The rapidly increasing aging population will lead to a shortage of care providers in the future. While robotic technologies are a potential alternative, their widespread use is limited by poor acceptance. In a new study, researchers have examined a user-centric approach to understand the factors influencing user willingness among caregivers and recipients in Japan, Ireland, and Finland. Users’ perspectives can aid the development of home-care robots with better acceptance.
Robots are increasingly being used in manufacturing, agriculture and health care. But programming a team of robots to carry out individual tasks raises a question: How can robots learn from other robots if they are built differently? A multi-institutional team including Chongjie Zhang, an associate professor of computer science and…
Would you trust a robot to look after your cat? New research suggests it takes more than a carefully designed robot to care for your cat, the environment in which they operate is also vital, as well as human interaction.
Today's robots are stuck—their bodies are usually closed systems that can neither grow nor self-repair, nor adapt to their environment. Now, scientists at Columbia University have developed robots that can physically "grow," "heal," and improve themselves by integrating material from their environment or from other robots.