Object pose estimation is a critical task in robotics for precise object manipulation. However, current techniques heavily rely on a reference 3D object, limiting their generalizability and making it expensive to expand to new object categories. Direct pose predictions also provide limited information for robotic grasping without referencing the 3D model. Keypoint-based methods offer intrinsic descriptiveness without relying on an exact 3D model, but they may lack consistency and accuracy. To address these challenges, this paper proposes ShapeShift, a superquadric-based framework for object pose estimation that predicts the object's pose relative to a primitive shape which is fitted to the object. The proposed framework offers intrinsic descriptiveness and the ability to generalize to arbitrary geometric shapes beyond the training set.

Scientists from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory ( CSAIL) and the University of Calgary have developed a modular robot system that can morph into different shapes. ElectroVoxels don't have any motors or moving parts. Instead, they use electromagnets to shift around each other. Each edge of an ElectroVoxel cube is an electromagnetic ferrite core wrapped with copper wire. The length of each ElectroVoxel side is around 60 millimeters.

MIT's fleet of robotic boats has been updated with new capabilities to "shapeshift," by autonomously disconnecting and reassembling into a variety of configurations, to form floating structures in Amsterdam's many canals. The autonomous boats -- rectangular hulls equipped with sensors, thrusters, microcontrollers, GPS modules, cameras, and other hardware -- are being developed as part of the ongoing "Roboat" project between MIT and the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS Institute). The project is led by MIT professors Carlo Ratti, Daniela Rus, Dennis Frenchman, and Andrew Whittle. In the future, Amsterdam wants the roboats to cruise its 165 winding canals, transporting goods and people, collecting trash, or self-assembling into "pop-up" platforms -- such as bridges and stages -- to help relieve congestion on the city's busy streets. In 2016, MIT researchers tested a roboat prototype that could move forward, backward, and laterally along a preprogrammed path in the canals.

Scientists have developed a new test that scans the shapes of tumour cells to pick out women with especially aggressive ovarian cancer, so treatment can be tailored to their needs. A team at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, created an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that looks for clusters of cells within tumours with misshapen nuclei – the control centres within each cell. Women identified with these clusters of shapeshifting cells had extremely aggressive disease – with only 15 per cent surviving for five years or more, compared with 53 per cent for other patients with the disease. The researchers found that having misshapen nuclei was an indication that the DNA of cancer cells had become unstable – and believe it could in future help doctors to select the best treatment for each patient. Cancers with misshapen cell nuclei had hidden weaknesses in their ability to repair DNA, which could make them susceptible to drugs called PARP inhibitors or platinum chemotherapy.

It may sound like something from an episode of Game of Thrones, but Japanese researchers have revealed an indoor robot called DRAGON that can'shapeshift' in mid air. DRAGON, short for'Dual-rotor embedded multilink Robot with the Ability of multi-deGree-of-freedom aerial transformatiON,' can transform into multiple shapes including a square and a snake. There are not many indoor aerial robots due to constraints coming from door frames, as well as various hazards including windows and furniture. Roboticists in Tokyo developed a robot called DRAGON that can fly indoors. DRAGON counters these hazards by having technology that allows it to transform autonomously based on the constraints of space it needs to pass through.