Blog

My Opinion: Sometimes, When Competitors Collaborate, Everybody Wins

How can competitors both win when working together? Read on to find out SAE Media Group's Ed Brown's opinion on the matter.

Hopping Robots to Traverse Challenging Terrain

The hopping robot, which is smaller than a human thumb and weighs less than a paperclip, has a springy leg that propels it off the ground and four flapping-wing modules that give it lift and control its orientation.

Electronics-Free Robots Straight from the 3D Printer

Imagine a robot that can walk, without electronics, and only with the addition of a cartridge of compressed gas, right off the 3D-printer. It can also be printed in one go, from one material. That is exactly what roboticists have achieved in robots developed at the University of California San Diego.

A New Model that Addresses the ‘Outfielder Problem’

The work addresses the outfielder problem, which refers to the baseball player who stands in the outfield to catch the ball after it is hit. It is a classic challenge in physics and the neuroscience of movement, used to explore how humans and animals predict movements in a dynamic environment and how automated systems can be designed to mimic them.

A Bionic Hand that Can Grip Like a Human

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.

How MXenes Can Improve Air Filtration

An interdisciplinary team of researchers has introduced a new way to improve textile-based filters by coating them with a type of two-dimensional nanomaterial called MXene.

Maintaining Quantum Characteristics, Even in 3D Materials

An international team has developed a novel approach to maintain special quantum characteristics, even in 3D materials.

A Neuromorphic Exposure Control System to Revolutionize Machine Vision in Extreme Lighting Environments

A research team has recently developed a neuromorphic exposure control system that revolutionizes machine vision under extreme lighting variations.

Artificial Muscles Could Lead to Soft, Wiggly Robots

A team has developed a method to grow artificial muscle tissue that twitches and flexes in multiple coordinated directions. As a demonstration, they grew an artificial, muscle-powered structure that pulls both concentrically and radially.

This AI Can Tell You Your Food’s Nutritional Value

An AI system developed by NYU Tandon School of Engineering researchers promises a new tool for the millions of people who want to manage their weight, diabetes, and other diet-related health conditions.

A Better-Performing Sodium-Ion Cathode

A cathode material put forward by the Dincă Group, a layered organic solid called bis-tetraaminobenzoquinone (TAQ), outperforms traditional lithium-ion cathodes in both energy and power densities in a technology that is truly scalable.

Fighting Fire with Electrically Assisted Wind

This device works to suppress flames using the power of conductive aerosols, small particles that can direct electricity.

A Compact, Versatile Robot Capable of Maneuvering Tight Spaces with a Heavy Payload

Researchers at EPFL and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems have developed a compact and versatile robot that can maneuver through tight spaces and transport payloads much heavier than itself.

Using MRIs to Detect Metal-Ion Dissolution in Lithium Battery Cathodes

Researchers have been working on a method to detect and investigate the dissolution of the metal ion in a cathode. Using nuclear MRI, they were able to directly observe the dissolution in real time. Read on to learn more.

New AI Algorithm Could Lead to Truly Autonomous AI

Researchers have developed a new AI algorithm, called Torque Clustering, that is much closer to natural intelligence than current methods. It significantly improves how AI systems learn and uncover patterns in data independently, without human guidance.

My Opinion: How to Succeed — Advice from Researchers Who Did

Paying attention to what successful researchers have to say about their process is a good way to get ideas about what it takes to be successful in research and development.

Transmitting Power Through the Body

To free wearable tech from their burdens, researchers developed Power-over-Skin, which allows electricity to travel through the human body and could one day power battery-free devices from head to toe.

Transporting Electricity Through Air via Ultrasonic Waves

Researchers have uncovered a way of transporting electricity through air by ultrasonic waves. The level of control of electric sparks enables them to be guided around obstacles, or to hit specific spots, even into non-conductive materials.

Autonomous Navigation for Drones

Researchers have introduced a new approach, MiFly, that enables a drone to self-localize in indoor, dark, and low-visibility environments.

Mass 3D Printing in Space for the First Time

Auxilium Biotechnologies has successfully deployed its 3D bioprinter aboard the ISS. The platform is the first of its kind, making history by printing eight implantable medical devices simultaneously in just two hours.

Using Embodied Energy to Power Modular Worms and Jellyfish

A modular worm robot built by the Organic Robotics Lab and a jellyfish that was a collaboration with the Archer Group, both in Cornell Engineering, demonstrate the benefits of “embodied energy.”

A Yarn-Like Seawater Battery

Researchers have developed a yarn-like battery prototype that works when immersed in seawater.

A New Shape-Changing Polymer for Better Soft Material Construction

A team of scientists has created a new shape-changing polymer that could transform how future soft materials are constructed.

Designing Robotic Insects for Mechanical Pollination

MIT researchers are developing robotic insects that could someday swarm out of mechanical hives to rapidly perform precise pollination.

A More Responsive Infrared Photodiode

Researchers have developed a new type of infrared photodiode that is 35 percent more responsive at 1.55 µm, the key wavelength for telecommunications, compared to other germanium-based components.

So CUTE! New Wearable Device Creates Unprecedented Haptic Sensations

Researchers have developed cutaneous electrohydraulic (CUTE) wearable devices to greatly expand the haptic sensations that can be created by future consumer products.

A Safer, More Efficient Lithium Metal Battery

A research team from DGIST has developed a lithium metal battery using a “triple-layer solid polymer electrolyte” that offers greatly enhanced fire safety and an extended lifespan.

Quoth the RAVEN: I Can Fly Like a Bird

RAVEN (Robotic Avian-inspired Vehicle for multiple ENvironments) is designed based on perching birds that frequently switch between air and land. Its multifunctional robotic legs allow it to take off autonomously in environments previously inaccessible to winged drones.

My Opinion: There’s a Practical Way to Fix the Electric Grid Bottleneck

There will be a surging need for more electric power in the coming years. The problem is that we will quickly need to upgrade the grid to provide for it. Reconductoring can be a good start.