AI tools could help eliminate human bias in forensic investigations, say UCL scientists, who are using eye-tracking technology to study decision-making in skeletal analysis and crime scene examinations

Advances in generative AI mean fake images, videos, audio and bots are now everywhere. But studies have revealed the best ways to tell if something is real

It can be difficult to spot AI generated videos known as deepfakes, but there are ways to spot one if you know what to look for

As misinformation about the upcoming US elections rockets across social media, creating chaos, companies need to be honest about where this content is coming from, says Annalee Newitz

Supremacy, a new book from tech journalist Parmy Olson, takes us inside the rise of machine learning and AI, and examines the people behind it

Cyborg: A documentary tells the intriguing story of Neil Harbisson, who wears an antenna to “hear” colour, but it is lacking in depth and should have probed its subject more, says Simon Ings

Archaeologists are using AI and US spy satellite imagery from the cold war to find ancient underground aqueducts that helped humans survive in the desert

A new design for a nuclear battery that generates electricity from the radioactive decay of americium is unprecedentedly efficient

A quantum computing protocol makes it possible to extract energy from seemingly empty space, teleport it to a new location, then store it for later use

We're trying to avert Judgment Day yet again – this time in an anime series for Netflix. But striking visuals can't make up for shortcomings in narrative and character development

Google, Microsoft and others have taken big steps towards error-free devices, hinting that quantum computers that solve real problems aren’t far away

If artificial intelligence chatbots are fine-tuned to improve their responses using human feedback, they can become more likely to give deceptive answers that seem right but aren’t

Hurricane Helene hit a quartz mine in North Carolina that is key to global semiconductor production, which could impact the entire tech industry. Here is everything we know so far

The 2024 Nobel prize in physics has gone to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton for discoveries that enabled machine learning and are key to the development of artificial intelligence models like ChatGPT

Gears just a few micrometres wide can be carved from silicon using a beam of electrons, enabling tiny robots or machines that could interact with human cells

The UK government's decision to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius surprisingly threatens the extinction of millions of website addresses ending in ".io", and no one is quite sure what will happen next

A type of mathematical problem that was previously impossible to solve can now be successfully analysed with artificial intelligence

Google DeepMind has been using its AI watermarking method on Gemini chatbot responses for months – and now it’s making the tool available to any AI developer

Researchers have managed to encode enormous amounts of information, including images, into DNA at a rate hundreds of times faster than was previously possible

A new supercapacitor design that uses only water, clay and graphene could source material on Mars and be more sustainable and accessible than traditional batteries

A specialised algorithm could help autonomous vehicles track hidden objects, such as a pedestrian, a bicycle or another vehicle concealed behind a parked car

Just under 5 per cent of the Wikipedia pages in English that have been published since ChatGPT's release seem to include AI-written content

Seven major datasets used to train audio-generating AI models are three times more likely to use the words "man" or "men" than "woman" or "women", raising fears of bias

The finale doesn’t look to provide a definitive answer to what drove Aaron’s actions, much to the show’s credit.

Express Sport writers have decided who should replace Gary Lineker

There has been another shock at the Grand Slam of Darts.

Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker has sealed a new agreement with the BBC just hours after his exit was confirmed.

PGMOL chief Howard Webb has responded after referee David Coote was suspended for comments he appeared to make in a video.

Emma Raducanu struck a deal to return to one of her favourite tournaments.

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.

IROS 2024: 14–18 October 2024, ABU DHABI, UAE

ICSR 2024: 23–26 October 2024, ODENSE, DENMARK

Cybathlon 2024: 25–27 October 2024, ZURICH

Humanoids 2024: 22–24 November 2024, NANCY, FRANCE

Enjoy today’s videos!

Not even ladders can keep you safe from quadruped robots anymore.

[ ETH Zürich Robot Systems Lab ]

Introducing Azi (right), the new desktop robot from Engineered Arts Ltd. Azi and Ameca are having a little chat, demonstrating their wide range of expressive capabilities. Engineered Arts desktop robots feature 32 actuators, 27 for facial control alone, and 5 for the neck. They include AI conversational ability including GPT-4o support which makes them great robotic companions.

[ Engineered Arts ]

Quadruped robots that individual researchers can build by themselves are crucial for expanding the scope of research due to their high scalability and customizability. In this study, we develop a metal quadruped robot MEVIUS, that can be constructed and assembled using only materials ordered through e-commerce. We have considered the minimum set of components required for a quadruped robot, employing metal machining, sheet metal welding, and off-the-shelf components only.

[ MEVIUS from JSK Robotics Laboratory ]

Thanks Kento!

