Robotics, Automation & Control

A 3D-Printed 'Fish Fin' Offers New Ideas for Morphing Aircraft

Professor Francois Barthelat wants to incorporate the fish fin's strong, flexible characteristics into robotic and aerospace designs.

Human Reflexes Keep Two-Legged Robot Upright

The robot can walk, run, jump, and interact with the environment in synchrony with a human operator.

Solid-State Carbon Dioxide Sensor

Applications include wearables, airplane cabin monitoring, medical diagnostics, and indoor air quality measurement.

Imitating Human Hands to Make Better Sensors

This work could help severely injured people, such as soldiers, regain the ability to control their movements.

Universal Tactile Sensing with Electromechanically Coupled Conductors

These tactile imaging sensors can measure pressure distribution without using pressure-sensitive materials.

5 Ws of Puncture-Proof Soft Electronics

The durable soft electronics could be used in wearable electronics and soft robotics and could someday be part of a stretchable smartphone.

Chemistry Approach for More Robust Soft Electronics

The approach could lead to more flexible health monitors, wearable devices, sensors, optical communication systems, and soft robotics.

Facility Focus: The Pennsylvania State University School of Engineering

Learn about the batteries, skin sensors, flexible antennas, and other cutting-edge research coming from Penn State Engineering.

Service Valve for In-Orbit Cooperative Satellite Fueling

The valve enables telerobotic resupplying of media such as propellant and pressurant.

Inflatable Robotic Hand Gives Amputees Real-Time Tactile Control

Engineers at MIT and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have designed a soft, lightweight, and potentially low-cost neuroprosthetic hand. The prosthetic, designed with a system...

Robotic Floats Measure Primary Factor in Climate Picture: Oxygen in the Ocean

Robotic floats — 4,000, in fact — are in the ocean, monitoring oxygen levels.

On Tough Terrain, An Algorithm Finds Robots the Best Path

A new algorithm finds robots the best path across uneven terrain — and the best placement for a robot’s arms and feet.

Robotic Finger Senses Buried Items

MIT researchers have designed a sharp-tipped robot finger equipped with tactile sensing to meet the challenge of identifying buried objects. Digger Finger was able to dig through granular media such as...

Simulator Helps Robots Sharpen Their Cutting Skills

USC researchers unveiled a new simulator for robotic cutting that can accurately reproduce the forces acting on a knife as it slices through common food such as fruit and vegetables....

Giving Robots Better Moves

RightHand Robotics combines machine vision with an intelligent gripper design to make more adaptable robots.

Soft Robotic Gripper Based on Twining Plants

The robot firmly but gently grasps objects as small as 1 millimeter in diameter.

Facility Focus: Worcester Polytechnic Institute

WPI supports research in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, cybersecurity, and fire safety.

Making High-Duty-Cycle Industrial Automation Affordable

A new generation of long-life electric linear actuators has emerged to give designers more flexibility.