MIT researchers developed a picking robot that combines vision with radio frequency (RF) sensing to find and grasps objects, even if they're hidden from view. The technology could aid fulfilment in e-commerce warehouses. System uses penetrative radio frequency to pinpoint items, even when they're hidden from view. In recent years, robots have gained artificial vision, touch, and even smell. "Researchers have been giving robots human-like perception," says MIT Associate Professor Fadel Adib.

In recent years, robots have gained artificial vision, touch, and even smell. "Researchers have been giving robots human-like perception," says MIT Associate Professor Fadel Adib. In a new paper, Adib's team is pushing the technology a step further. "We're trying to give robots superhuman perception," he says. The researchers have developed a robot that uses radio waves, which can pass through walls, to sense occluded objects.

At some point in your life, you've probably used a combination of sight and touch to find something hidden beneath your couch cushions. And for a while now, robotics researchers have tried to give their creations that same capability. Back in 2019, a team of scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) used a combination of tactile sensors and AI to allow a robot to identify objects by touch. A separate group of scientists from MIT has now built a machine that can find things it can't see initially. The aptly named RF Grasp depends on a wrist-mounted camera and an RF reader to hone in and pick up an object.