in minutes instead of weeks, all at the click of a button.

Wimbledon fans, who consume 34 thousand kilos of strawberries every year, could one day get their strawberries picked by a small group of new robots, developed in Europe, that use photonics to detect a fruit, and are capable of gathering enough berries for the championships in less than a week.

The main arm includes five electrical motors and five joints. Measuring 2.1 meters long, the arm will allow the rover to work as a human geologist would: by holding and using science tools with its turret, which is essentially its "hand."

The collaborative robot autonomously drives around hospitals while emitting concentrated UV-C light to eliminate bacteria and other harmful microorganisms. As a result, hospitals can guarantee a 99.99% disinfection rate - reducing the risk for patients, staff and relatives of contracting dangerous infections.

General-purpose language works for computer vision, robotics, statistics, and more.

Artificial muscles made from polymers can now be powered by energy from glucose and oxygen, just like biological muscles. This advance may be a step on the way to implantable artificial muscles or autonomous microrobots powered by biomolecules in their surroundings.