{"id":1864,"date":"2025-03-31T08:55:40","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T05:55:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/planeta21vek.ru\/eng\/?p=1864"},"modified":"2025-11-20T12:38:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T09:38:09","slug":"the-creepy-and-not-so-creepy-latest-advances-in-robotics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planeta21vek.ru\/eng\/2025\/03\/31\/the-creepy-and-not-so-creepy-latest-advances-in-robotics\/","title":{"rendered":"The Creepy and Not-So-Creepy Latest Advances in Robotics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Protoclone, an eerily lifelike humanoid robot designed for home use; a new artificial intelligence (AI)-based learning system that trains humanoid robots to rise incredibly quickly from a resting position; and a new type of robotic insect that can fly 100 times longer than previous generations are among the latest developments.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>Protoclone, an eerily lifelike humanoid robot designed for home use, has sent social media users into a frenzy. And it&#8217;s likely to be the first of many.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>A robotics company has created an eerily human-like robot that it says is the &#8220;world&#8217;s first bipedal musculoskeletal android&#8221; &#8211; and the internet hates it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Created by Polish startup Clone Robotics, the Protoclone robot is a faceless android with anatomically accurate bone structure and musculature. The android&#8217;s developers claim that it can walk, talk, and do menial household chores.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>A video posted on X&#8217;s website that quickly went viral (more than 34 million views as of January 21) shows the robot coming to life when suspended from the ceiling, its limbs twitching and contracting as artificial muscles attached to specific points on the bones kick in, allowing the skeleton to move.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>&#8220;Protoclone is a faceless, anatomically accurate synthetic human with over 200 degrees of freedom, over 1,000 myofibrils (artificial muscle fibers) and 500 sensors,&#8221; Clone Robotics wrote under the video.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2943\" src=\"https:\/\/planeta21vek.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/klon310325.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/planeta21vek.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/klon310325.jpg 650w, https:\/\/planeta21vek.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/klon310325-300x168.jpg 300w\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"365\" \/><br \/>\n<em><span>Protoclone Robot. Clone Robotics\/X<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>However, while the company is enthusiastic about its technological advances, reactions on social media range from disdain to outright hostility.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>According to Clone Robotics&#8217; website, the android operates with human-like muscular, skeletal, vascular, and nervous systems. It has 206 bones, the same as adults, made of polymers connected by artificial muscle fibers that it flexes using a pneumatic system (though the company says the final product will operate using hydraulics). To navigate its environment, the robot uses a system of sensors linked to four cameras.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>The robot is the latest in Clone Robotics&#8217; line of biomimetic products, which also includes a robotic arm and a humanoid torso. The company says the android will be available for pre-order in late 2025. No price has been announced at this time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Protoclone is far from the only humanoid robot to capture the attention of businesses and the public. California startup Figure tested its humanoid robots at a BMW plant in 2024 and plans to introduce more in 2025. Texas-based competitor Apptronik is also bringing its Apollo humanoid robot to market for use at Mercedes-Benz plants by the end of the year. Meanwhile, Agility Robotics\u2019 Digit robot is also slated to be deployed in warehouses this year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>Humanoid robots typically have trouble getting up after falling, but new research using artificial intelligence from China brings us one step closer to such machines.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Researchers in China and Hong Kong have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI)-based learning system that trains humanoid robots to rise from a resting position incredibly quickly, regardless of position or terrain.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>While the research has not yet been submitted for peer review, the team published their findings on GitHub on February 12, including a paper uploaded to the arXiv preprint database and a video showing their framework in action.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>The video shows the bipedal humanoid standing up from lying on its back, sitting against a wall, lying on a couch, and leaning back in a chair. The researchers also tested the humanoid robot&#8217;s ability to stand upright on a variety of surfaces and slopes, including a rocky path, a glass slope, and leaning against a tree.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>They even tried to hinder the robot by hitting or kicking it when it tried to stand up. In each scenario, the robot can be seen adapting to its environment and successfully standing up.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>This remarkable ability to fall and get up again is thanks to a system called Humanoid Standing-up Control (HoST). The scientists achieved this using reinforcement learning, a type of machine learning where an agent (in this case, the HoST framework) attempts to complete a task through trial and error. Basically, the robot performs an action, and if that action results in a positive outcome, it is sent a reward signal that prompts it to perform that action again the next time it finds itself in a similar state.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"602\" height=\"339\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Yruh-3CFwE4\" title=\"HoST: Learning Humanoid Standing-up Control across Diverse Postures\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>The command system was a little more complex than this, using four separate reward groups for more targeted feedback, as well as a number of movement constraints, including motion smoothing and speed limits to prevent erratic or jerky movements. Vertical thrust was also applied during initial training to help guide the early stages of the learning process.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>The HoST framework was initially trained on simulations using the Isaac Gym simulator, a physics simulation environment developed by Nvidia. Once the framework had been sufficiently trained on simulations, it was deployed on the Unitree G1 humanoid robot for experimental testing, the results of which are shown in the video.