Artificial Tendons
In recent years, engineers have used real muscle tissue to actuate biohybrid robots made from both living tissue and synthetic parts. But for the most part, these designs are limited in the amount of motion and power they can produce. Now, MIT engineers are aiming to give bio-bots a power lift with artificial tendons. They have developed artificial tendons made from tough and flexible hydrogel. They attached the rubber band-like tendons to either end of a small piece of lab-grown muscle, forming a “muscle-tendon unit.” Then they connected the ends of each artificial tendon to the fingers of a robotic gripper. When they stimulated the central muscle to contract, the tendons pulled the gripper’s fingers together. The robot pinched its fingers together three times faster, and with 30 times greater force, compared with the same design without the connecting tendons. The researchers envision the new muscle-tendon unit can be fit to a wide range of biohybrid robot designs, much like a universal engineering element.
Contact: Abby Abazorius
617-253-2709
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Quantum Signaling
Present-day quantum computers are big, expensive, and impractical, operating at temperatures near -459 °F, or “absolute zero.” However, materials scientists at Stanford University have introduced a new nanoscale optical device that works at room temperature to entangle the spin of photons (particles of light) and electrons to achieve quantum communication — an approach that uses the laws of quantum physics to transmit and process data. The device is made of a thin, patterned layer of molybdenum diselenide (MoSe2) atop a solid, nanopatterned substrate of silicon. Molybdenum diselenide is one of a class of materials known as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) that have favorable optical properties. The technology could usher in a new era of low-cost, low-energy quantum components able to communicate over great distances. The team is working to refine their device and exploring other TMDCs and material combinations to achieve even greater quantum performance.
Contact: Chloe Dionisio
650-723-2300
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Dust Accumulation Sensor
Innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have developed a dust sensor for use in space environments that measures surface dust accumulation more effectively and accurately than solar cell-based methods. The Planetary Accumulation of Dust Sensor (PADS) comprises a compact, puck-shaped form factor whose key component, a sensor disc, has a tunable optical coating from which dust accumulation is derived through measured changes in coating properties when heat is applied. For planned Moon and other planetary-body missions, there are significant needs to understand the impacts of the dust environment to support design, operations, performance impacts, etc., for scientific and overall mission objectives. NASA believes the PADS device will be useful for ensuring remote equipment operators and astronauts are aware of dust accumulation on mission critical components (e.g., radiators, solar arrays) that could lead to mission complications. The PADS device provides a solution to these needs in a simple, lightweight, low-power device for measurement of dust accumulation in a space-based environment.
