Robotics

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.

UpFront: September 2021 Tech Briefs

NASA Washing Machine Designs Go for a Spin

Right now, there is no laundry service in space.

Astronaut garments aren’t washed. They are put onto ships that burn up in the...

Algorithm Designs Soft Robots That Sense

A deep-learning technique optimizes the arrangement of sensors on a robot’s body to ensure efficient operation.

Centimeter-Long Snail Robot Powered with Light

The soft robot harvests energy from a laser beam and can crawl on horizontal surfaces and climb vertical walls and an upside-down glass ceiling.

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.

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.

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....

Making High-Duty-Cycle Industrial Automation Affordable

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

“Flexoelectricity” in Soft Elastomers Could Improve Robot Movement

A connection between electricity and mechanical motion in soft, rubber-like materials could improve robot range.

Coiled Linear Actuators for Soft Robotics

This artificial muscle technology enables more human-like motion.

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.

Safer, Longer-Lasting, Solid-State Batteries

Solid-state batteries offer a higher level of safety and potentially longer life than lithium-ion batteries.

A Soft Robot Replaces Electronics With 'Air Power'

While soft robots hold promise in applications ranging from search-and-rescue efforts to wearable exoskeletons, the technologies are often held back by the electronics, says William Grover,...

Air-Powered Computer Memory Controls Soft Robots

Engineers at UC Riverside developed an air-powered computer memory that can be used to control soft robots. Existing systems for controlling pneumatic soft robots still use electronic...

A Robot That Moves Like a Bug (and a Cheetah)

UC Berkeley engineers have created a lightweight and durable robot that achieves exquisite control and agility by modulating the electrostatic forces between its feet and surfaces.