Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS)

Quino Energy

Quino Energy is a US-based company developing organic redox flow batteries (ORFB).

3D Printed, Self-Propelled, Endlessly Programmable Artificial Cilia

For years, scientists have been attempting to engineer tiny, artificial cilia for miniature robotic systems that can perform complex motions, including bending, twisting, and reversing. Building these smaller-than-a-human-hair microstructures typically requires multi-step fabrication processes and varying stimuli to create the complex movements, limiting their wide-scale applications.

Towards Building an Artificial Heart

Researchers have developed the first fully autonomous biohybrid fish from human stem-cell derived cardiac muscle cells. The artificial fish swims by recreating the muscle contractions of a pumping heart, bringing researchers one step closer to developing a more complex artificial muscular pump and providing a platform to study heart disease like arrhythmia.

A Soft, Stretchable Thermometer

The next generation of soft robotics, smart clothing and biocompatible medical devices are going to need integrated soft sensors that can stretch and twist with the device or wearer. The challenge: most of the components used in traditional sensing are rigid.

A Persoanlised Exoskeleton for Real-World Walking

Researchers have developed a new approach in which robotic exosuit assistance can be calibrated to an individual and adapt to a variety of real-world walking tasks in a matter of seconds. The bioinspired system uses ultrasound measurements of muscle dynamics to develop a personalized and activity-specific assistance profile for users of the exosuit.

Paving the Way for Small but Mighty Robots

An interdisciplinary team of roboticists, engineers and biologists have modeled the mechanics of the mantis shrimp's punch and built a robot that mimics the movement. The research sheds light on the biology of these pugnacious crustaceans and paves the way for small but mighty robotic devices.

3D Printed, Biocompatible Graft Could Repair Damaged Ear Drum

The PhonoGraft device is a 3D-printed, biocompatible graft that could be implanted to repair a damaged eardrum. If its clinical development is successful, the PhonoGraft technology could mitigate the pain, drainage, and hearing loss associated with ear drum perforations that affect millions of individuals worldwide.

Low Cost Device For Consumers to Home Test Themselves for SARS-CoV-2

With the Delta variant wreaking havoc on unvaccinated populations and COVID-19 cases spiking around the world, the pandemic is far from over. Despite the impressively fast development of SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tests over the last year and a half, the vast majority of patient samples must still be sent to a lab for processing, which slows down the pace of COVID-19 case tracking. If a sample is to be tested for a specific variant of the virus, it must be genetically sequenced, which takes even more time and resources.

Face Masks That can Diagnose COVID-19

Most people associate the term "wearable" with a fitness tracker, smartwatch, or wireless earbuds. But what if you could wear cutting-edge biotechnology in your clothing, and it could warn you when you were exposed to something dangerous?

Wool-Like Material Could be Used in Smart Textiles, Medical Devices

Researchers have developed a biocompatible material that can be 3D-printed into any shape and pre-programmed with reversible shape memory. The material is made using keratin, a fibrous protein found in hair, nails and shells. The researchers extracted the keratin from leftover Agora wool used in textile manufacturing.

New Streamlined Approach for Twisted 2D Materials

How layers of 2D materials are stacked can have a profound effect on the properties. The twist angles can be the only difference between relatively mundane performance and the capacity to behave as a superconductor.

Soft Robotic Exosuit for Stroke Survivors

To allow stroke patients to recover, many rehabilitation centers have looked to robotic exoskeletons. But although there are now a range of exciting devices that are enabling people to walk again who initially were utterly unable to do so, there remains significant active research trying to understand how to best apply wearable robotics for rehabilitation after stroke.

Octopus Inspired Robot can Grip, Move and Manipulate

Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are in its arms, meaning each arm literally has a mind of its own. Octopus arms can untie knots, open childproof bottles, and wrap around prey of any shape or size. The hundreds of suckers that cover their arms can form strong seals even on rough surfaces underwater.

Soft Robotic Fingers Gently Grasp Deep-Sea Jellyfish

Marine biologists have adopted "soft robotic linguine fingers" as tools to conduct their undersea research. Scientists found that jellyfish held by ultra-soft robotic fingers expressed significantly fewer stress-related genes than when braced by traditional submersible grippers. Shaped like the famous noodles, this new robotic technology allows for the collection of ecological data in a gentler, less invasive manner.

Multimaterial 3D Printing Manufactures Complex Objects, Fast

A new technique called multimaterial multinozzle 3D printing uses high-speed pressure valves to achieve rapid, continuous, and seamless switching between up to eight different printing materials, enabling the creation of complex shapes in a fraction of the time currently required using printheads that range from a single nozzle to large multinozzle arrays.

Sensor Could be Used for Microrobotics, Augmented Reality, Wearables

For all our technological advances, nothing beats evolution when it comes to research and development. Take jumping spiders. These small arachnids have impressive depth perception despite their tiny brains, allowing them to accurately pounce on unsuspecting targets from several body lengths away.

A swifter way towards 3D-printed organs

Sacrificial ink-writing technique allows 3D printing of large, vascularized human organ building blocks.

Self-folding "Rollbot" paves the way for fully untethered soft robots

The majority of soft robots today rely on external power and control, keeping them tethered to off-board systems or rigged with hard components. Now, researchers have developed soft robotic systems, inspired by origami, that can move and change shape in response to external stimuli, paving the way for fully untethered soft robots.

Exosuit shows potential for wearable robots

Researchers have previously developed robotic devices for rehabilitation and other areas of life that can either assist walking or running, but no untethered portable device could efficiently do both.