University of California

New technology will cut plug-in hybrid fuel consumption by one third

Engineers have taken inspiration from biological evolution and the energy savings garnered by birds flying in formation to improve the efficiency of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles by more than 30 percent.

Ultra-thin solution to obstacle in solid-state battery development

A team of researchers have announced a transformative development in the race to produce batteries that are at once safe, powerful, and affordable.

Self-healing, transparent, highly stretchable material

Scientists have developed a transparent, self-healing, highly stretchable conductive material that can be electrically activated to power artificial muscles and could be used to improve batteries, electronic devices, and robots.

Wall-jumping robot is most vertically agile ever built

Roboticists have designed a small robot that can leap into the air and then spring off a wall, or perform multiple vertical jumps in a row, resulting in the highest robotic vertical jumping agility ever recorded.

Metallic glass gears make for graceful robots

Gears are essential for precision robotics. They allow limbs to turn smoothly and stop on command; low-quality gears cause limbs to jerk or shake. If you're designing a robot to scoop samples or grip a ledge, the kind of gears you'll need won't come from a hardware store.

A new standard in robotics

Known as the Yale-CMU-Berkeley (YCB) Object and Model Set, the intent is to provide universal benchmarks for labs specializing in robotic manipulation and prosthetics around the world.

Major advance in solar cells made from cheap, easy-to-use perovskite

Solar cells made from an inexpensive and increasingly popular material called perovskite can more efficiently turn sunlight into electricity using a new technique to sandwich two types of perovskite into a single photovoltaic cell.

Magnetic ink to print self-healing devices that heal in record time

A team of engineers has developed a magnetic ink that can be used to make self-healing batteries, electrochemical sensors and wearable, textile-based electrical circuits.

3D printed metamaterial shrinks when heated

Researchers have developed 3D printed materials with a unique property - instead of expanding when heated, they shrink.

From ancient fossils to future cars

Researchers have developed an inexpensive, energy-efficient way to create silicon-based anodes for lithium-ion batteries from the fossilized remains of single-celled algae called diatoms. The research could lead to the development of ultra-high capacity lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and portable electronics.

Atomic sandwiches could make computers more energy efficient

Researchers have engineered a material that could lead to a new generation of computing devices, packing in more computing power while consuming a fraction of the energy that today's electronics require.

Grant to improve the way robots interact with people in factories

A three-year, $1 million project funded by the National Science Foundation to help change the role of robots in factories and make it easier for machines to work alongside people.

Neural dust opens door to implantable self powered wearables

Engineers have built the first dust-sized, wireless sensors that can be implanted in the body, bringing closer the day when a Fitbit-like device could monitor internal nerves, muscles or organs in real time.

3-D printed structures "remember" their shapes

Engineers are using light to print three-dimensional structures that "remember" their original shapes. Even after being stretched, twisted, and bent at extreme angles, the structures sprang back to their original forms within seconds of being heated to a certain temperature.

Artificial muscle for soft robotics: low voltage, high hopes

Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a dielectric elastomer with a broad range of motion that requires relatively low voltage and no rigid components.

Flexible wearable electronic skin patch monitors alcohol levels

Engineers have developed a flexible wearable sensor that can accurately measure a person's blood alcohol level from sweat and transmit the data wirelessly to a laptop, smartphone or other mobile device.

Precision Hawk

Precision Hawk was established in 2010 in Toronto, Canada. The original focus of the company was to do precise remote sensing of data followed by data processing/analysis to provide actionable recommendations to farmers

Novel self-assembly can tune the electronic properties of graphene

A new self-assembly mechanism that drives negatively charged molecules to clump together to form islands when graphene is supported by an electrical insulator.

Discovery could dramatically boost perovskite efficiency

Scientists have discovered a possible secret to dramatically boosting the efficiency of perovskite solar cells hidden in the nanoscale peaks and valleys of the crystalline material.