Video Friday is your weekly selection of amazing robotics videos collected by your friends ieee spectrum Robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your programs for inclusion.
World Robot Summit: 10-12 October 2025, Osaka, Japan
IROS 2025: 19-25 October 2025, Hangzhou, China
Enjoy today’s video!
There are two things about this video on Boston Dynamics’ grippers that I really appreciate. First, building a gripper taking into account that the robot will inevitably fall on it, because I’ve been seeing a lot of delicate-looking five-fingered hands on humanoids and I’m very skeptical of their ruggedness. And second, understanding that not only is a five-fingered hand unnecessary for most tasks, but robotic hands are not constrained by the range of motion of a human hand.
, boston dynamics ,
Yes, okay, it’s a fancy-looking robot, but I’m still stuck on what useful, practical things it can do reliably and cost-effectively and safely.
– YouTubeyoutu.be
, Shape ,
Life on Earth has evolved in constant relation to gravity, yet we rarely consider how profoundly it shapes living systems, unless we imagine a place without it. In microgravity, pink oyster mushrooms grow inside a custom-built bioreactor mounted on a KUKA robotic arm. Inspired by NASA’s Random Positioning Machines, the robot’s programmed movements simulate altered gravity. Over time, sculptural mushrooms emerge, shaped by their environment without a stable gravitational direction.
, microgravity ,
A new technological advancement provides robotic systems with a natural sense of touch without additional skins or sensors. With advanced force sensing and deep learning, this robot can sense where you touch, recognize symbols, and even use virtual buttons – paving the way for more natural and flexible human-robot interaction.
, science robotics ,
Thank you, Madged!
Introduction of Mini Paper Maker hey SantaWhich can be yours for less than $60.
I think humanoid robotics companies are starting to realize that they need to differentiate themselves somehow.
, deep robotics ,
Drone swarm displays—simultaneous, expressive aerial displays based on music—have emerged as a captivating application of modern robotics. Yet designing smooth, safe choreography is a complex task that requires expert knowledge. We present SwarmGPT, a language-based choreographer that leverages the reasoning power of large language models (LLMs) to streamline drone display design.
, swarmgpt ,
Dr. Mark Drelos, assistant professor of robotics and ophthalmology, received the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s New Innovator Award for a project aimed at improving how to conduct delicate microsurgery by scaling tissue to a size where surgeons can “walk across the retina” in virtual reality and operate on the tissue as if “plucking leaves.”
The complex mechanisms of the most sophisticated laboratory on Mars are revealed in episode 4 of the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin series, called “Sample Processing”.
There is currently a market for used industrial robots, and it makes me wonder what will happen next. Did anyone use humanoids?
, kuka ,
On October 2, 2025, the 10th “Can We Build Baymax?” Workshop Part 10: What Can We Create Today? and BYOB (Bring Your Own Baymax) was held in Seoul, Korea. To celebrate the 10th anniversary, Baymax featured a special message from his character designer, Jin Kim.
, baymax ,
I’m sharing this only to declare that iRobot has gone too far with its product names: Meet the “Roomba® Max 705 Combo Robot + AutoWash™ Dock.”
, iRobot ,
Navigation Team Lead, Daniel Piedrahita, presents his team’s recent work to rebuild Digit’s navigation stack, including a significant upgrade to Fustep path planning.
, agility robotics ,
A lot of videos from ICRA@40 have just been posted, and here are some of my favorites.
, ICRA@40 ,
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