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”.

Dec 29, 2025 · Some of the world's most advanced robots showed off their skills at tech shows and sporting events, doing everything from cooking shrimp to running half marathons

Apr 9, 2025 · A hopping, insect-sized robot can jump over gaps or obstacles, traverse rough, slippery, or slanted surfaces, and perform aerial acrobatic maneuvers, while using a fraction of …

Jul 24, 2025 · A vision-based control system called Neural Jacobian Fields enables soft and rigid robots to learn self-supervised motion control using only a monocular camera. The system, …

Jun 5, 2025 · A new system enables a robot to “think ahead” and consider thousands of potential motion plans simultaneously, allowing the robot to solve a multistep problem in a few seconds.

Apr 24, 2025 · MIT roboticists developed a way to cut through data noise and help robots focus on the features in a scene that are most relevant for assisting humans. The system could be …

Dec 19, 2025 · Robot, know thyself: New vision-based system teaches machines to understand their bodies Neural Jacobian Fields, developed by MIT CSAIL researchers, can learn to …

Jan 28, 2025 · MIT Associate Professor Luca Carlone works to give robots a more human-like perception of their environment, so they can interact with people safely and seamlessly.

Apr 2, 2025 · SPROUT is a flexible robot built by MIT Lincoln Laboratory and Notre Dame researchers to assist in disaster response. Emergency responders can use the robot to …

Dec 3, 2025 · MIT researchers developed an aerial microrobot that can fly with speed and agility comparable to real insects. The research opens the door to future bug-sized robots that could …