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>\u201cExperimental results with the Unitree G1 humanoid robot demonstrate smooth, stable, and robust stance movements in a variety of real-world scenarios,\u201d the researchers wrote in the study. \u201cLooking forward, this work paves the way for integrating stance control into existing humanoid systems with the potential to expand their real-world applicability.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing robotic insects that could one day fly out of mechanical hives and quickly pollinate plants, enabling unprecedented levels of fruit and vegetable production.<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<span>The new technology could dramatically increase crop yields without harming the environment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Artificial pollination is the process by which humans manually transfer pollen from one flower to another, with advances in technology such as mechanical pollination being developed. The idea of \u200b\u200busing robotic insects is not new, but the problem faced by previous generations of beetle-sized robots was their lack of stamina, speed, and versatility in the air compared to bees and other real insects.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>However, in a new paper published January 15 in the journal Science Robotics, the team showed that they can create a design with characteristics that overcome the current limitations of mechanical pollination.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>The new designs can fly 100 times longer than previous versions while being lighter and having enough space to store batteries, the scientists said. They added that the robots&#8217; precision and maneuverability were improved, and the stress on their wing bends, which is typically experienced during flight, was reduced.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Wing flex is the ability of an aircraft wing (in this case, the &#8220;bugbots&#8221;) to bend or flex. The team had to ensure that the wings of the aircraft, which are lighter than a paper clip, would not only outperform previous designs, but also perform better than their organic counterparts to revolutionize the way we grow food.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>\u201cThe flight duration we demonstrated in this paper likely exceeds the total flight duration our field has been able to accumulate with these robotic insects,\u201d co-author Kevin Chen, an assistant professor of robotics at MIT, said in a statement. \u201cWith the improved longevity and precision of this robot, we\u2019re getting closer to some very interesting applications, like assisted pollination.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2944\" src=\"https:\/\/planeta21vek.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/robot310325.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/planeta21vek.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/robot310325.jpg 768w, https:\/\/planeta21vek.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/robot310325-300x170.jpg 300w\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"435\" \/><br \/>\n<em><span>MIT scientists are creating small robotic insect drones that can pollinate vegetables and fruits. MIT<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>The team acknowledged in their paper that insect-sized drones require significant improvements over previous designs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>In MIT&#8217;s previous design, the robotic insect was made of four identical units, each with two wings. The rectangular devices were the size of a microcassette tape, and each had eight wings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>&#8220;There is no insect with eight wings. In our old design, the performance of each individual unit was always better than the performance of the assembled robot,&#8221; Chen said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Because the device didn&#8217;t look like its real-life counterpart (mostly because of the wings), it held back performance. Bees&#8217; thin pair of wings allow them to fly freely and quickly, while the robotic counterpart&#8217;s eight wings caused them to blow out too much air \u2014 reducing the robotic bee&#8217;s amount of lift.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>During testing, one student even suggested that flying this version was &#8220;the slowest 1,000 seconds he&#8217;d ever flown in his entire life.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>MIT\u2019s new design splits the robot in half. Each of the four modules has a single flapping wing pointing away from the center of the robot. This feature stabilizes its vertical motion, allowing it to fly higher than before. With half as many wings as its predecessor, the new design also provides enough storage space for the robot to carry electronic devices like batteries.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>The team also created complex signals that connected the wings to devices in the structure, mimicking the \u201cmuscles.\u201d These signals \u2014 called gears \u2014 required some adjustments to the size of the wings, but overall they were able to reduce the stress that had hampered the endurance of previous versions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Chen said there is still much work to be done to further improve the design. For example, the bee&#8217;s wings are delicately controlled by a very complex set of muscles. The team wants to integrate this level of fine-tuning in the future, along with integrating sensors, batteries, and even computing capabilities into this &#8220;bug-bot&#8221; within the next five years.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Protoclone, an eerily lifelike humanoid robot designed for home use; a new artificial intelligence (AI)-based learning system that trains humanoid robots to rise incredibly quickly from a resting position; and a new type of robotic insect that can fly 100 times longer than previous generations are among the latest developments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1865,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[533,19],"tags":[415,874,873,734],"class_list":{"0":"post-1864","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ii","8":"category-news","9":"tag-insects","10":"tag-pollination","11":"tag-robotics","12":"tag-robots"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planeta21vek.ru\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planeta21vek.ru\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planeta21vek.ru\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planeta21vek.ru\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planeta21vek.ru\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1864"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/planeta21vek.ru\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1866,"href":"https:\/\/planeta21vek.ru\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1864\/revisions\/1866"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planeta21vek.ru\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planeta21vek.ru\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planeta21vek.ru\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planeta21vek.ru\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}