Avian perching maneuvers are one of the most frequent and agile flight scenarios, where highly optimized flight trajectories, produced by rapid wing and tail morphing that generate high angular rates and accelerations, reduce kinetic energy at impact. Here, we use optimal control methods on an avian-inspired drone with morphing wing and tail to test a recent hypothesis derived from perching maneuver experiments of Harris’ hawks that birds minimize the distance flown at high angles of attack to dissipate kinetic energy before impact.

[ EPFL Laboratory of Intelligent Systems ]

The earliest signs of bearing failures are inaudible to you, but not to Spot . Introducing acoustic vibration sensing—Automate ultrasonic inspections of rotating equipment to keep your factory humming.

The only thing I want to know is whether Spot is programmed to actually do that cute little tilt when using its acoustic sensors.

[ Boston Dynamics ]

Hear from Jonathan Hurst, our co-founder and Chief Robot Officer, why legs are ideally suited for Digit’s work.

[ Agility Robotics ]

I don’t think “IP67” really does this justice.

[ ANYbotics ]

This paper presents a teleportation system with floating robotic arms that traverse parallel cables to perform long-distance manipulation. The system benefits from the cable-based infrastructure, which is easy to set up and cost-effective with expandable workspace range.

[ EPFL ]

It seems to be just renderings for now, but here’s the next version of Fourier’s humanoid.

[ Fourier ]

Happy Oktoberfest from Dino Robotics!

[ Dino Robotics ]

This paper introduces a learning-based low-level controller for quadcopters, which adaptively controls quadcopters with significant variations in mass, size, and actuator capabilities. Our approach leverages a combination of imitation learning and reinforcement learning, creating a fast-adapting and general control framework for quadcopters that eliminates the need for precise model estimation or manual tuning.

[ HiPeR Lab ]

Parkour poses a significant challenge for legged robots, requiring navigation through complex environments with agility and precision based on limited sensory inputs. In this work, we introduce a novel method for training end-to-end visual policies, from depth pixels to robot control commands, to achieve agile and safe quadruped locomotion.

[ SoloParkour ]

As we share our truths and witness each other's, we build unity and community.

Oakland's mayor and district attorney were both sent packing in a recall vote. Leaders in other Democratic-run cities should take notice.

They were the ten words that sealed the comeback deal for Donald Trump.

An insider reveals the famed aviation company's apparent change of heart.

EA FC 25 players have a whole new Team of the Week to grind for, and there are some fantastic cards among them, including Sporting CP's hotshot striker Viktor Gyokeres.

Black Ops 6 is here, and fans have been itching to know what's included in Season 1 - and now we have an answer. Here's what's included, and when you can play

Call of Duty fans are impressed by Black Ops 6 Season 1 already, calling it the 'best Season 1 roadmap' since 2019's Modern Warfare reboot and you can find out below why they're saying it

One fan has been rebuilding Final Fantasy 8 but it's not going quickly enough for some people who suggested they cut out things like relationships to focus on the game.

Overwatch 2 is bringing 6v6 gameplay back from Overwatch 1 - and fans are overjoyed. Here's all we know so far, including when you can finally play the Classic mode

Black Ops 6 is here, and it's Black Ops 2's anniversary, so what better time than to rank the Call of Duty Black Ops titles? Here's our ranking of every mainline version.

Pikachu ex, found in the new Pokemon TCG set Surging Sparks, has seen its value soar with players spending over $500 for the latest card. Here's why.

More than 80 per cent of B.C.'s water basins are experiencing level 4 or 5 drought conditions, with salmon in many parts of the province struggling to make it to their spawning grounds.

NASA said Thursday that the study of UFOs will require new scientific techniques, including advanced satellites as well as a shift in how unexplained sightings are perceived.

In this week's issue of our environment newsletter, we look at the carbon capture potential of the world's oceans and what effect beavers are having in the Arctic (spoiler: it's not good).

Researchers calculated that if 30 per cent of vehicles in Chicago currently running on combustion engines were converted to electric, the reduction in pollution would save billions in health care costs every year. 

As artificial intelligence becomes more common in university classrooms, some professors are weighing the benefits — and downsides — of students using it for research projects.

A pediatrician, author and co-inventor of a low-cost COVID-19 vaccine warns that the anti-vaccine movement has morphed into a political force that threatens the world's gains against deadly childhood infections like measles.

The Health and Human Services Department employs 294 people whose jobs focus on diversity, and the department maintains seven separate "minority health" offices spread across its various agencies, according to a new report that suggests it will be tough for the incoming Trump administration to unwind it all.