INSIDER

Machine Intelligence to Build Soft Machines

Soft machines — a subcategory of robotics that uses deformable materials instead of rigid links — are an emerging technology commonly used in wearable robotics and biomimetics (e.g.,...

Microdrones With Light-Driven Nanomotors

Physicists at the University of Würzburg have propelled micrometer-sized drones significantly smaller than red blood cells, exerting precise control, using only light.

Waist Belt Pulley Aids Impaired Walkers

Findings by researchers at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) describe a novel way to reduce the energy people spend to walk, as much as by half, which could have applications for therapy...

Fast Low-Cost Sensor Prototyping for Wearable Technology

Engineers at UC Berkeley have developed a new technique for making sensors for wearable technology that enables medical researchers to prototype-test new designs much faster and at a...

Atomic Scale Semiconductor Chips — Pushing the Limits

The information age created over nearly 60 years has given the world the internet, smart phones, and lightning-fast computers. Making this possible has been the doubling of the number...

Perovskite High-Performance Transistors Can Be Printed

A Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) research team has improved the performance of a p-type semiconductor transistor using inorganic metal halide perovskite. One of...

Piezoelectric Polymers

A Penn State-led team of interdisciplinary researchers have developed a polymer with robust piezoelectric effectiveness, resulting in 60% more efficient electricity generation than previous iterations.

Artificial Heart Studied with a Biohybrid Fish

The first fully autonomous biohybrid fish from human stem-cell-derived cardiac muscle cells has been developed by Harvard University researchers in collaboration with colleagues from Emory...

Lidar Technology — MEMS Chip Gives Record Resolution

High-resolution solid-state lidar using an array of MEMS switches will reduce its cost to match that of inexpensive, chip-based cameras and radar systems — removing a major barrier to...

Micromobility Modes Could Replace One-Fifth of Short Car Trips

Carnegie Mellon University's Corey Harper, an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Heinz School of Public Policy, led a study that...

Crane Safety Equation

Crane operators at a construction site can be guided to safely and quickly transport heavy loads using an equation derived from studying the motion of a tortional pendulum.

Smart Grid for Stable, Reliable Electricity Supply

The largest ever simulation of its kind, modeled on the Texas power grid, concluded that consumers stand to save about 15 percent on their annual electric bills by partnering with...

Smart Lighting Controls for Greenhouses Reduce Costs

A new, internet-connected lighting system for greenhouses could sharply reduce a farmer’s electrical bill, according to a study by University of Georgia researchers.

Sustainable Energy using “Information Batteries”

Renewable energy has an intermittency problem — the sun provides no power at night, while winds can stop suddenly.

Wind Turbine Enhances Electrical Grid Stability

In a milestone for renewable energy integration, General Electric (GE) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) operated a common class of wind turbines in grid-forming mode, which...

Lunar Flashlight to Search for Water on the Moon

When thirsty residents of a permanent community on the Moon take a swig of fresh water brought in from the lunar south pole, they’ll be enjoying the benefits of a 30-pound spacecraft known...

Plans Proceeding to Ramp Up L3-HAPLS Performance

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and ELI-Beamlines in the Czech Republic have reached a major agreement that will build on the relationship between the two organizations and ramp...

NIST Creates Strobe Light to Test 5G Resonators

Inside every cellphone is a tiny mechanical heart, beating several billion times a second. These micromechanical resonators play an essential role in cellphone communication. Buffeted by the...

New Products

Two-Axis Laser Scan Head Aerotech Inc. (Pittsburgh, PA) has released the AGV-XPO, a high-dynamic, two-axis laser scan head that combines low-inertia, high-efficiency motors with ultra-high resolution position feedback and...

Flying Robots, the Size of Insects, Have Flapping Wings

This new advance could pave the way for smaller, lighter, and more effective micro flying robots for environmental monitoring, search and rescue, and deployment in hazardous...

Artificial Intelligence Guides Drones to Navigate Oceans

Engineers at Caltech, ETH Zurich, and Harvard are developing artificial intelligence (AI) that will allow autonomous drones to use ocean currents to aid their navigation, rather than...

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is Based on da Vinci Aerial Screw Design

In the fifteenth century, artist and engineer Leonardo da Vinci envisioned a craft that flew using a single helix-shaped propeller — the aerial screw — viewed by many as...

Low-Cost Radio System Could Help Trace Disease Spread

In efforts to limit the spread of disease while preserving privacy, an interdisciplinary research team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has designed and...

Fabricating Stable, High-Mobility Transistors for Next-generation Display Technologies

The trade-off between carrier mobility and stability in amorphous oxide semiconductor-based thin film transistors (TFTs) has been finally overcome by...

New Photonic Effect Could Speed Drug Development

Twisted nanoscale semiconductors manipulate light in a new way. This effect could be harnessed to accelerate the discovery and development of life-saving medicines as well as photonic...

Biosensors Using Field-Effect Transistors Show Great Promise

Demand for sensitive and selective electronic biosensors — analytical devices that monitor a target of interest in real time — is growing for a wide range of applications....

Extending Quadcopter Flight Time — By Adding Wings

It might be tiny, but Peter Ryseck’s Mini QBIT offers hobbyists some serious fun — and could help foster new innovations in the field of unmanned aviation.

Method to Create Upward Water Fountain in Deep Water

A pair of University of Houston engineers has discovered that they can create upward fountains in water by shining laser beams on the water’s surface. Jiming Bao, professor of...

Stanford Engineers Create Perching Bird-Like Robot

Like snowflakes, no two branches are alike. They can differ in size, shape, and texture; some might be wet or moss-covered or bursting with offshoots. And yet birds can land on just about...