News by Subject Technology & Engineering

A US Army project took a new approach to developing robots -- researchers built robots entirely from smaller robots known as smarticles, unlocking the principles of a potentially new locomotion technique.

Mechanical engineers at the University of Virginia School of Engineering, leading a collaboration with biologists from Harvard University, have created the first robotic fish proven to mimic the speed and movements of live yellowfin tuna. Their peer-reviewed paper, 'Tuna robotics: a high-frequency experimental platform exploring the performance space of swimming fishes,' was published Sept. 18, 2019, in Science Robotics, an offshoot of Science magazine devoted to technological advancements in robotic science and engineering.

A team of physicists and computer scientists at ETH Zurich has developed a new approach to the problem of dark matter and dark energy in the universe. Using machine learning tools, they programmed computers to teach themselves how to extract the relevant information from maps of the universe.

Building conventional robots typically requires carefully combining components like motors, batteries, actuators, body segments, legs and wheels. Now, researchers have taken a new approach, building a robot entirely from smaller robots known as 'smarticles' to unlock the principles of a potentially new locomotion technique.

Researchers have developed soft robotic devices driven by neuromuscular tissue that triggers when stimulated by light -- bringing mechanical engineering one step closer to developing autonomous biobots.

Researchers published the first experiments to gauge whether biomimetic robotic fish can induce fear-related changes in mosquitofish, aiming to discover whether the highly invasive species might be controlled without toxicants or trapping methods harmful to wildlife. Their findings indicate that even brief exposure to a robotic replica of the mosquitofish's primary predator can provoke meaningful avoidance behaviors and physiological changes associated with the loss of energy reserves, potentially translating into lower rates of reproduction.

While computers have become smaller and more powerful and supercomputers and parallel computing have become the standard, we are about to hit a wall in energy and miniaturization. Now, Penn State researchers have designed a 2D device that can provide more than yes-or-no answers and could be more brainlike than current computing architectures.

Human hands are skilled at manipulating a range of objects. We can pick up an egg or a strawberry without smashing it. We can hammer a nail. One characteristic that allows us to perform a variety of tasks is the ability to alter the firmness of our grip, and University at Buffalo researchers have developed a two-fingered robotic hand that shares this trait. The goal? Improving safety in industrial settings where robots work with people.