In 2018, researchers at MIT and the auto manufacturer BMW were testing ways in which humans and robots might work in close proximity to assemble car parts. In a replica of a factory floor setting, the team rigged up a robot on rails, designed to deliver parts between work stations. Meanwhile, human workers crossed its…
Materials Informatics Reveals New Class of Super-Hard Alloys
A new method of discovering materials using data analytics and electron microscopy has found a new class of extremely hard alloys. Such materials could potentially withstand severe impact from projectiles, thereby providing better protection of soldiers in combat. Researchers from Lehigh University describe the method and findings in an article, “Materials Informatics For the Screening…
UAFS, ABB introduce inaugural Youth Apprenticeship Program
The University of Arkansas – Fort Smith has partnered with ABB to introduce the first Youth Apprenticeship Program for advanced manufacturing in the state of Arkansas. The collaborative program was launched at the Fort Smith Area Chamber of Commerce Signing Day on May 3 when nine students from six local high schools officially joined ABB […]
Carbon-Neutral Fuel Made from Sunlight and Air
Researchers from ETH Zurich have developed a novel technology that produces liquid hydrocarbon fuels exclusively from sunlight and air. For the first time worldwide they demonstrate the entire thermochemical process chain under real field conditions. The new solar mini-refinery is located on the roof of ETH’s Machine Laboratory building in Zurich. Carbon-neutral fuels are crucial…
Additive Manufacturing Users Group names Technical Competition Winners
The Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) recognized excellence in additive manufacturing (AM) with the selection of winners in its annual Technical Competition. From 17 entries displayed at the annual AMUG Conference, a panel of industry veterans selected Erika Berg of Carbon, Maddie Frank of the University of Wisconsin, and Bill Braune of Met-L-Flo as the […]
Carnegie Mellon Researchers Develop Semi-Liquid Metal Anode for Next-Generation Batteries
Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University’s Mellon College of Science and College of Engineering have developed a semiliquid lithium metal-based anode that represents a new paradigm in battery design. Lithium batteries made using this new electrode type could have a higher capacity and be much safer than typical lithium metal-based batteries that use lithium foil as…
Penn Engineers Design Nanostructured Diamond Metalens for Compact Quantum Technologies
At the chemical level, diamonds are no more than carbon atoms aligned in a precise, three-dimensional (3D) crystal lattice. However, even a seemingly flawless diamond contains defects: spots in that lattice where a carbon atom is missing or has been replaced by something else. Some of these defects are highly desirable; they trap individual electrons…
Researchers ‘Stretch’ the Ability of 2D Materials to Change Technology
Two-dimensional (2D) materials – as thin as a single layer of atoms – have intrigued scientists with their flexibility, elasticity, and unique electronic properties, as first discovered in materials such as graphene in 2004. Some of these materials can be especially susceptible to changes in their material properties as they are stretched and pulled. Under…
Roboats, autonomous boats from MIT and AMS Institute, can connect for different applications
MIT and the Advanced Metropolitan Solutions Institute in Amsterdam have developed “roboats,” autonomous boats that can connect for a variety of uses. Researchers are scaling up their designs to be more stable.
Carnegie Mellon Robot, Art Project To Land on Moon in 2021
Carnegie Mellon University is going to the moon, sending a robotic rover and an intricately designed arts package that will land in July 2021. The four-wheeled robot is being developed by a CMU team led by William “Red” Whittaker, professor in the Robotics Institute. Equipped with video cameras, it will be one of the first American…
XPRIZE releases fiction anthology to inspire engineers for World Oceans Day
Robotics developers and the general public can find inspiration for exploring the oceans in a new fiction anthology from XPRIZE entitled Current Futures: A Sci-Fi Ocean Anthology.
Myomo scales up production, training for MyoPro device for upper-body mobility
Myomo is working with contract manufacturers for its MyoPro assistive devices, which use sensors, algorithms, and motors to help wearers regain upper-limb function.
Stanford Develops an Experimental Process to Rinse Heavy Metals from Toxic Soils
When poisonous heavy metals like lead and cadmium escape from factories or mines, they can pollute the nearby soil. With no easy ways to remove these contaminants, fields must be cordoned off to prevent these toxins from entering the food chain where they threaten human and animal health. An experimental process to remove heavy metal…
Do Sensors Make Infrastructure Safer?
