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”.

Jul 10, 2025 · Robots are helping humans in a growing number of places – from archaeological sites to disaster zones and sewers. The most recent robotic inventions can entertain people in care homes …

2 days ago · New tool from MIT CSAIL creates realistic virtual kitchens and living rooms where simulated robots can interact with models of real-world objects, scaling up training data for robot …

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 the energy …

Nov 30, 2020 · RoboGrammar is a new system that automates and optimizes robot design. The system, developed at MIT, creates arthropod-inspired robots for traversing a variety of terrains. It could …

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 navigate and map areas …

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.

Jul 23, 2025 · From R2D2 to the Terminator via Bender and Johnny-5, we choose our favourite robots from books, films and television series

Mar 25, 2024 · MIT engineers aim to give robots a bit of common sense when faced with situations that push them off their trained path, so they can self-correct after missteps and carry on with their …

Dec 12, 2024 · Teaching a robot its limits for open-ended chores MIT CSAIL The researchers’ method uses an LLM pre-trained on text from across the internet. Before asking PRoC3S to do a task, the …