A new kind of radar could make it possible for self-driving cars to navigate safely in bad weather. Electrical engineers at the University of California San Diego developed a clever way to improve the imaging capability of existing radar sensors so that they accurately predict the shape and size of objects in the scene. The […]
The U.S. Army and MIT’s way of linking metamaterials makes building a supermileage vehicles, like this one from collaborators Toyota Automotive Society, possible. Source: Kohshi Katoh, Toyota Automotive Society Scientists from the U.S. Army and the Center for Bits and Atoms at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created a new way to link materials […]
One of the autonomous drones used to survey penguins in Antartica. Credit: Parker Levinson Stanford University researcher Mac Schwager entered the world of penguin counting through a chance meeting at his sister-in-law’s wedding in June 2016. There, he learned that Annie Schmidt, a biologist at Point Blue Conservation Science, was seeking a better way to […]
Mirmex provides customized DC micromotors. Source: Mirmex Motor Robots have stringent design requirements for power density, waste heat, and volume. Mirmex Motor last month said it has developed a new method of producing high-power-density electric micromotor windings. The company said its use of artificial intelligence and flexible printed circuits “completely revolutionizes traditional winding design and […]
MIT developed a way for a deep learning neural network to rapidly estimate confidence levels in their output. The advance could enhance safety and efficiency in AI-assisted decision making. Credits: Credit: iStock image edited by MIT News Increasingly, artificial intelligence systems known as deep learning neural networks are used to inform decisions vital to human […]
A Wisconsin company has designed “The Crawler,” a pipeline repair robot that can surface-blast and line midsize to large-diameter pipes. Source: igus Working underground is extremely perilous. Workers face limited natural ventilation and light; difficult access and egress; and exposure to air contaminants, fire, flooding, and explosion. Pipeline repair robots are emerging to address the […]
Illustration of the twining motion in a twining plant (left); Spiral soft robotic gripper before actuation (center); Actuated soft spiral gripper holding a flower. | Credit: University of Georgia College of Engineering Scientists often look to nature for cues when designing robots – some robots mimic human hands while others simulate the actions of octopus […]
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently released a study called “The State of Industrial Robotics: Emerging Technologies, Challenges, and Key Research Directions” that described challenges of adopting and using industrial robotics. It also made recommendations about how to move the industry forward.
The flower-like set of points represents all possible shapes the shape-changing robots can take on. In line with rattling theory, the most common shapes are also the most orderly with the lowest rattling (shown in blue). | Credit: Thomas A. Berrueta) A team of physicists and engineers have proposed a new principle by which active […]
Astrobotic’s shoebox-sized CubeRover is heading to the moon aboard the Peregrine lunar lander in 2021. | Credit: Astrobotic Battery life is an issue for many types of robots. But it is especially challenging for robots operating in outer space. A new initiative under NASA’s “Tipping Point” program hopes to solve this and make smaller robots available […]
