Research Lab

Giving Household Robots Common Sense

Whereas prior works have focused on leveraging LLMs directly for planning in symbolic spaces, this work uses LLMs to guide the search of task structures and constraints implicit in multi-step physical demonstrations.

Flexible “Skeletons” for Soft, Muscle-Powered Robots

Our muscles are nature’s perfect actuators — devices that turn energy into motion. For their size, muscle fibers are more powerful and precise than most synthetic actuators. They...

How To Shift Gears in a Molecular Motor

Scientists have long strived to develop artificial molecular motors that can convert energy into directed motion. Researchers at Linköping University have now presented a solution to a challenging...

An Electrifying Improvement in Copper Conductivity

A common carbon compound is enabling remarkable performance enhancements when mixed in just the right proportion with copper to make electrical wires. It’s a phenomenon that defies...

My Opinion: We Need Humans in the Loop

With all the chatter these days about AI, it’s important to really understand what it is and how to use it. A project at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is exploring how operators and an AI automated control system interact.

Are Shapeshifting “Soft Machines” In Our Future?

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have furthered a new type of soft material that can change shape in response to light, a discovery that could advance “soft...

Scientists Design a Two-Legged Robot Powered by Muscle Tissue

Compared to robots, human bodies are more flexible, capable of fine movements, and can efficiently convert energy into movement. Drawing inspiration from human gait, researchers...

DNA Origami Folded into Tiny Motor

Scientists have created the world’s first working nanoscale electromotor, according to research published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. The science team designed a turbine engineered from DNA...

AI-Powered Self-Driving Microscopy Technique

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have developed an autonomous, or self-driving, microscopy technique. It uses AI to selectively target points of interest for scanning. Read on to learn more.

3D Printing Hair Follicles in Lab-Grown Skin

This marks the first time researchers have used the technology to generate hair follicles, which play an important role in skin healing and function.

Could an Electric Nudge to the Head Help Your Doctor Operate a Surgical Robot?

People who received gentle electric currents on the back of their heads learned to maneuver a robotic surgery tool in virtual reality and then in a real setting...

DNA Origami Nanoturbine Sets New Horizon for Nanomotors

Flow-driven turbines lie at the heart of many machines that have shaped our societies, from windmills to airplanes. Even life itself depends critically on turbines for fundamental...

My Opinion: Innovation Happens When Scientists and Engineers Work Together

LIGO scientists and engineers working together to observe gravitational waves have achieved the remarkable feat of surpassing the quantum limit.

Illuminating the Mechanics of Solid-State Batteries

Doctor Sergiy Kalnaus and his team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a framework for designing solid-state batteries that focuses on their underlying mechanics.

India Opens New Silicon Photonics Research Center

India's new Center for Programmable Photonics Integrated Circuits and Systems (CPPICS) opened with an inaugural ceremony hosted by the nation's secretary of electronics and information...

Human Tissue-Like Cellular Assemblies Grown for Respiratory Studies

NASA researchers have developed a technology that yields 3D tissue-like assemblies of human broncho-epithelial cells for in vitro research on infection of humans by respiratory viruses.

Small Power Modules, Building Blocks of The Electric Grid

The U.S. electric grid is more than just power plants and transmission lines — it’s a web of connections among millions of small components, working together to allow you to...

New Technology to Find EV Charging Vulnerabilities

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) intern Jake Guidry has developed a cybersecurity research tool that could improve the security of electric vehicle charging. The AcCCS tool provides access...

How Much Do You Know About Quantum Computing?

Think you know quantum computing? Test your knowledge about it with this quiz.

Self-Folding Origami Machines Powered by Chemical Reaction

A Cornell-led collaboration harnessed chemical reactions to make microscale origami machines self-fold — freeing them from the liquids in which they usually function, so they can...

New Transfer Process Moves 2D Materials from Growth Substrate to Device Substrate

Purdue University engineers have developed a patent-pending tool to make the manufacture of ultrathin semiconductors more consistent, controllable, and...

Many-Legged Robots Can Traverse Difficult Landscapes

Inspired by centipedes, Georgia Tech researchers have developed many-legged robots that can move across uneven surfaces without any additional sensing or control technology.

Optical Neural Networks Could Speed Image Processing Time

Cornell researchers have developed an optical neural network (ONN) that can filter relevant information from a scene before the visual image is detected by a camera, a method that...

Model Simulates Variable Flap Stiffness for the Best Lift

There is extensive research on how a fixed-position flap affects lift in the realm of fluid-structure interaction. However, taking the conversation in a new direction, researchers at...

A New Design Provides the Greatest Precision in Memory to Date

Everyone is talking about the newest AI and the power of neural networks, forgetting that software is limited by the hardware on which it runs. But it is hardware, says USC...