Michigan Robotics News | Michigan Robotics

The SPPIRO robot, a soft origami in-pipe robot, shown inside a section of pipe.

An earthworm-inspired robot to inspect complex pipelines

June 9, 2026

An untethered robot can crawl along pipelines and maneuver around sharp turns and tight junctions to detect potential defects before they lead to costly failures.

A researcher wearing motorized knee exoskeletons on both legs ascends a flight of stairs.

Knee exoskeletons to relieve arthritis pain, preserve mobility

June 1, 2026

Extending a motorized brace approach to take the load off arthritic knees, a U-M research team shifts from boosting strength to reducing joint contact forces.

Athena Lieu and a volunteer from Michigan Technological University at a FIRST Robotics Competition in Escanaba, Michigan.

FIRST Robotics alumni help Michigan teams from Escanaba to Detroit

May 28, 2026

Michigan students who grew up in FIRST Robotics travel across the state to give back by mentoring and volunteering with teams from Detroit, the Upper Peninsula, and even Ohio.

A simulated warehouse environment shows a red robotic arm picking boxes from shelves above a control console with a serial-number display, score and timer monitors, and red, blue, and green buttons used by a human operator.

Do robots need bodies? UMSI researchers say it depends

May 27, 2026

UMSI researchers challenge the assumption that virtual robot representations yield the same human responses as physically present robots, arguing the field should focus on when virtual alternatives are appropriate.

Boston Dynamics Spot robot quadruped walks up industrial staircase.

Robots and AI to help shipbuilding stay on track

May 11, 2026

American and Japanese researchers will develop robots and AI to help shipbuilders pivot when the built ship deviates from the planned design.

Volunteers pose in front of a FIRST Robotics banner at a competition.

robotics community

Robotics Outreach Ambassadors of 2026

April 29, 2026

We honor students who are enthusiastic in outreach through their extraordinary service to the robotics community and beyond.

A group at a conference table with a man speaking and gesturing.

manufacturing robotics

Robotics, advanced manufacturing and national security Q&A

April 27, 2026

University of Michigan Engineering's Okwudire and Dawn Tilbury are providing expertise for a new Special Competitive Studies Project commission.

A sequence of eight high-speed photos showing colorful water droplets exploding upward from a tiny soft actuator membrane, captured over just 3 milliseconds.

design & soft robotics

'Spark of Color' wins soft robotics art awards

April 16, 2026

The artwork captured the explosive beauty of combustion actuators through a high-speed camera, winning two awards at the 2026 IEEE RoboSoft conference in Kanazawa, Japan.

Adam Hung, Robotics undergraduate, with a tripedal robot he developed at the Ford Robotics Building.

robotics community

Five new concentrations for undergraduate robotics major

March 17, 2026

Michigan Robotics undergraduate students can choose from five new concentrations to build depth in perception, dynamics, hardware, human-robot interaction, or full stack systems.

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