Search Results: Robotics

Researchers at Physical Intelligence have shown that a robot learning framework called Recap—combining demonstrations, coaching, and reinforcement from autonomous experience—can double throughput and halve failure rates on complex real‑world tasks. By conditioning a vision‑language‑action (VLA) policy on a learned value function, the system corrects compounding errors that plague imitation‑only approaches.

A new paper introduces EGGROLL, a low‑rank perturbation technique that turns the traditionally expensive Evolution Strategies into a viable tool for training billion‑parameter neural networks. By replacing full‑rank noise with a pair of small matrices, the method cuts memory and compute costs while matching the performance of classic ES on reinforcement learning and large‑language‑model benchmarks.

Recent academic claims have sparked debate about whether large language models are fundamentally surjective, injective, or even invertible. We break down these mathematical concepts and clarify what they actually mean for AI safety, privacy, and the future of generative models.

Researchers have unveiled Cuddle-Fish, a helium-filled soft robot with bio-inspired flapping wings that eliminates the dangers of traditional drones. Designed for indoor spaces, it invites spontaneous human touch and affection, opening new avenues for social robotics. This innovation challenges the status quo of aerial robotics by prioritizing safety and emotional engagement.

Qualcomm's updated Terms of Service for its platform explicitly prohibit reverse engineering, assert ownership over user-submitted IP, and grant broad access to data from Arduino-connected accounts, alarming developers and makers. Influential figure Limor Fried warns this could spell the end for Arduino's community-driven spirit. The changes threaten to stifle innovation in the IoT and embedded systems space long dominated by open collaboration.

A 16‑year‑old student turned a LEGO Mindstorms kit into a functional replica of the SoftHand‑A robotic hand, proving that complex biomechanical concepts can be taught through play. The project not only matches the performance of the original 3D‑printed design but also opens doors for low‑cost, hands‑on robotics education.