Tech Briefs

Developing High-Energy-Density Batteries Using Aluminum Foil

A team of researchers is using aluminum foil to create batteries with higher energy density and greater stability. The team’s new battery system could enable EVs to run longer on a single charge and would be cheaper to manufacture – all while having a positive impact on the environment.

New Priming Method for Improving Battery Lifecycle

Scientists at Rice University’s George R. Brown School of Engineering have developed a readily scalable method to optimize prelithiation, a process that helps mitigate lithium loss and improves battery life cycles by coating silicon anodes with stabilized lithium metal particles.

Improved Grasping with an Energy-Efficient Robotic Hand

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.

An Underwater Robot for Ocean Cleanup

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.

Four-Legged Robotic System Walks a Balance Beam

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.

A Gripper That Grasps by Reflex

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.

Biomimetic “Myriapod” Robot Relies on Dynamic Instability to Navigate

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.

System for Flight Control of Hypersonic Aircraft

Researchers have designed an electrode-based system for guidance, navigation, and control of aircraft or spacecraft moving at hypersonic speeds in ionizing atmospheres.

5G, AI Team Up to Optimize Military Fueling

Armed with 5G network technology, AI, and edge computing resources, a pilot project under development at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island aims to create an optimized refueling system designed to boost readiness for military aircraft.

Drones Navigate Unseen Environments via Liquid Neural Networks

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.

A Quiet, Efficient Propeller Solution for Electric Aviation

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have developed a propeller design optimization method that paves the way for quiet, efficient electric aviation.

Training a Quadrotor Drone to Cope with Collisions

Advanced technology plays a vital role in search and rescue operations after natural disasters such as earthquakes. Thermal imaging equipment and sensitive listening devices are deployed to seek out signs of life.

Tapping the Brain to Boost Stroke Rehabilitation

A brain-machine interface coupled with robot offers increased benefits for stroke survivors.

Soft Skin Patch Could Provide Early Warning for Strokes, Heart Attacks

The patch uses ultrasound to monitor blood flow to organs.

An Ultrasound Patch for Non-Invasive Deep Tissue Monitoring

Engineers have developed a stretchable ultrasonic array capable of serial, non-invasive, three-dimensional imaging of tissues as deep as four centimeters below the surface of human skin, at a spatial resolution of 0.5 mm.

Surgical Sutures Inspired by Human Tendons

Next-generation sutures can deliver drugs, prevent infections, and monitor wounds.

New Programmable Smart Fabric Responds to Temperature, Electricity

A new smart material is activated by both heat and electricity, making it the first ever to respond to two different stimuli. The work paves the way for a wide variety of potential applications, including clothing that warms up while you walk.

Printing Microchip Patterns on Curvy Surfaces

There’s still more to explore with REFLEX, but this process could open new possibilities for new materials and microstructures across fields from electronics to optics to biomedical engineering.

Nanomaterial Promises Big Benefits for Bendable Electronics

An international team of scientists is developing an inkable nanomaterial that they say could one day become a spray-on electronic component for ultra-thin, lightweight, and bendable displays and devices.

Mind-Controlling Machines

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.

Caterpillar-Inspired Soft Robotics Locomotion

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.

Highly Dexterous Robot Hand Can Operate in the Dark

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.

Engineering the Flow of Light

A novel nanostructure produces uniquely shaped light.

Strengthening Electron-Triggered Light Emission

A wavelength of visible light is about 1,000 times larger than an electron, so the way the two affect each other is limited by that disparity. Now, researchers have come up with a way to make...

Nanoscale 3D Structure to Control Light

3D nanometer-scale metamaterial structures hold promise for advanced optical isolators.

Controlling Electric Double Layer Dynamics for All-Solid-State Batteries

Researchers have employed a novel technique to investigate and modulate electric double layer dynamics at the solid/solid electrolyte interface.

Increased Storage Capacity in Water-Based Batteries

Researchers at Texas A&M University have discovered a 1,000 percent difference in the storage capacity of metal-free, water-based battery electrodes.