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To demonstrate how a new force-sensing control scheme he designed was able to detect the contact and instantly stop the robot, Sami Haddadin once attached a knife to a robot manipulator and programmed it to impale his arm. Which it didn't.…

This delicate smudge in deep space is far more turbulent than it first appears. Known as IRAS 14348-1447 — a name derived in part from that of its discoverer, the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS for short) — this celestial object…

To build a whirligig: Thread a loop of twine through two holes in a button. Grab the loop ends, then rhythmically pull. As the twine coils and uncoils, the button spins at a dizzying speed. Now, using the same mechanical principles,…

Billed as China's first human-like robot, Jia Jia was first trotted out last year by a team of engineers at the University of Science and Technology of China. 'Jia Jia' can hold a simple conversation and make specific facial expressions…

iPhone and PlayStation 3 hacker George Hotz teased a project that sounded like a dream in late 2015: his new company would produce a $1,000 consumer product that could grant your car semi-autonomous capabilities. Eleven months and one terse…

A change to the night sky that will be visible to the naked eye has been predicted by Calvin College professor Larry Molnar and his students along with colleagues from Apache Point Observatory (Karen Kinemuchi) and the University of Wyoming…

Researchers have suggested that the Moon, our planet's constant companion for some 4.5 billion years, may have been forged by a rash of smaller bodies smashing into an embryonic Earth. Such a bombardment birth would explain a major…

Say hello to a material sensing smartphone using SCiO by Consumer Physics. It's a miniaturized near-infrared spectrometer, which detects the molecular signature of things, said The Verge. R. Colin Johnson, advanced technology editor, EE…