Autonomous

Nightmare fuel? Maybe – but in a historic moment for the dental profession, an AI-controlled autonomous robot has performed an entire procedure on a human patient for the first time, about eight times faster than a human dentist could do it.

Clear Robotics is expanding its fleet of autonomous marine trash collectors. Its Class 3 vessel boasts more onboard storage capacity plus towed barge potential for extended cleanup operations, and has also been designed to tackle invasive weeds.

Back in 2020, Open Ocean Engineering launched an autonomous vessel designed to clear plastic waste from local waterways. After partnering with Razer last year for a radical redesign, a sleeker Clearbot has now started patrolling Hong Kong waters.

Back in January, we covered an autonomous plastic trash collector called Clearbot that was designed to remove waste from local waterways. Now the startup behind the project has partnered with gaming titan Razer for an updated design.

In the not-too-distant future, folks dealing with oil spills may have a robotic helper to call on.

Curious about what's living on the deep sea floor? Well, the Autosub6000 AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle) is helping us find out. It's claimed to be far more effective at identifying deep-sea life than the usual approach of scientific trawling.

The sheer density of the rainforests in Australia's far-north can create a complex task for local conservationists. Now researchers have developed two mini helicopters capable of hunting down dangerous weeds from the air, significantly reducing the resources needed to preserve local plant life.

Last week, two Project Tango smartphones were delivered to the ISS. The sensor-filled phones will be used to create a detailed 3D map of the spacecraft, which will then help two soccer ball-sized, free-flying satellites autonomously navigate through some very tight spots.

The ESA has tested a novel system that may allow the agency to safely land rovers on Mars using a quadcopter-like dropship. A fully automated, proof of concept Skycrane prototype was created with hardware largely derived from commercially available quadcopter components.

Although hippos may look slow and docile, they're actually very aggressive. So, it would follow that you wouldn't want to swim anywhere near them. That's why when researchers wanted to study the effects of hippo dung on water quality, they sent in autonomous air boats instead of people.

Trained dogs can do a lot of things, but one thing that they can’t do in all situations is hear commands made their handlers. That’s why scientists at Alabama’s Auburn University have created a control system to guide them.

Google has acquired Makani Power, a Alameda, California-based startup whose Airborne Wind Turbine (AWT) technology first caught our interest in 2011.