An ancient vase depicting the death of Talos, the bronze automaton created by the god Hephaestus to guard the island of Crete

History of Now

Was Talos, the Bronze Automaton Who Guarded the Island of Crete in Greek Myth, an Early Example of Artificial Intelligence?

The mythical sentry was depicted as thinking like a human and showing some human-like tendencies

The winning humanoid, called Tiangong Ultra, races alongside human runners. It completed a half-marathon in about 2 hours and 40 minutes.

Humanoid Robots Just Raced Alongside Human Runners in a World-First Half-Marathon. Here’s How It Went

The race, held in China on Saturday, showcases the country’s advancements in humanoid technology. Still, only 6 of the 21 robot contestants made it across the finish line

In 2024, engineers used a fluorescent protein found in some jellyfish to create a non-toxic spray that highlights fingerprints at a crime scene.

Seven Scientific Discoveries From 2024 That Could Lead to New Inventions

From indestructible tardigrades to body-merging comb jellies, animals can teach humans so much about medicine, robotics, aging and survival

The products range from programmable rovers to books that introduce the terminology of robotics and circuitry to childen.

Engineers Choose the Ten Best STEM Toys to Gift in 2024

Creative circuitry and rolling robots make up this year’s top toys for teaching kids to love science, technology, engineering and math

Ai-Da's portrait depicts Alan Turing, a pioneering computer scientist and early figure in A.I. research.

Art Meets Science

A Portrait of Alan Turing Made by an A.I.-Powered Robot Could Sell for Up to $180,000

Ai-Da creates art using A.I. algorithms, cameras and robotic arms. Her abstract painting will be the first-ever artwork made by a humanoid robot to be sold at Sotheby’s

A visualization of Tiktaalik roseae, an extinct aquatic animal with fossils that shed light on the evolution of land animals from marine animals millions of years ago.

New ‘Paleo-Robots’ Could Shed Light on Animal Evolution, Revealing How Some Fish Evolved to ‘Walk’ on Land

A team of roboticists, paleontologists and biologists are building robots to simulate crucial evolutionary developments that can’t be tested with static fossils

Mark Muhn of Team Cleveland on his way to winning the Functional Electrical Stimulation bike race in the inaugural Cybathlon in 2016. Muhn’s legs are paralyzed; the muscles in them are activated by electric signals from a controller outside of his body.

Bionic ‘Pilots’ Compete for the Gold at the Cybathlon

In the international competition, people with physical disabilities put state-of-the-art devices to the test as they race to complete the tasks of everyday life

Germany’s North and Baltic Seas are littered with munitions from the First and Second World Wars, such as shells—as shown here—once fired from German battleships.

A Massive Effort Is Underway to Rid the Baltic Sea of Sunken Bombs

The ocean became a dumping ground for weapons after Allied forces defeated the Nazis. Now a team of robots and divers is making the waters safer

Robotic kitchens aren’t on homemakers’ must-have lists yet, but they are starting to gain traction in restaurants.

Robots Are Coming to the Kitchen. What Does This Mean for Everyday Life?

Can automated restaurants still be community and cultural spaces, or will they become feeding stations for humans? These and other questions loom as new food tech reaches the market

An illustration of NASA's VIPER rover drilling on the moon

NASA Cancels VIPER Moon Mission After Spending $450 Million to Build a Rover

The project was intended to look for water ice in the shaded craters on the lunar south pole

The face's novel anchors—holes filled with gel—allow the skin to stretch into a smile without damaging itself.

Researchers Make a Smiling Robotic Face From Living Skin

The team designed a new way for their lab-grown skin to adhere to the robot’s face, in a creation that could help produce soft robots or train plastic surgeons

TOKUFASTbot solved the Rubik's Cube in just 0.305 seconds.

Robot Sets New Rubik’s Cube Speed Record, Completing the Puzzle in 0.305 Seconds

A team of Mitsubishi engineers harnessed high-speed motors and an A.I. algorithm to eclipse the previous record, set six years ago

Actor Anthony Daniels holds up the helmet he wore on the set of 1983's Return of the Jedi.

Star Wars Fans Can Soon Bid on C-3PO’s Head

Actor Anthony Daniels wore the golden helmet while playing the iconic droid in ‘Return of the Jedi’

University of Nebraska engineer Sean Crimmins loads the robotic arm into its case. A surgeon on Earth will remotely guide the robot through a surgical simulation while it is on the International Space Station.

This Remotely Controlled Robot Will Conduct a Simulated Surgery on the International Space Station

Robot surgeons could treat astronauts on long space missions—but they could also be used on Earth in places where surgeons aren’t present, such as rural areas or war zones

Gijon, an Aaron program that Cohen debuted in 2007, created jungle-like scenes—distinct from the figures created by the previous version of the software, Aaron KCAT.

The First A.I.-Generated Art Dates Back to the 1970s

A new show at the Whitney showcases the visionary who devised the art world’s first artificial intelligence

Illustration of two Caudipteryx dinosaurs drinking from a river

Scientists Build a Robot Dinosaur to Probe the Mystery of Tiny Wings

Robopteryx—a makeshift dinosaur with training wheels—offers clues to the purpose of prehistoric proto-wings, which are too small to have powered flight

The latest winner of a Japanese literary prize said she used ChatGPT to write parts of her novel.

Art Meets Science

ChatGPT Helped Write This Award-Winning Japanese Novel

After receiving the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, Rie Kudan spoke about why she used A.I. to write a portion of her work

CES 2024, the world's largest annual consumer technology trade fair, was held in Las Vegas January 9-12.

The Eight Coolest Inventions From the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show

A solar-powered electric vehicle, an at-home “multiscope,” an office bike that charges your devices and more were unveiled at the annual Las Vegas trade show

For the year 2024, here are 24 things to look forward to at the Smithsonian.

Twenty-Four Smithsonian Shows to See in 2024

Election-year items, truth serum, Nigerian art and a pioneering self-driving car are on display this year

Monarch butterflies' signature white spots could help them fly—and inspire better drones.

Seven Scientific Discoveries From 2023 That Could Lead to New Inventions

Biologists learned lots about animals and plants this year, and their findings could inspire better robots, medicine and environmental technologies

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