Traditionally convolutional neural network architectures have been designed by stacking layers on top of each other to form deeper hierarchical networks. The cortex in the brain however does not just stack layers as done in standard convolution neural networks, instead different regions are organized next to each other in a large single sheet of neurons. Biological neurons self organize to form topographic maps, where neurons encoding similar stimuli group together to form logical clusters. Here we propose new self-organization principles that allow for the formation of hierarchical cortical regions (i.e.

Building robots is an engaging activity that provides opportunities for hands-on learning. However, traditional robot-building kits are usually costly with limited functionality due to material and technology constraints. To improve the accessibility and flexibility of such kits, we take paper as the building material and extensively explore the versatility of paper-based interactions. Based on an analysis of current robot-building kits and paper-based interaction research, we propose a design space for devising paper robots. We also analyzed our building kit designs using this design space, where these kits demonstrate the potential of paper as a cost-effective material for robot building. As a starting point, our design space and building kit examples provide a guideline that inspires and informs future research and development of novel paper robot-building kits.

Traditionally convolutional neural network architectures have been designed by stacking layers on top of each other to form deeper hierarchical networks. The cortex in the brain however does not just stack layers as done in standard convolution neural networks, instead different regions are organized next to each other in a large single sheet of neurons. Biological neurons self organize to form topographic maps, where neurons encoding similar stimuli group together to form logical clusters. Here we propose new self-organization principles that allow for the formation of hierarchical cortical regions (i.e. Synaptic connections are dynamically grown and pruned, which allows us to actively constrain the number of incoming and outgoing connections.

Everyone and their dog are posting about ChatGPT, the newest AI language model by OpenAI, so I decided to check some origami-related prompts. While I am impressed by the system overall, and for many subjects it does an excellent job, paperfolding doesn't seem to be one of them at this time. As usual, watching a system fail can be more interesting than watching it succeed. Let's start off with some encyclopedic knowledge and the prompt What do you know about origami?. The response seems typical of ChatGPT in that it is mostly right and written quite convincingly.

One of the biggest challenges with swarms of robots is manufacturing and deploying the swarm itself. Even if the robots are relatively small and relatively simple, you're still dealing with a whole bunch of them, and every step in building the robots or letting them loose is multiplied over the entire number of bots in the swarm. If you've got more than a few robots to handle, it starts to get all kinds of tedious. The dream for swarm robotics is to be able to do away with all of that, and just push a button and have your swarm somehow magically appear. We're not there yet, but we're getting close: At IROS this month, researchers from the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard presented a paper demonstrating an autonomous collective robotic swarm that can be manufactured in a single flat composite sheet.

When most people look at a piece of paper, they see an unremarkable sheet of flat white material. When Polly Verity looks at piece of paper, she sees potential. Verity specializes in transforming single sheets of paper into surprising three-dimensional tessellations, a tradition of paper-folding called curved-crease origami sculpture with origins in Germany's seminal Bauhaus school of art and design. It was at the Bauhaus in the 1920s that famed artist and designer Josef Albers taught a preliminary course in "paper study." The course was designed to help students approach the humble material with its inherent limitations--its stiffness, its thinness--in mind, and to allow these limitations to inform their creativity.