See the products of tomorrow, including seals that actively self-clean in a continuous or periodic manner; a method to grow artificial muscle tissue that twitches and flexes in multiple coordinated directions; and a compact and versatile robot that can maneuver through tight spaces and transport payloads much heavier than itself.
Johns Hopkins University engineers have developed a pioneering prosthetic hand that can grip plush toys, water bottles, and other everyday objects like a human, carefully conforming and adjusting its grasp to avoid damaging or mishandling whatever it holds.
See the products of tomorrow, including a nanorobotic hand made of DNA that can grab viruses for detection or inhibition developed at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; a new and improved wearable ultrasound patch for continuous and noninvasive blood pressure monitoring developed at the University of California San Diego; and soft and intelligent sensor materials based on ceramic particles developed at Empa’s Laboratory for High-Performance Ceramics.
Watch this video to learn more about three new robotic technologies: A soft robot developed at NC State University; a pair of wearable robotic limbs developed by MIT engineers; and a camera inspired by the human eye developed at the University of Maryland.
Researchers at the German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research in Göttingen, have developed a novel training protocol for brain-computer interfaces in a...
New research from the University of Massachusetts Amherst pushes forward the bounds of stroke recovery with a unique robotic hip exoskeleton, designed as a training tool to improve walking function. This invites the possibility of new therapies that are more accessible and easier to translate from practice to daily life. Read on to learn more.
Eva Baur, a Ph.D. student, used 3D-printed double network granular elastomers (DNGEs) to print a prototype ‘finger,’ complete with rigid ‘bones’ surrounded by flexible ‘flesh.’ The finger was printed to deform in a pre-defined way, demonstrating the technology’s potential to manufacture devices that are sufficiently supple to bend and stretch, while remaining firm enough to manipulate objects. Read on to learn more.
Researchers have demonstrated a new method that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and computer simulations to train robotic exoskeletons to autonomously help users save energy while walking, running, and climbing stairs.
Advances in soft robotics manufacturing…high‐speed microscale 3D printing…solving the challenges of manufacturing microbatteries. Read about these and other innovations in this compendium of...
The soft-robotic prototype, driven by strong magnets controlled by a wearable external actuator, can aid patients suffering from blockages caused by tumors or those requiring stents.
AM/3D Printing is fundamentally changing how products are prototyped and produced in aerospace, defense, medical and many other fields. To help you keep pace with the latest advances, we present this...
A research paper by scientists at the University of Coimbra proposed a soft robotic hand comprising soft actuator cores and an exoskeleton, featuring a multimaterial design aided by finite element analysis to define the hand geometry and promote finger’s bendability.
Although the robot braille reader was not developed as an assistive technology, the researchers say the high sensitivity required to read braille makes it an ideal test in the development of robot hands or prosthetics with comparable sensitivity to human fingertips.
A team of Georgia Tech researchers in Aaron Young’s lab has developed a universal approach to controlling robotic exoskeletons that requires no training, no calibration, and no adjustments to complicated algorithms. Instead, users can don the “exo” and go.
Taking inspiration from origami, MIT engineers have now designed a medical patch that can be folded around minimally invasive surgical tools and delivered through airways, intestines, and other narrow spaces, to patch up internal injuries.
This advancement, one of the first of its kind, enables a useful new capability for a variety of applications, including improved prostheses, haptics for new modalities in augmented reality (AR), and thermally modulated therapeutics for applications such as pain management. The technology also has a variety of potential industrial and research applications.
A first-of-its-kind robotic glove is lending a “hand” and providing hope to piano players who have suffered a disabling stroke. Developed by researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, the soft robotic hand exoskeleton uses artificial intelligence to improve hand dexterity.
People who received gentle electric currents on the back of their heads learned to maneuver a robotic surgery tool in virtual reality and then in a real setting...
A new soft sensor developed by UBC and Honda researchers opens the door to a wide range of applications in robotics and prosthetics. When applied to the surface of a prosthetic arm or a robotic limb, the sensor skin provides touch sensitivity and dexterity, enabling tasks that can be difficult for machines such as picking up a piece of soft fruit.
NeuroPair’s Fibermag treatment — which aims to help patients of Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) recover — took home the distinguished honor on Friday, November 10 in the heart of New York City.
Robotic prosthetic ankles that are controlled by nerve impulses allow amputees to move more “naturally,” improving their stability, according to a new study from North...
This past year’s Technology and Society articles in Tech Briefs magazine describe different ways engineers are making significant contributions to improving our lives.
Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a robotic gripping device that is gentle, strong, dexterous, and precise enough to pick up microfilms that are 20 times thinner than a human hair.
Prosthetic technology has seen incredible advancements over the past three decades, but the socket, one of the device’s most important parts, has remained relatively unchanged.