Tech Briefs

A Telerobotic System to Revolutionize Hazardous Nuclear Waste Clean-Up

Because they can go where humans can’t, robots are especially suited for safely working with hazardous nuclear waste. Now, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have designed and tested a remote-controlled, dual-arm telerobotics system with human-like capabilities that has the potential to revolutionize hazardous waste clean-up and holds potential for broader applications.

Using AI to Streamline Robotic Warehouse Operations

Getting 800 robots in a warehouse to and from their destinations efficiently while keeping them from crashing into each other is no easy task. So, a group of MIT researchers who use AI to mitigate traffic congestion applied ideas from that domain to tackle this problem. Read on to learn what they built.

An Autonomous Drone Based on Animal Brains

A team of researchers at Delft University of Technology has developed a drone that flies autonomously using neuromorphic image processing and control based on the workings of animal brains.

A Solution for Energy Transfer to Heart Pumps

A team has developed a new cable system for heart pumps that doesn’t cause infections. This is particularly important given that wireless methods of transmitting power remain unavailable to patients in the foreseeable future.

AI-Based Test for Parkinson’s Disease Severity Shows Promising Results

An artificial intelligence (AI) tool developed by researchers at the University of Rochester can help people with Parkinson’s disease remotely assess the severity of their symptoms within minutes. A study in npj Digital Medicine describes the new tool, which has users tap their fingers 10 times in front of a webcam to assess motor performance on a scale of 0-4.

Portable Knee Dynamometer

Researchers at NASA Johnson Space Center have developed the Portable Knee Dynamometer, a device that enables quadricep and hamstring strength assessment, rehabilitation, and exercise capabilities for a user outside of a traditional clinical setting.

How Tough Is Your Material? 3D Images Will Tell You

John Kolinski and his team at the Laboratory of Engineering Mechanics of Soft Interfaces aim to understand how cracks propagate in brittle solids, which is essential for developing and testing safe and cost-effective composite materials for use in construction, sports, and aerospace engineering.

Self-Cleaning Coatings for Space or Earth

Electrodynamic dust shields (EDSs) are a key method to actively clean surfaces by running high voltages (but low currents) through electrodes on the surface. The forces generated by the voltage efficiently remove built-up, electrically charged dust particles. Innovators have developed a new transparent EDS for removing dust from space and lunar solar cells among other transparent surfaces.

VaCNT Makes Up a Promising Membrane Material

Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and partners carried out steroid hormone adsorption experiments to study the interplay of forces in the small pores. They found that vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VaCNT) of specific pore geometry and pore surface structure are suited for use as highly selective membranes.

Oxygen-Free Chemical Vapor Deposition Method to Make Graphene

Engineers are poised to clean things up with an oxygen-free chemical vapor deposition (OF-CVD) method that can create high-quality graphene samples at scale. Their work directly demonstrates how trace oxygen affects the growth rate of graphene and identifies the link between oxygen and graphene quality for the first time.

New Methods in Preparing and Purifying Nanomaterials

Innovators at NASA’s Glenn Research Center have made several breakthroughs in treating hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) nanomaterials, improving their properties to supplant carbon nanotubes in many applications.

Computer Vision Lends Precision to Robotic Grappling

Innovators at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) have developed computer vision software that derives target posture determinations quickly and then instructs an operator how to properly align a robotic end-effector with a target that they are trying to grapple.

Unique Datapath Architecture Yields Real-Time Computing

Innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have developed and successfully flight tested a high-performance computing platform, known as the Descent and Landing Computer (DLC), to suit the demands of safe, autonomous, extraterrestrial spacecraft landings for robotic and human exploration missions.

AI Advances Heart Research

A promising way to study disease and test new drugs is to use cellular and engineered tissue models in a dish, but existing methods to study heart cell contraction and calcium handling require a good deal of manual work, are prone to errors, and need expensive specialized equipment. Researchers at Columbia Engineering unveiled a groundbreaking new tool today that addresses these challenges head-on: BeatProfiler.

Harnessing Wind and Solar Power Via Neural Networks

The team hopes this project can better position renewable energy as the primary source of electricity in the industry sector. The project aims to enable researchers and renewable energy installation companies to determine the optimal number of solar panels and wind turbines needed to prevent over or under production.

Wastewater Treatment and Remediation

This technology could be incorporated into water treatment systems at various stages including water treatment, effluent polishing, resource reclamation, resource recycling, gray water treatment, etc.

Pulling Carbon Dioxide Out of the Air

The team plans to integrate such CO2-capturing materials with its earlier porous sponge platform, which has been developed to remove environmental toxins including oil, phosphates, and microplastics.

Mimicking 'Plant Power' Through Artificial Photosynthesis

According to the researchers, this proof-of-concept system could be adapted to help produce precursors for plastics or other chemical feedstocks, as well as scaled up to produce larger amounts of sustainable biofuels.

Enhancing the Performance of All-Solid-State Batteries

A research team from Pohang University has successfully enhanced the performance and durability of all-solid-state batteries. This breakthrough was made possible through the implementation of a novel approach known as bottom electrodeposition. Read on to learn more.

Designing Safer, Higher-Performance Lithium Batteries

Examining lithium metal batteries using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy may help in the design of new electrolytes and anode surfaces for high-performance batteries. Read on to learn more.

Carbon-Capture Batteries Developed to Store Renewable Energy, Help Climate

A new battery formulation captures carbon dioxide from industrial emissions and converts it into a solid form that has the potential to be used in other products. Read on to learn more.

A Breakthrough in Solid-State Electrolytes for All-Solid-State Batteries

A new synthesis process for solid electrolytes marks a crucial stride toward the commercialization of all-solid-state batteries free from the risks of explosion and fire. Read on to learn more.

Sodium Battery Is Capable of Rapid Charging in Just a Few Seconds

A research team has developed a high-energy, high-power hybrid sodium-ion battery capable of rapid charging. The innovative hybrid energy storage system integrates anode materials typically used in batteries with cathodes suitable for supercapacitors. Read on to learn more.

Tactile Sensing Strategy Enables Accurate Object Detection

Researchers from Tsinghua University worked to break through the difficulties of robotic recognition of various common, yet complex, items. Read on to learn more.

Miniature 3D-Printed Actuators to Control Soft Robots

Researchers from NC State University have demonstrated mini soft hydraulic actuators that can be used to control the deformation and motion of soft robots that are less than a millimeter thick. The researchers also demonstrated that this technique works with shape memory materials.

A Robot to Aid People with Mild Cognitive Impairment

Engineers at the University of California San Diego in collaboration with clinicians, people with MCI, and their care partners have developed CARMEN, short for Cognitively Assistive Robot for Motivation and Neurorehabilitation — a small, tabletop robot designed to help people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) learn skills to improve memory, attention, and executive functioning at home.

Engineered Skin Tissue Grants Robots Special Properties and Abilities

Researchers have found a way to bind engineered skin tissue to the complex forms of humanoid robots. This brings with it potential benefits to robotic platforms such as increased mobility, self-healing abilities, embedded sensing capabilities and an increasingly lifelike appearance.

Creating 2D All-Organic Perovskites

Perovskites are among the most researched topics in materials science. Recently, a research team solved an age-old challenge to synthesize all-organic two-dimensional perovskites, extending the field into the exciting realm of 2D materials. This breakthrough opens up a new field of 2D all-organic perovskites, which holds promise for both fundamental science and potential applications.