Tech Briefs

Motion Control/​Automation

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Access our comprehensive library of technical briefs on motion control and automation, from engineering experts at NASA and major government, university, and commercial laboratories.

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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Grasping objects is a problem that is easy for a human, but challenging for a robot. Researchers designed a soft, 3D-printed robotic hand that cannot independently move its fingers but can still carry out a range of complex movements.
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Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
One of the strategies to combat the mounds of waste found in oceans — especially around coral reefs — is to employ robots to master the cleanup. However, existing underwater robots are mostly bulky with rigid bodies, unable to explore and sample in complex and unstructured environments, and are noisy due to electrical motors or hydraulic pumps.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Researchers in Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute have designed a system that makes an off-the-shelf quadruped robot nimble enough to walk a narrow balance beam — a feat that is likely the first of its kind.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Looking to give robots a more nimble, human-like touch, MIT engineers have now developed a gripper that grasps by reflex. Rather than start from scratch after a failed attempt, the robot adapts in the moment.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Researchers have invented a new kind of walking robot that takes advantage of dynamic instability to navigate. By changing the flexibility of the couplings, the robot can be made to turn without the need for complex computational control systems.
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have introduced a method for robust flight navigation agents to master vision-based fly-to-target tasks in intricate, unfamiliar environments.
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Briefs: Wearables
A brain-machine interface coupled with robot offers increased benefits for stroke survivors.
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Researchers from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) have developed biosensor technology that will allow you to operate devices, such as robots and machines, solely through thought-control.
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Briefs: Design
Researchers have demonstrated a caterpillar-like soft robot that can move forward, backward, and even dip under narrow spaces. Its movement is driven by a novel pattern of silver nanowires.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Researchers at Columbia Engineering have demonstrated a highly dexterous robot hand, one that combines an advanced sense of touch with motor learning algorithms in order to achieve a high level of dexterity.
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Briefs: Motion Control
The tiny motors mimic how rock climbers navigate inclines.
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A catalytic reaction causes a two-dimensional, chemically coated sheet to spontaneously morph into a three-dimensional gear.
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Briefs: Imaging
Inspired by the human finger, MIT researchers have developed a robotic hand that uses high-resolution touch sensing to accurately identify an object after grasping it just one time.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Researchers from MIT’s Improbable Artificial Intelligence Lab have developed a legged robotic system that can dribble a soccer ball under the same conditions as humans.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Roboticists have been using a technique similar to origami to develop autonomous machines out of thin, flexible sheets. These lightweight robots are simpler and cheaper to make and more compact for easier storage and transport.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Teaching Robots How to Predict Human Preferences in Assembly Tasks
USC Viterbi computer science researchers aim to teach robots how to predict human preferences in assembly tasks, so they can one day help out on everything from building a satellite to setting a table.
Briefs: Motion Control
Achievable coils increase the capabilities of the micromotors.
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
The skin could help rehabilitation and enhance virtual reality by instantaneously adapting to a wearer's movements.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Ornithological animals have always benefited from folding their wings during upstroke. So, a Swedish-Swiss research team has constructed a robotic wing that can flap like a bird.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
A team of MIT engineers is designing a kit of universal robotic parts that an astronaut could easily mix and match to rapidly configure different robot “species” to fit various lunar missions.
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Briefs: Design
The new robot, developed by engineers at the University of Waterloo, uses ultraviolet (UV) light and magnetic force to move on any surface, even up walls and across ceilings.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
A team of researchers has designed a new system of fluid-driven actuators that enable soft robots to achieve more complex motions. The researchers accomplished this by taking advantage of the very thing — viscosity — that had previously stymied the movement of such robots.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
The technology could be useful in manufacturing and assembly plants for sorting packages, or in any environment where humans and robots collaborate.
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Briefs: Software
Interactive program aids motion planning for environments with obstacles.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Researchers have developed a quadrupedal robot control technology that can walk robustly with agility even in deformable terrain such as sandy beach.
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Briefs: Design
A Terminator-style shape-shifting robot able to LIQUEFY and reform has been developed by engineers inspired by sea cucumbers.
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Briefs: AR/AI
A Data-Driven Framework for Testing the Safety of Legged Robots
When it comes to the evolution of mobile robots, it may be a long time before legged robots are able to safely interact in the real world, according to a new study.
Briefs: Design
MIT engineers have come up with an innovative approach to building deformable underwater robots, using simple repeating substructures instead of unique components.
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Briefs: Design
The piezoelectric “meta-bot” is capable of propulsion, movement, sensing, and decision-making.
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