Office of Naval Research (ONR)

Engineers program tiny robots to move, think like insects

While engineers have had success building tiny, insect-like robots, programming them to behave autonomously like real insects continues to present technical challenges.

Engineers 3-D print a "living tattoo"

New technique 3-D prints programmed cells into living devices for first time.

Synthetic circuits can harvest light energy

Novel structures made with DNA scaffolds could be used to create solar-powered materials.

Low-cost wearables manufactured by hybrid 3D printing

A collaboration has created a new additive manufacturing technique for soft electronics, called hybrid 3D printing, that integrates soft, electrically conductive inks and matrix materials with rigid electronic components into a single, stretchable device.

No batteries required: energy-harvesting yarns generate electricity

An international research team has developed high-tech yarns that generate electricity when they are stretched or twisted.

Collaboration on bomb disposal robots

RE2 received $1.3 Million for their technology and services to develop "Field deployable, bimanual mobile manipulator system for research on haptics-enabled dexterous manipulation."

Navy partnership develops first 3D printed submersible

The Optionally Manned Technology Demonstrator is a prototype vessel that could be used to deploy logistics capabilities and sensors. In the future, vessels will need to be manufactured faster and incorporate new designs to support each Navy mission.

Deep learning technique for trial and error robot skills

Researchers have developed algorithms that enable robots to learn motor tasks through trial and error using a process that more closely approximates the way humans learn, marking a major milestone in the field of artificial intelligence.

Linking robots to surveillance teams

Researchers are developing a system to enable teams of robots to share information as they move around and, if necessary, get help in interpreting what they see, enabling them to conduct surveillance as a single entity with many eyes.

Living sensors at your fingertips

Engineers and biologists have teamed up to design a new "living material" — a tough, stretchy, biocompatible sheet of hydrogel injected with live cells that are genetically programmed to light up in the presence of certain chemicals.

New metamaterials could improve energy absorption and harvesting

The team is looking forward to leveraging these topological mechanical metamaterials for various applications, optimizing them, and carving devices out of them for applications in soft robotics, prosthetics and energy harvesting.

Tiny DNA walker harvests energy from RNA

Researchers have introduced a new type of "super-resolution" microscopy and used it to discover the precise walking mechanism behind tiny structures made of DNA that could find biomedical and industrial applications.

Transparent, gel-based robots can catch and release live fish

Engineers have fabricated transparent, gel-based robots that move when water is pumped in and out of them. The bots can perform a number of fast, forceful tasks, including kicking a ball underwater, and grabbing and releasing a live fish.

Greater speed, accuracy in recognizing brain injury

Modern body armor better protects warfighters against shrapnel from explosive blasts. However, they still face a hidden threat—the resulting blast pressure and shock wave that could cause traumatic brain injury.

US Army flies hoverbike prototype

The Army Research Laboratory and industry partners demonstrated the flying capabilities of a unique rectangular-shaped quadcopter.

Researchers design one of the strongest, lightest materials known

The new configurations have been made in the lab using a high-resolution, multimaterial 3-D printer.

Wearable revolutionizes whale research, makes them partners in science

A sophisticated new type of "tag" on whales that can record data every second for hours, days and weeks at a time provides a view of whale behavior, biology and travels never before possible.

Silatronix

Silatronix is a Wisconsin-based firm that has developed flame-retardant additives for Li-ion batteries based on organosilicon. All major battery makers are testing their compound at the moment.

Researchers say 2D boron may be best for flexible electronics

Though they're touted as ideal for electronics, two-dimensional materials like graphene may be too flat and hard to stretch to serve in flexible, wearable devices. "Wavy" borophene might be better, according to scientists.

Turning brewery wastewater into battery power

Engineers have developed an innovative bio-manufacturing process that uses a biological organism cultivated in brewery wastewater to create the carbon-based materials needed to make energy storage cells.