Motion Control/​Automation

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.

Cobot Cuts Cost and Risk While Boosting On-Time Delivery

Los Angeles-based plastics contract manufacturer Kal Plastics deployed UR10e trimming cobot for a fraction of the cost and lead time of a CNC machine, cut trimming time nearly in half, and reduced late shipments to under one percent — all while improving employee safety and growth opportunities. Read on to learn more.

Elevating Welding Operations with Collaborative Automation

Mesekon Oy, a Finnish welding manufacturer that produces complex welded steel structures for the marine, energy, and paper industries, needed a flexible and collaborative solution to improve efficiency, reduce defects, and enhance workplace ergonomics by automating repetitive and physically demanding welding operations. Read on to learn what Mesekon Oy did.

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...

Artificial Muscles Could Lead to Soft, Wiggly Robots

A team has developed a method to grow artificial muscle tissue that twitches and flexes in multiple coordinated directions. As a demonstration, they grew an artificial, muscle-powered structure that pulls both concentrically and radially.

How Much Do You Know About Animal-Inspired Technology?

How much do you know about animal-inspired technology? Test your knowledge with this quiz.

AI and Humans as Teammates

Duke University Professor Boyuan Chen and his team have developed a platform called CREW that is used to create algorithms to optimize human-AI cooperation.

A Compact, Versatile Robot Capable of Maneuvering Tight Spaces with a Heavy Payload

Researchers at EPFL and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems have developed a compact and versatile robot that can maneuver through tight spaces and transport payloads much heavier than itself.

Redefining Rehabilitation with Wearable Robotics

A team of engineers is on a mission to redefine mobility by providing innovative wearable solutions to physical therapists, orthotic and prosthetic professionals, and individuals experiencing walking impairment and disability.

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....

Robot Works Inside E-Waste Recycling Facility

A researcher from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science is using robotics to improve e-waste recycling.

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.

New Microactuator Driving System Could Give Microdrones a Jump-Start

An innovative circuit design could enable miniature devices, such as microdrones and other microrobotics, to be powered for longer periods of time while staying...

An AI Solution for Steering Adaptive Control Systems

A new study led by Flinders University and French researchers has used a novel bio-inspired computing artificial intelligence solution to improve the potential of UUVs and other adaptive control systems to operate more reliability in rough seas and other unpredictable conditions. Read on to learn more.

When Mushrooms Control Robots

In creating a pair of new robots, Cornell researchers cultivated an unlikely component: fungal mycelia. By harnessing mycelia’s innate electrical signals, the researchers discovered a new way of controlling “biohybrid” robots that can potentially react to their environment better than their purely synthetic counterparts. Read on to learn more.

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.

A Color-Based Sensor Emulates Skin’s Sensitivity

Jamie Paik and colleagues in the Reconfigurable Robotics Lab in EPFL’s School of Engineering have developed a sensor that can perceive combinations of bending, stretching, compression, and temperature changes, all using a robust system that boils down to a simple concept: color. Read on to learn more about it.

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,...