Motion Control/​Automation

Facility Focus: Jacobs School of Engineering, University of California San Diego

Jacobs' scientists are helping to make contract-tracing apps, emergency-use ventilators, and even squid-bots.

Modular, In-Air, Multi-UAV Docking

This system can be used for long-range or high-payload deliveries as well as search and rescue.

Miniature Antenna Enables Robotic Teaming in Complex Environments

A low-frequency antenna with enhanced bandwidth will enable robust networking among compact, mobile robots.

Products of Tomorrow: December 2020

Robotic exoskeletons, a breath-test for cancer, and plastic-eating enzymes are Products of Tomorrow.

Glove-Like Device Mimics Sense of Touch

The soft, wearable device simulates the sense of touch and has wide potential in medical and industrial applications.

Programmable Balloons for Shape-Morphing Devices

Kirigami balloons could be used in shape-changing actuators for soft robots, minimally invasive surgical devices, and macro structures for space exploration.

Printing Paper Structures for Mechatronics

Natural motion in plants occurs because of cellulose fibers absorbing and releasing water. Scientists developed a simple method to produce self-folding origami structures based on this concept....

Robotic “Snake” Grips and Picks Up Objects

An invention similar to an elephant’s trunk has potential benefits for many industries where handling delicate objects is essential. UNSW Sydney developed a soft fabric robotic gripper...

New Composite Material Revs Up Pursuit of Advanced EVs

Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have used new techniques to create a composite that increases the electrical current capacity of copper wires, providing a...

3D Hand Pose Estimation Achieved Using a Wrist-Worn Camera

Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) working in collaboration with colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of St Andrews and the University...

What Role Will Motors Play in Mars 2020 Missions?

The great tasks of retrieving samples and flying a helicopter on Mars requires a number of small parts — specifically motors and drives.

Octopus-Inspired Soft Robotic Arm

The Tentacle Bot can grip, move, and manipulate a wide range of objects.

New Products: November 2020 Photonics & Imaging Technology

Multi-sensor imaging systems, eyesafe laser finders, machine vision algorithms, and more.

Self-Assembling Robot Cubes Form Various Structures

The robot blocks jump, spin, flip, and identify each other.

Robotic Assembly of Photovoltaic Arrays

Adaptable automation reduces manufacturing time and costs.

Algorithm Improves Navigation of Autonomous Driving Robots

Future robots could be taught how to outperform humans.

3D-Printed Sweating Robot Muscle

This form of thermal management can help enable untethered, high-powered robots to operate for long periods of time without overheating.

Ambient Light Alters Refraction in 2D Material

See how tantalum disulfide is supporting new kinds of optics, and potentially new kinds of application for VR and self-driving cars.

Psychosensory Electronic Skin Technology for AI and Humanoid Development

This technology enables robots, electronic devices, and prosthetic devices to feel pain through sense of touch.

“Alexa, Go to The Kitchen and Fetch Me a Snack”

MIT engineers are envisioning robots more like home helpers.

Transforming Rover Explores the Toughest Terrain

NASA’s DuAxel, a pair of two-wheeled rovers each called Axel, can split in half with each half connected only by a tether that unspools as the lead axle approaches a hazard.

A Squid-Like Robot Swims, Untethered

A robot being tested at the University of California San Diego takes after an aquatic invertebrate that has a jet-like way moving through the water: The Squid.

How to Charge an Underwater Robot? A Mobile Docking Station

Researcher Nina Mahmoudian is finding a new way for underwater robots to recharge and upload their data, and then go back out to continue exploring, without the need for human intervention.

Soft Robots Deliver Medical Treatments

Researchers created a way to send tiny, soft robots into humans. Doctors would use magnetic fields to steer the soft robot inside the body, bringing medications or treatments to places that need...

Testing Swarming Drones

This system has a capacity of more than 1,500 times the volume of a typical testing facility.

Soft, Self-Actuated Pump for Mechatronic Devices

A soft hydrogel, driven by an oscillatory chemical reaction, produces an autonomous integrated pump for microfluidic applications.