Simply driving down the road gives you a sense for the current state of our infrastructure: crumbling and in need of repair. Aside from retrofitting or replacing current infrastructure with new construction and materials, new technology like sensors offers a way for inspectors to peer inside the systems almost continuously. But just placing a sensor…
Chip Design Drastically Reduces Energy Needed to Compute with Light
MIT researchers have developed a novel “photonic” chip that uses light instead of electricity — and consumes relatively little power in the process. The chip could be used to process massive neural networks millions of times more efficiently than today’s classical computers do. Neural networks are machine-learning models that are widely used for such tasks…
A Virtual Substrate Opens Path to Oxide Films on Silicon for Application in 5G, MEMS, Sensors and Quantum Computation
Proof that a new ability to grow thin films of an important class of materials called complex oxides will, for the first time, make these materials commercially feasible, according to Penn State materials scientists. Complex oxides are crystals with a composition that typically consists of oxygen and at least two other, different elements. In their…
Researchers Develop Superconducting Quantum Refrigerator
Imagine a refrigerator so cold it could turn atoms into their quantum states, giving them unique properties that defy the rules of classical physics. In a paper published in Physical Review Applied, Andrew Jordan, professor of physics at the University of Rochester, and his graduate student Sreenath Manikandan, along with their colleague Francesco Giazotto from the…
Chemists Could Make ‘Smart Glass’ Smarter by Manipulating it at the Nanoscale
“Smart glass,” an energy-efficiency product found in newer windows of cars, buildings and airplanes, slowly changes between transparent and tinted at the flip of a switch. “Slowly” is the operative word; typical smart glass takes several minutes to reach its darkened state, and many cycles between light and dark tend to degrade the tinting quality…
Inexpensive Chip-Size Satellites Orbit Earth
A decade ago, while still a Ph.D. student at Cornell University, Zac Manchester imagined building chip-scale satellites that might work together to study Earth or explore space. On June 3, as NASA Ames Research Center announces the successful deployment of the largest swarm of ChipSats in history, Manchester, now an assistant professor at Stanford, is…
Cracking Open the Black Box of Automated Machine Learning
Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have developed an interactive tool that, for the first time, lets users see and control how automated machine-learning systems work. The aim is to build confidence in these systems and find ways to improve them. Designing a machine-learning model for a certain task—such as image classification, disease diagnoses, and stock…
Festo displays innovations ranging from robots to adaptive grippers at Robotics Summit DeviceTalks Boston
If you’re attending the Robotics Summit/DeviceTalks Boston 2019, look for Festo solutions that reduce engineering effort for state-of-the-art robotic systems — including laboratory automation. Festo will also show a hands-on bionic learning kit at Booth #216 for middle and high school students. Topping off its display, Festo will fly its Bionic Learning Network flying insects…
UC Berkeley develops Salto hopping robot as agile scout for the U.S. Army
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — In a research project for the U.S. Army, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, developed an agile robot called Salto that looks like a Star Wars Imperial walker in miniature and may be able to aid in scouting and search-and-rescue operations. Robots like this may one day be used…
Texas A&M Researcher Makes Breakthrough Discovery in Stretchable Electronics Materials
With a wide range of healthcare, energy and military applications, stretchable electronics are revered for their ability to be compressed, twisted and conformed to uneven surfaces without losing functionality. By using the elasticity of polymers such as silicone, these emerging technologies are made to move in ways that mimic skin. This sheds light on why…
Omron donates new design and robotics laboratory to U. of Houston engineering college
The University of Houston’s Cullen College of Engineering recently unveiled a cutting-edge laboratory donated by the Omron Foundation, the charitable arm of automation solutions provider Omron in the United States. Designed for electrical and computer engineering students, the lab includes advanced technologies and equipment donated by Omron. At the lab’s opening ceremony, UH faculty and […]
Inventor of binder jet 3D printing receives SME Industry Achievement Award
Professor Emanuel “Ely” Sachs, inventor of binder jetting and co-founder of Desktop Metal, was awarded the 2019 SME Industry Achievement Award, announced during RAPID + TCT 2019 in Detroit. “SME’s Additive Manufacturing Community established the Industry Achievement Award more than a decade ago to recognize leaders who have made a significant impact in additive manufacturing,” […]