The evolutionary success and bio-mechanics of bird legs were cited as an inspiration for a team of scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS), according to Science Daily. The team has built a robotic leg, BirdBot which is said to be more energy efficient, needing fewer motors, than previous legged robots. (16 March)
Source (in Spanish):
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220316145744.htm
Robots in the ruins of Pompeii: Under a high-tech-meets-antiquity theme, the Munich-based Sűddeutsche Zeitung shared a brief clip from Reuters of robot technology at work to detect structural faults at Pompeii (31 March).
Source (in German): https://www.sueddeutsche.de/panorama/antike-trifft-auf-hightech-1.5558331
Robotics to save the Adriatic: euronews reported on an experimental use of marine robotics by InnovaMare, a joint Italian-Croatian environmental initiative, to detect and reduce the volume of plastic waste in Adriatic coastal waters (July 2021). Source (in Italian): https://it.euronews.com/2021/07/16/il-progetto-innovamare-per-salvare-l-adriatico-da-venezia-alla-puglia