Motion Control

This Tiny Robot Could Save Your Life One Day

A tiny, soft, flexible robot that can crawl through earthquake rubble or travel inside the human body may seem like science fiction, but a team is pioneering such adaptable robots by integrating flexible electronics with magnetically controlled motion.

RoboBee Comes in for a Landing

The Harvard RoboBee has long shown it can fly, dive, and hover like a real insect. But what good is the miracle of flight without a safe way to land? A storied engineering achievement by the Harvard...

Engineering a Robot That Can Jump 10 Feet High — Without Legs

Inspired by the movements of a tiny parasitic worm, Georgia Tech engineers have created a 5-inch soft robot that can jump as high as a basketball hoop. Their device, a silicone...

Tiny, Soft Robot Flexes Its Potential as a Life Saver

A tiny, soft, flexible robot that can crawl through earthquake rubble to find trapped victims or travel inside the human body to deliver medicine may seem like science fiction, but an...

5Ws of a Morphing Robot

GOAT (Good Over All Terrains), a bioinspired robot developed at EPFL, can change shape to alter its own physical properties in response to its environment, resulting in a robust and efficient autonomous vehicle.

Navigating the Challenges of Motor Commutation

Motor commutation involves the process of switching between motor phases to ensure smooth, continuous operation. In this article, we’ll dive into the importance of commutation, explain how it works, and discuss the challenges faced when trying to pair different motors and drives, especially across brands.

New Products

See the new products, including igus' aluminum version of its drylin ® NT-60 telescopic rail; Tolomatic Inc.'s online Drive Integration Tool; Flexiv's KURAVIZON adaptive robot; Thomson Industries' upgrade to its stepper motor linear actuator online selector tool, which adds the ability to include encoders in the design process; and more.

A Training Method for Multiagent Systems Promises Safe Operation

A team of MIT engineers has developed a training method for multiagent systems that can guarantee their safe operation in crowded environments. Read on to learn more about it.

How Automakers Boost Quality via Servo-Electric Test Systems

Today, electrically actuated (servo-electric) test systems have emerged as a preferred alternative to servo-hydraulics that have traditionally been used. Michigan-based eMpulse Test Systems is a supplier of these advanced testing systems. Read on to learn more.

A Robust and Adaptive Controller for Ballbots

A Ballbot is a unique kind of robot with great mobility, which possesses the ability to go in all directions. Obviously, controlling such a robotic device must be tricky. Indeed, ballbot systems...

New Research Sheds Light on Using Multiple CubeSats for In-Space Servicing and Repair Missions

As more satellites, telescopes, and other spacecraft are built to be repairable, it will take reliable trajectories for service spacecraft to...

Exploring Earth Science with a New Navigational System

NASA and its partners recently tested an aircraft guidance system that could help planes maintain a precise course even while flying at high speeds up to 500 mph. The instrument is...

MIT Engineers Develop a Fully 3D-Printed Electrospray Engine

An electrospray engine applies an electric field to a conductive liquid, generating a high-speed jet of tiny droplets that can propel a spacecraft. These miniature engines are...

A Springtail-Like Jumping Robot

Springtails, small bugs often found crawling through leaf litter and garden soil, are expert jumpers. Inspired by these hopping hexapods, roboticists in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and...

Morphing Robot Turns Challenging Terrain to Its Advantage

From mountain goats that run up near-vertical rock faces to armadillos that roll into a protective ball, animals have evolved to adapt effortlessly to changes in their environment....

MIT Engineers Help Multirobot Systems Stay In the Safety Zone

Drone shows are an increasingly popular form of large-scale light display. These shows incorporate hundreds to thousands of airborne bots, each programmed to fly in paths that...

5Ws of a 3D-Printed Electrospray Engine

With the goal to democratize space research, MIT engineers have demonstrated the first fully 3D-printed, droplet-emitting electrospray engine which can be produced rapidly and for a fraction of the cost of traditional thruster.

Insect Cyborgs: Toward Precision Movement

In a recent study published in the journal eLife, an international research group has studied the relationship between electrical stimulation in stick insects’ leg muscles and the resultant torque (the twisting force that makes the leg move). Read on to learn what they found.

Can DNA-Nanoparticle Motors Get Up To Speed With Motor Proteins?

DNA-nanoparticle motors are exactly as they sound — tiny artificial motors that use the structures of DNA and RNA to propel motion by enzymatic RNA degradation. Essentially,...

Engineers Enable a Drone To Determine Its Position in the Dark and Indoors

In the future, autonomous drones could be used to shuttle inventory between large warehouses. A drone might fly into a semi-dark structure the size of several...

NASA Demonstrates Software ‘Brains’ Shared Across Satellite Swarms

New NASA technology works within satellite swarms. This technology, called Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy (DSA), allows individual spacecraft to make independent...

Can Self-Driving Cars Navigate Roundabouts?

Roundabouts are an increasingly common feature of U.S. roads, in part because they reduce both traffic delays and accidents. However, they rely on the judgment of drivers to ensure traffic flows...

5Ws of a Micro-Aerial Robot

MIT researchers are developing robotic insects that could someday swarm out of mechanical hives to rapidly perform precise pollination.