Specifically, the EPFL team has developed a gelatinous actuator, the component of robots that make them move. And rather than rely on a mechanical motor or external power source, these actuators use liquids and air that react to chemicals. Each segmented actuator is roughly 4 cm in length and, as you can see in the image above, curl to one side when activated. This allows a single actuator to crawl -- inchworm-style -- through the digestive tract or, working in tandem, create a crude gripper. These actuators can also be paired with small digestible batteries, cameras and sensor equipment, all of which is already available, to create a truly edible robot.

Messaging app Viber has introduced a new feature called'Secret Chats', designed to protect users from the prying eyes of CIA agents. It takes tips from Snapchat, with messages self-destructing after a specific amount of time, which users set themselves. Secret Chats also features screenshot restrictions. Only iOS users can capture screenshots of conversations, and Viber will notify users when this happens. The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session A man looks at an exhibit entitled'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Electrification Guru Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart talks about the electric Jaguar I-PACE concept SUV before it was unveiled before the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S The Jaguar I-PACE Concept car is the start of a new era for Jaguar.

The various pieces of technology that are in our lives could hand over our most personal information to hackers, the UK's most elite cyber security chiefs have warned. Smart phones, watches, televisions, and fitness trackers all collect information on their users that could be used to extort money from people or pose as them. An increasing amount of internet-connected deivces around the home allow hackers far more powerto use "aggressive" and "confrontational" tactics, according to a new report from the Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the National Crime Agency (NCA). It highlights the huge amount of personal information that those gadgets contain. Each of them has data including people's photos, personal messages and fitness information – which could be turned on their ownersm, according to the experts.

Google Home, the smart home speaker launched by the tech giant last year, is about to become available in the UK. The voice controlled assistant powered by artificial intelligence and which is a rival to the Amazon Echo is scheduled to be available for UK buyers in the second quarter of the year, it's been revealed. Not content with being the surprise headline of Mobile World Congress (after Nokia's 3310) with the launch of its voice assistant on many of the new phones being unveiled at the event, Google's flagship product which uses Google Assistant is also making waves. It's the first indication of Google's ambitions to expand Google Home beyond US shores, where it launched in October It comes hot on the heels of Amazon's Echo launch in the UK just before Christmas, signalling an escalating rivalry in the battle to own the connected home. Further details have not been revealed, such as the exact date it will be available, where it will go on sale, and the price.

A crash resistant drone has been developed by researchers who say they were inspired by the properties of insect wings. The external frame of the drone is flexible and bends without breaking, but it locks around an internal case with magnets - making it rigid during flight. Experiments showed that the frame of the drone withstood roughly 50 collisions with no permanent damage. The drone, designed by researchers at the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) and the Floreano Lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), is a soft quadcopter that doesn't break during collisions. Its design was modeled after the dual stiffness properties of insects wings.

Intel is slated to launch self-driving test vehicles in Europe later this year as part of its new venture after acquiring Israeli tech company Mobileye. The cars the chipmaker will use are from BMW, another partner in this big project. On Monday, Intel revealed that it has agreed to purchase Mobileye -- a company known for its autonomous driving, anti-collision and other driving solutions -- for $15.3 billion. The announcement is seen as a desperate move by the renowned chipmaker to venture into the autonomous-driving sector after missing its chance to enter the mobile phones industry, as per Reuters. The combination of Intel and Mobileye is deemed fitting for both companies have what it takes to create top-of-the-line technologies for driverless vehicles.

The NHS is testing a new artificially intelligent chatbot app that it hopes will offer an alternative to the non-emergency 111 helpline. The bot will allow users to enter their symptoms and get advice immediately right on their smartphones. The idea is to offer the health advice service to ease the number of calls to 111, which may otherwise be resolved with a few simple answers from the app. The 111 helpline has been subject to criticism for unanswered calls, failing to identify serious conditions and inappropriate advice. This service is mostly manned by non medical professionals who often answer questions using a script anyway.

Nine of top 20 UK fintech deals were completed post-referendum, with investment totalling $368 million, according to a new report by Startupbootcamp's London fintech programme in conjunction with PwC. As a testament to the strength of the UK fintech market, the report also revealed that today's British fintech start-up works on a robust model that puts customers first through an investment into technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). Fintech start-ups are increasingly focusing on building smarter, faster machines as they seek to gain a better understanding of artificial intelligence and its potential to solve customer problems. This according to data compiled from hundred of start-ups and financial services companies, which also reveals that almost one in seven applications to the Startupbootcamp incubator programme in 2016 looked to build new prototypes, many of which were focused on AI and machine learning. Over the past few years, the focus on AI and machine learning has been driven by a need to further understand and develop the technology with no clear concept of how to implement it in daily life, according to the report.

Households have spent £180m over the past three years on spare power capacity that was never used, according to a report that comes as MPs prepare to debate what can be done about rising energy bills. Power stations have been put on standby over the winter since 2014 as part of the National Grid's supplemental balancing reserve but the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) has found that the scheme, which closed in February, was never used. The thinktank said a new scheme to be introduced this winter would see the annual cost jump to £387m. Jonathan Marshall, energy analyst at the ECIU, said: "The clear message from this report is that paying to boost spare capacity in Britain's electricity system can be very expensive and potentially unnecessary." He calculated that increasing the capacity margin, the percentage difference between electricity supply and demand, would be extremely costly. The margin was 6.6% last winter, prompting a Lords committee last month to call for it to be boosted to 10%.

Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel, Harald Krueger, CEO of German car maker BMW and Amnon Shashua, co-founder, chairman and CTO Mobileye NV, pose after a press conference in Munich on July 1, 2016. As the automotive industry races to commercialize automated driving by the turn of the decade, the number of real power players in the space is rapidly consolidating. The latest move is Intel's acquisition of Israeli machine vision leader Mobileye for $15.3 billion. If completed, the deal may finally put Intel in a strong position in a new market after it has struggled in recent years to break into new new territory beyond its deteriorating stronghold in PC chips. Founded 1999, Mobileye is the undisputed global market leader for the image processing systems that are increasingly becoming standard equipment on new vehicles and will be essential to making self-driving vehicles work.