Topic description and stories

Inflatable, shape-changing spinal implants could help treat severe pain

25 Jun 2021

A team of engineers and clinicians has developed an ultra-thin, inflatable device that can be used to treat the most severe forms of pain without the...

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A good egg: robot chef trained to make omelettes

01 Jun 2020

A team of engineers have trained a robot to prepare an omelette, all the way from cracking the eggs to plating the finished dish, and refined the ‘...

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A robot arm picking lettuces

Robot uses machine learning to harvest lettuce

08 Jul 2019

A vegetable-picking robot that uses machine learning to identify and harvest a commonplace, but challenging, agricultural crop has been developed by...

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Android

Scientists identify possible source of the ‘Uncanny Valley’ in the brain

01 Jul 2019

Scientists have identified mechanisms in the human brain that could help explain the phenomenon of the ‘Uncanny Valley’ – the unsettling feeling we...

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AI: Life in the age of intelligent machines

22 Feb 2019

In a new film, leading Cambridge University researchers discuss the far-reaching advances offered by artificial intelligence – and consider the...

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Puppy, a running robot developed by Fumiya Iida’s team

Robots can go all the way to Mars, but they can’t pick up the groceries

21 Dec 2018

In the popular imagination, robots have been portrayed alternatively as friendly companions or existential threat. But while robots are becoming...

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Robot hand playing the piano

3D-printed robot hand ‘plays’ the piano

19 Dec 2018

Scientists have developed a 3D-printed robotic hand which can play simple musical phrases on the piano by just moving its wrist. And while the robot...

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Humans need not apply

05 Jul 2018

Will automation, AI and robotics mean a jobless future, or will their productivity free us to innovate and explore? Is the impact of new technologies...

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Deckard

Opinion: Could we build a Blade Runner-style 'replicant'?

05 Oct 2017

Could replicants ever be a reality? In this article from The Conversation , Fumiya Iida (Department of Engineering) discusses what it would take to...

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Opinion: Robots and AI could soon have feelings, hopes and rights … we must prepare for the reckoning

28 Feb 2017

Is artificial intelligence a benign and liberating influence on our lives – or should we fear an impending rise of the machines? And what rights...

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Still from Pain in the Machine

Pain in the machine: a Cambridge Shorts film

02 Nov 2016

The pain we experience as humans has physical and emotional components. Could we develop a machine that feels pain a similar way – and would we want...

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World travel and communications recorded on Twitter

Talkin' 'bout a revolution: how to make the digital world work for us

03 Oct 2016

The digital revolution is one of the great social transformations of our time. How can we make the most of it, and also minimise and manage its risks...

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