Tech Briefs

A Soft Robotic Hand Uses AI to Improve Hand Dexterity

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.

Circumferential Scissor Spring Enhances Precision in Hand Controllers

Innovators at NASA’s Johnson Space Center have designed a circumferential scissor spring mechanism, that when incorporated into a hand controller, improves the restorative force to a control stick’s neutral position. The design also provides for operation on a more linear portion of the spring’s force deflection curve, yielding better feedback to the user.

Scurrying Centipedes Inspire Many-Legged Robots

Intrigued to see if many limbs could be helpful for locomotion in this world, a team at the Georgia Institute of Technology is using a centipede's style of movement to its advantage. They developed a new theory of multilegged locomotion and created many-legged robotic models.

Generative AI Models Solve Multistep Robot Manipulation Problems

MIT researchers developed a machine-learning technique called Diffusion-CCSP. Diffusion models learn to generate new data samples that resemble samples in a training dataset by iteratively refining their output.

Additive Manufacturing Model-Based Process Metrics

Inventors at the NASA Langley Research Center have developed a novel method to model and ingest point-wise process data to evaluate an additive manufacturing build and its file for issues by highlighting potential anomalies or other areas where the build may have issues with fusion of the material.

Amateur Drone Videos Could Aid Natural Disaster Damage Assessment

By using artificial intelligence, researchers are developing a system that can automatically identify buildings after disasters and make an initial determination of whether they are damaged and how serious that damage might be.

PockEngine Enables AI on Edge Devices to Keep Learning Over Time

Researchers from MIT, the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, and elsewhere have developed a technique that enables deep-learning models to efficiently adapt to new sensor data directly on an edge device. Their on-device training method, Pock-Engine, determines which parts of a huge machine-learning model need to be updated to improve accuracy, and only stores and computes with those specific pieces.

Using Kirigami to make Ultrastrong, Lightweight Structures

Using kirigami, the ancient Japanese art of folding and cutting paper, MIT researchers have now manufactured a type of high-performance architected material known as a plate lattice, on a much larger scale than scientists have previously been able to achieve by additive fabrication.

Exploring 3D Printing in a Weightless Environment

Recent experiments by a team from the West Virginia University focused on how a weightless microgravity environment affects 3D printing using titania foam, a material with potential applications ranging from UV blocking to water purification. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces published their findings.

Using Lasers to ‘Heat and Beat’ 3D-Printed Steel to Help Reduce Costs

A new method for metal 3D printing aims to make more efficient use of resources by allowing structural modifications to be “programmed” into metal alloys during 3D printing, fine-tuning their properties without the “heating and beating” process that’s been in use for thousands of years.

Computing Breakthrough: First Logical Quantum Processor

Harvard researchers have realized a key milestone in the quest for stable, scalable quantum computing, an ultra-high-speed technology that will enable game-changing advances in a variety of fields, including medicine, science, and finance.

Automated Tow/Tape Placement System

NASA’s Langley Research Center has developed a simplified, tool-less automated tow/tape placement (ATP) system. This invention enables several benefits that mitigate limitations associated with conventional ATP systems. Read on to learn more.

A Lightweight Material Stronger than Steel

Scientists at the Columbia University, University of Connecticut, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory were able to fabricate a pure form of glass and coat specialized pieces of DNA with it to create a material that was not only stronger than steel, but incredibly lightweight.

Buzzing Loop-Current Leads to Break in Quantum Matter

A series of buzzing “loop-currents” could explain a recently discovered, never-before-seen phenomenon in a type of quantum material. The quantum material is known by the chemical formula Mn 3Si2Te6, but it’s safe to call it “honeycomb.” Read on to learn more.

Scaling Up Nano for Sustainable Manufacturing

Developed by a team led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a self-assembling nanosheet could significantly extend the shelf life of consumer products. And because the new material is recyclable, it could also enable a sustainable manufacturing approach that keeps single-use packaging and electronics out of landfills.

New Ultra-Strong Material for Microchip Sensors

Researchers have unveiled a remarkable new material with potential to impact the world of material science: amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC). Beyond its exceptional strength, this material demonstrates mechanical properties crucial for vibration isolation on a microchip. It is therefore particularly suitable for making ultra-sensitive microchip sensors.

Highest-Resolution Single-Photon Superconducting Camera

The NIST camera is made up of grids of ultrathin electrical wires, cooled to near absolute zero, in which current moves with no resistance until a wire is struck by a photon. In these superconducting-nanowire cameras, the energy imparted by even a single photon can be detected because it shuts down the superconductivity at a particular location (pixel) on the grid. Combining all the locations and intensities of all the photons makes up an image.

High-Brightness Source of Coherent Light Spanning from the UV to THz

An international team of researchers reports on a compact high-brightness mid-IR-driven source combining a gas-filled anti-resonant-ring photonic crystal fiber with a novel nonlinear-crystal. The tabletop source provides a seven-octave coherent spectrum from 340 nm–40,000 nm with spectral brightness 2–5 orders of magnitude higher than one of the brightest synchrotron facilities.

Terahertz Energy Focused by Credit Card-Sized Device to Generate High-Resolution Images

Researchers have created a device that enables them to electronically steer and focus a beam of terahertz electromagnetic energy with extreme precision. This opens the door to high-resolution, real-time imaging devices that are hundredths the size of other radar systems and more robust than other optical systems.

Metasurfaces Control Polarized Light at Will

Researchers at SEAS have uncovered hidden potential in metasurfaces and demonstrated optical devices that manipulate light’s polarization state with an unprecedented degree of control. Read on to learn more.

AI-Powered Self-Driving Microscopy Technique

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have developed an autonomous, or self-driving, microscopy technique. It uses AI to selectively target points of interest for scanning. Read on to learn more.

Next-Generation Flow Battery Design

A research team from the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory reports that the flow battery, a design optimized for electrical grid energy storage, maintained its capacity to store and release energy for more than a year of continuous charge and discharge.

3D Battery Imaging Reveals Real-Time Life of Lithium Metal Cells

A team from Chalmers University of Technology has succeeded in observing how the lithium metal in the cell behaves as it charges and discharges. The new method may contribute to batteries with higher capacity and increased safety in our future cars and devices.

Space Solar Power Demonstrator Wirelessly Transmits Power in Space

Wireless power transfer was recently demonstrated by MAPLE — Microwave Array for Power-transfer Low-orbit Experiment — one of three key technologies being tested by the Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD-1), the first space-borne prototype from Caltech’s Space Solar Power Project (SSPP), which aims to harvest solar power in space and transmit it to the Earth’s surface.

A New Design for Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory are researching solutions to these Li-ion battery issues by testing new materials in battery construction. One such material is sulfur.

Stretchable Micro-Supercapacitors to Self-Power Wearable Devices

A stretchable system that can harvest energy from human breathing and motion for use in wearable health-monitoring devices may be possible, according to an international team of researchers.

Low-Cost Ventilator Set to Help People in Low-Income Countries

The ventilators are simpler and cheaper to make than those currently available.

More Powerful RNA Vaccines

MIT researchers have engineered both the nanoparticles used to deliver the COVID-19 antigen and the antigen itself, to boost the immune response, without the need for a separate adjuvant. If further developed for use in humans, this type of RNA vaccine could help to reduce costs, the dosage needed, and potentially lead to longer-lasting immunity.