Mobility / Navigation

BlueBotics claims its navigation technology is accurate to ±1 cm / ±1° and that it requires minimal changes to infrastructure.

Project aims to take bipedal robots to a new level, equipping them to adapt on the fly to treacherous ground, dodge obstacles or decide whether a given area is safe for walking.

New support allows full integration of vision-based 3D mapping in ROS 2 designs.

A senior robotics engineer at Boston Dynamics explains how perception and adaptability enable Atlas to perform varied, high-energy behaviors like parkour.

Scythe Robotics shares tips about sensor selection, ruggedized hardware, and software optimization for its commercial mowers.

By training Atlas to maneuver through complex parkour courses, Boston Dynamics developed new movements inspired by human behaviors and pushed the humanoid to new limits.

University of Michigan researchers have enabled humanoid robots to use their hands in a similar way, so the robots can better travel across rough terrain, such as disaster areas or construction sites.

MIT developed a high-speed flight-planning algorithm that combines simulations and experiments, in a way that minimizes the number of experiments required to identify fast and safe flight paths.

GE’s project was one of eight funded by the U.S. Army to advance autonomous, off-road navigation capabilities for military ground vehicles.

Adaptive locomotive modality, or the ability to move in different ways, is integral to extreme terrain exploration on the Moon and Mars.

Engineers use a few different techniques that employed both Spot’s Choreographer software and its API to make Spot dance.

The base policy and adaptation module are run asynchronously and at different frequencies, which allows RMA to operate robustly with only a small onboard computer.

U.S. Army findings suggest human-made legged platforms should be as efficient as wheeled and tracked platforms.

A Ford Ranger and Range Rover Evoque, retrofitted with Oxbotica’s autonomy software and a full suite of sensors, was recently deployed in a U.K. quarry.

NASA is eager to share the technical details of its accomplishments, unlike the typical commercial robotics venture trying to outpace its competitors.

The DARPA Subterranean Challenge enters the homestretch as the final 8 teams are announced for the last competition event.

The robot uses a camera to see how rough the terrain is, and it uses sensors in the legs to feel how hard the walking surface is.

SLAMcore added dense 2.5D mapping capabilities to its latest software release. Robots require maps of their surroundings and the objects within it to navigate effectively – these maps can include point clouds, 2D flat maps, 2.5D dense maps (with heights), 3D maps and semantic maps that identify objects. One of the main challenges of robot…

The Robot Operating System (ROS) has played a fundamental role in the development of robots as solutions to real-world challenges in many different sectors. From warehouses and logistics, to agriculture and healthcare, ROS-based designs are delivering real value. Since its birth at Willow Garage in 2007, this flexible framework has helped thousands of robotics developers.…

Contemporary robots can move quickly. “The motors are fast, and they’re powerful,” says Sabrina Neuman. Yet in complex situations, like interactions with people, robots often don’t move quickly. “The hang up is what’s going on in the robot’s head,” she adds. Perceiving stimuli and calculating a response takes a “boatload of computation,” which limits reaction…

Boston Dynamics detailed how its Atlas and Spot robots learned to dance, including its use of choreographers and model predictive control.

WeRide, a leading autonomous vehicle company in China, has strengthened its partnership with bus maker Yutong Group, receiving $200 million in Series B1 funding.