It turns out Tesla's camera-vision-only approach to self-driving is no match for a Wile E. Coyote-style fake wall. Earlier this week, former NASA engineer and YouTuber Mark Rober posted a video where he tried to see if he could trick a Tesla Model Y using its Autopilot driver-assist function into driving through a Styrofoam wall disguised to look like part of the road in front of it. The Tesla hurls towards the wall at 40 mph and, rather than stopping, plows straight through it, leaving a giant hole. "It turns out my Tesla is less Road Runner, more Wile E. Coyote," Rober says as he inspects the damage on the front hood. The video, posted only a couple days ago, had racked up over 20 million views by Wednesday morning.

With rapid advancements in exoskeleton hardware technologies, successful assessment and accurate control remain challenging. This study introduces a modular sensor-based system to enhance biomechanical evaluation and control in lower-limb exoskeletons, utilizing advanced sensor technologies and fuzzy logic. We aim to surpass the limitations of current biomechanical evaluation methods confined to laboratories and to address the high costs and complexity of exoskeleton control systems. The system integrates inertial measurement units, force-sensitive resistors, and load cells into instrumented crutches and 3D-printed insoles. These components function both independently and collectively to capture comprehensive biomechanical data, including the anteroposterior center of pressure and crutch ground reaction forces. This data is processed through a central unit using fuzzy logic algorithms for real-time gait phase estimation and exoskeleton control. Validation experiments with three participants, benchmarked against gold-standard motion capture and force plate technologies, demonstrate our system's capability for reliable gait phase detection and precise biomechanical measurements. By offering our designs open-source and integrating cost-effective technologies, this study advances wearable robotics and promotes broader innovation and adoption in exoskeleton research.

A one-legged robot that can stand, hop and keep its balance on sloping or unsteady surfaces could offer a cheaper route to bipedal bots and self-balancing exoskeletons. Researchers at the Toyota Technological Institute (TTI) in Nagoya, Japan, built their robot, dubbed TTI Hopper, using simple motors and gears for less than $1000, then created an algorithm that compensates for the limited capabilities of these components. "In robotics, we sometimes use hydraulics, because they can be actuated fast," says Barkan Uğurlu, who is now at Özyeğin University in Istanbul, Turkey. "Or electric actuators that have a special spring arrangement or a strain gauge to measure forces inside. Instead, we used DC motors with gears. We only measure the joint angle, and we only used one very low-cost force sensor at the foot."

In principle, the debate we're having is how to make Artificial Intelligence more human, more ethical, and how to treat it once it's achieved that. How do we get computers to live up to our standards? But the experience we are actually living seems to be going in the exact opposite direction. The AIs coming to market are designed to help us remove the burden of our humanity. That doesn't require them to "think" – it requires them to help us to stop thinking.

Beginning in February, Microsoft plans to offer a new feature for young students: Immersive Reader dictation, a new feature within Office 365 apps for Windows and the Mac. As a parent of two elementary school students, though, I'm concerned this feature will be an unwelcome crutch. Microsoft is pushing dictation onto Word for Mac, iPhone, Outlook Desktop, OneNote iPad, and OneNote Mac. Even though I write about technology for a living, I'm sort of feeling my way through applying it toward parenting. Is a smart speaker an annoyance or a learning aid?

Researchers are working on soft wearable robots that could one day turn us all into cyborgs. The risk of unregulated artificial intelligence (AI) is widely debated. Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking have repeatedly issued warnings. Musk has even said that AI is the biggest risk we face as a civilization. The argument is as follows.

There's a reason you've never seen fully autonomous exoskeletons that help the disabled walk without crutches: Building one is crazy hard. But the founders of a Paris-based startup called Wandercraft are uniquely qualified to do it. They're roboticists who happen to have loved ones in wheelchairs, giving them both the expertise and motivation to develop an exoskeleton that helps users walk again. After years of development, they're nearly ready to show it to the public, following a round of promising patient trials. Wandercraft ran successful preliminary trials with a handful of clients using "Atalante," its latest prototype.

Paralyzed from the waist down after a BMX accident, Steven Sanchez rolled into SuitX's Berkeley, California, office in a wheelchair. A half-hour later he was standing and walking thanks to the Phoenix--a robotic exoskeleton now available for around $40,000. The suit returns movement to wearers' hips and knees with small motors attached to standard orthotics. Wearers can control the movement of each leg and walk at up to 1.1 miles per hour by pushing buttons integrated into a pair of crutches. At 27 pounds, the Phoenix is among the lightest and cheapest medical exoskeletons.

Graduating university represents the culmination of years of hard work for most, but for Canberra man and paraplegic Paul Jenkins it marked something much more. Mr Jenkins has spent the past six months training in an exoskeleton device and on Tuesday realised his dream of walking on stage at Parliament House and accepting his two bachelor degrees from the University of Canberra. Paul Jenkins, left paralysed by a motorcycle accident, is the first person in Australia approved under the NDIS to use a robotic walker that allows him to walk with the help of crutches. Counter-terrorism police are investigating links to terrorism in the stabbing death of a man in Queanbeyan, New South Wales. Police hunt for two teenagers after a service station worker was stabbed to death near the ACT border on Thursday night.

Arthur Renowitzky can't help but command attention as he walks down the street on a sunny autumn morning. A driver lowers her window to flash a smile and a thumbs-up. "You got this," she says. Renowitzky has been paralyzed since 2007 after being shot in the chest for $20 and a fake gold chain. But he can stand and walk, using crutches for balance, when wearing an exoskeleton suit with motorized hips and knees powering his movements.