What is a robot? - New Scientist
The word “robot” was coined by the Czech writer Karel Čapek in a 1920 play called Rossum’s Universal Robots, and is derived from the Czech robota, meaning “drudgery” or “servitude”.
The 25 best fictional robots – according to New Scientist
Jul 23, 2025 · Comment The 25 best fictional robots – according to New Scientist From R2D2 to the Terminator via Bender and Johnny-5, we choose our favourite robots from books, films …
Humanoid robot learns to waltz by mirroring people's movements
Jan 16, 2025 · An AI that helps humanoid robots mirror a person’s movement could allow robots to walk, dance and fight in more convincingly human ways. The most agile and fluid robotic …
Surgical robots take step towards fully autonomous operations
Jul 9, 2025 · Technology Surgical robots take step towards fully autonomous operations An AI system trained on videos of operations successfully guided a robot to carry out gall bladder …
This robot can build anything you ask for out of blocks
Nov 12, 2024 · A robot that can create simple objects from reusable building blocks based on spoken commands could one day be used to quickly build furniture. Artificial intelligence …
Fictional female robots have a long history, and it's often quite dark
Jul 23, 2025 · Comment Fictional female robots have a long history, and it's often quite dark Sierra Greer's novel about a female robot, Annie Bot, just won a prestigious sci-fi prize, the …
Robotic pigeon reveals how birds fly without a vertical tail fin
Nov 20, 2024 · A pigeon-inspired robot has solved the mystery of how birds fly without the vertical tail fins that human-designed aircraft rely on. Its makers say the prototype could eventually …
Robots news, articles and features | New Scientist
robots Technology Remarkable robot images provide a vision of the future These photographs of humanoid robots by Henrik Spohler are part of his project Tomorrow Is the Question Regulars
Robot made from pig gelatin biodegrades when no longer needed
Feb 7, 2025 · An origami-inspired robot arm made with material from cotton plants and pigs biodegrades when no longer needed. Such a soft robot could be further developed to carry out …
Tiny insect-like robot can flip, loop and hover for up to 15 minutes
Jan 17, 2025 · An insect-inspired robot that only weighs as much as a raisin can perform acrobatics and fly for much longer than any previous insect-sized drone without falling apart. …