Ameca is an animatronic designed by UK-based Engineered Arts. Last week, Ameca received an upgrade in the form of 12 new face actuators, giving it the ability to form lifelike facial expressions. Here it is "looking" at itself in a mirror as it gurns through its repertoire of smirks, grimaces, frowns, and grins.

Rice University researchers are pioneers in the field of necrobotics—reanimating dead creatures as robots. They've demonstrated how a tiny dead wolf spider can become an air-powered gripper that can pick up tiny electronic parts from a circuit board. Video below. From IEEE Spectrum: Spiders are basically hydraulic (or pneumatic) grippers. Living spiders control their limbs… READ THE REST

During a match at the Moscow Open chess tournament, a chess-playing robot apparently grabbed and broke the finger of its 7-year-old opponent. "This is of course bad," said Sergey Lazarev, president of the Moscow Chess Federation. Of course. From The Guardian: Sergey Smagin, vice-president of the Russian Chess Federation, told [the Baza Telegram channel] the… READ THE REST

University of Tokyo researchers created a robotic finger that's covered in living human skin cells. Demo below. The technique involves soaking the robotic finger in a solution of collagen and human dermal fibroblasts, two key ingredients in skin's connective tissue. The final coat is human epidermal keratinocytes, the major cell type of skin's outer layer.… READ THE REST

We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views.  Is there anything more frustrating than muscle tension and stress? Probably not. And that's why we will go to such great lengths to mitigate our tension levels, but unfortunately, sometimes it just seems like… READ THE REST

We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views.  If you're embarking on a new scholastic journey, you might find studying from home challenging. For one, a dimly lit room doesn't make learning easy as it's terrible for your eyes… READ THE REST

We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views.  Education has changed a lot as the tides of technology have changed with it for the better (well, mostly). Scholastics are nothing new to you. However, as someone who gets a kick… READ THE REST

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