Most fictional portrayals of technology today are not as optimistic as they used to be. Indeed, public and political conceptions about artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are being strongly shaped by the relentless dystopianism of modern science fiction novels, movies and television shows. And we are worse off for it.

Played by humans, chess is a game of strategic thinking, calm concentration and patient intellectual endeavour. Violence does not usually come into it. The same, it seems, cannot always be said of machines. Last week, according to Russian media outlets, a chess-playing robot, apparently unsettled by the quick responses of a seven-year-old boy, unceremoniously grabbed and broke his finger during a match at the Moscow Open.

The benefits of animal therapy for memory and mental health are well documented. Some agencies are using realistic robotic pets as a therapeutic tool for memory care in older adults. Now, researchers have developed a new protocol for the use of robotic animals to aid in memory care.

Discovering how animals learn to walk and learn from stumbling was the goal of a study carried out by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS). They created a four-legged, canine-sized robot to aid them in comprehending the specifics.

As every athletic or fashion-conscious person knows, our body image is not always accurate or realistic, but it's an important piece of information that determines how we function in the world. When you get dressed or play ball, your brain is constantly planning ahead so that you can move your body without bumping, tripping, or falling over.

More than 800 new robot friends are moving into new residences with older folks in New York. The ElliQ bots, according to a recent article in Smithsonian Magazine, were created to help elderly individuals who live alone. ElliQ functions similarly to Alexa and Siri in that it can make small conversation, create reminders, and answer queries.

Autonomous Raspberry Pi robots navigate their environment without bumping into things. Using an ultrasonic sensor, such as the HC-SR04, to detect obstacles is a fairly common tool for Pi-based robots and cars but this robot car project, created by maker and developer エス ラボ (S Lab), is going even further by mapping out a room with the help of a LiDAR sensor.

Hollywood has created a pantheon of iconic cyborgs, including the Six Million Dollar Man, RoboCop, and the Terminator. Depending on their objectives, these hybrids either strove to ruin or preserve civilization. The same thing that fascinates people about them is how they blurred the borders between humans and robots in ways that have never happened before but may happen in the future.

The state of New York will distribute robot companions to the homes of more than 800 older adults. The robots are not able to help with physical tasks, but function as more proactive versions of digital assistants like Siri or Alexa — engaging users in small talk, helping contact love ones, and keeping track of health goals like exercise and medication.

If you shook hands with a robot today, it would feel no different to grabbing a cold hunk of metal. But one day, it may not be much different from shaking hands with a fellow human.

According to the South China Morning Post, a fully-automated cloning process now exists, and it apparently works like a charm. In fact, in a slightly brutal blow to human scientists, the AI-powered system is alleged to have drastically reduced the amount of error seen during manual cloning attempts. Created by researchers at the University of Nankai's College of Artificial Intelligence, this tech — which the scientists tell the newspaper facilitated the birth of seven piglets via surrogate sow, without any human involvement — could potentially lead to commercialized cloning becoming a norm.

Modern robots are becoming increasingly significant in security, agriculture, and manufacturing. Researchers are now attempting to imbue these robots with a human-like sense of touch.

Orders for workplace robots increased by 40 per cent in the first three months of 2022 amid a labour shortage in the US, according to new figures. A report by the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), first cited by the Wall Street Journal, found that orders worth $1.6bn (£1.3bn) were placed between January and March.

The next raspberries you eat might have been picked by a Kraken-like four-armed robot, rather than a human. Fruit harvested by what is believed to be the world’s first raspberry-picking robot in commercial operation is now on sale in British supermarkets.

Dyson has been getting into more and more offbeat products these days, like the Zone noise-canceling headphones that blow purified air at your face. Now, the company has revealed that it has an entire division that's secretly been developing robot prototypes that do household chores.

Ai-Da Robot, the world's first ultra-realistic humanoid robot artist, recently opened its first solo exhibition at the Concilio Europeo Dell'Arte venue of the InParadiso Gallery. Titled Leaping Into The Metaverse, the exhibition explores the interface between human experience and AI technology.

Imagine a future in which lonely people can interact with social bots, based on artificial intelligence (AI), to get the conversations and connection they crave. While it sounds intriguing, a small preliminary study suggests people may not be comfortable with AI companions that look and talk too much like real humans.

The robot, made by Boston Dynamics, could go to places that aren't safe for humans, Pompeii authorities say.

Stretch thus far hasn’t been nearly as high-profile as Spot. Understandably so. For one thing, it wasn’t Boston Dynamics’ first commercial robot after decades of research and development. For another, it’s designed to mostly be behind the scenes, moving boxes around out of public view. As much as anything, Spot has been a kind of brand ambassador, courting publicity and a touch of controversy for the Hyundai-owned robot maker.

Honda Motor Co.'s Asimo humanoid robot will retire on March 31, ending its 20-year career of wowing the public with walking and dancing demonstrations at a showroom at the automaker's Tokyo headquarters.