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‘Brainless’ Robot Can Navigate Complex Obstacles

mechanical and aerospace engineering

left image is titled support and shows a black polymer sheet lifting four stacked petri dishes that are loaded with spheres. right image is title manipulates and shows a black polymer sheet undulating in a way that rotates the multicolored spheres in a petri dish in a counterclockwise direction

Dec 6, 2024

Magnetically Controlled Kirigami Surfaces Move Objects: No Grasping Needed

The new technology is useful for lifting and moving items that cannot be easily grasped, such as fragile objects, gels or liquids. 
time-lapse image from a video shows a manta-shaped soft robot swimming over and under obstacles in a glass tank filled with water

Dec 4, 2024

Manta Rays Inspire the Fastest Swimming Soft Robot Yet

A team of researchers has drawn inspiration from manta rays and beaten its own record for the fastest swimming soft robot. 
medical image of lungs

Aug 13, 2024

Quantitative Ultrasound Parameters Offer New Tool for Diagnosing Lung Disease

The researchers demonstrated the parameters' ability to accurately diagnose and assess the severity of lung diseases in an animal model. 
image shows four photos of a glove and a graph. The hand wearing the glove is underwater. In each photo, the hand is extending a different number of fingers, which correspond to different electrical signals shown on the graph.

Aug 7, 2024

‘Amphibious’ Sensors Make New, Waterproof Technologies Possible

Researchers have demonstrated a technique for creating sensors that can function both in air and underwater. 
Campus gateway sign reading NC State University

Aug 6, 2024

Researchers Solve Long-Standing Challenge for Piezoelectric Materials

The discovery paves the way for new ultrasound technologies. 
Left: person wearing the fluid motor attached to artificial muscles. Center: artificial muscle lifts suitcase off the ground. Right: robotic leg attached to artificial muscle flexes its ankle.

Jul 1, 2024

Portable Engine Can Power Artificial Muscles in Assistive Devices

What sets the new engine apart is its ability to generate significant force without being tethered to an external power source. 
image shows three different configurations of 3-D cubes

Jun 26, 2024

Mechanical Computer Relies On Kirigami Cubes, Not Electronics

The mechanical computer uses a complex structure of rigid, interconnected polymer cubes to store, retrieve and erase data without relying on electronic components. 
a man runs across a green lawn wearing a robotic exoskeleton that attaches to his waist, hips and knees

Jun 12, 2024

AI-Powered Simulation Training Improves Human Performance in Robotic Exoskeletons

The robotic exoskeletons help users save energy while walking, running and climbing stairs. 
time lapsed photo shows a soft robot tendril lowering, wrapping around a tube, and lifting it into the air

Jun 11, 2024

3D-Printed Mini-Actuators Can Move Small Soft Robots, Lock Them Into New Shapes

The miniature soft hydraulic actuators can control the deformation and motion of soft robots that are less than a millimeter thick. 
image shows an orderly array of blue cubes, with a network of silver spheres descending from it

May 29, 2024

Researchers Create Materials With Unique Combo of Stiffness, Thermal Insulation

This combination of properties is extremely unusual and holds promise for applications such as thermal insulation coatings for electronics. 

May 3, 2024

When Injecting Pure Spin into Chiral Materials, Direction Matters

Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of Pittsburgh studied how the spin information of an electron, called a pure spin current, moves through chiral materials. They found that the direction in which the spins are injected into chiral materials affects their ability to pass through them. These chiral “gateways” could be used… 
black-and-white video still shows a ringlike object in a square space that has one gap for an entrance. A bright white line shows the path that the object has taken in tracing the contours of the space.

Jan 8, 2024

New Soft Robots Roll Like Tires, Spin Like Tops and Orbit Like Moons

The device, which operates without human or computer control, holds promise for developing technologies that can be used to navigate unknown environments. 
illustration shows two pieces of metal foam being welded together using an induction welder. Several inches away from the site of the weld (which is white hot), the metal foam is cool enough to touch with a bare hand.

Dec 14, 2023

Researchers Find Way to Weld Metal Foam Without Melting Its Bubbles

Traditional welding impairs the qualities that make metal foams desirable. Now researchers have found a solution. 

Oct 17, 2023

Seeing the Invisible: Revealing Hidden Damage With Cameras To Improve Aircraft Safety

The project seeks to use cameras to find damage that lies beneath an aircraft’s surface. 
image shows two long, twisted strands of clear polymer

Sep 8, 2023

‘Brainless’ Robot Can Navigate Complex Obstacles

Researchers who created a soft robot that could navigate simple mazes without computer direction have built on that work, creating a “brainless” robot that can navigate more complex environments.