National Science Foundation

Robotic skins turn everyday objects into robots

When you think of robotics, you likely think of something rigid, heavy, and built for a specific purpose. New "Robotic Skins" technology flips that notion on its head, allowing users to animate the inanimate and turn everyday objects into robots.

Color-changing sensor detects signs of eye damage in tears

A new point-of-care rapid-sensing device can detect a key marker of eye injury in minutes - a time frame crucial to treating eye trauma.

Guinness World Record for smallest medical robot

It can't be seen with a human eye. But, nevertheless, it is a robot (all 120nm of it) and its creators are now world record holders in the Guinness World Records for creating the Smallest Medical Robot.

Printing with sound

Harvard University researchers have developed a new printing method that uses sound waves to generate droplets from liquids with an unprecedented range of composition and viscosity. This technique could finally enable the manufacturing of many new biopharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and food and expand the possibilities of optical and conductive materials.

Seeking a new element in artificial intelligence: trust

For decades, the cybersecurity community has devised protections to fend off malicious software attacks and identify and fix flaws that can disrupt the computing programs that are central to all aspects of life. Now, a team of researchers has received a grant to develop some of the first tools to bring those same protections to artificial intelligence systems.

Beer waste transformed into energy-efficient window covering

Can a new type of transparent gel, made from readily-available beer waste, help engineers build greenhouses on Mars? Physicists have developed an insulating gel that they say could coat the windows of habitats in space, allowing the settlers inside to trap and store energy from the sun—much like a greenhouse stays warm during the winter. And unlike similar products on the market, the material is mostly see-through.

Kids connect with robot reading partners

Kids learn better with a friend. They're more enthusiastic and understand more if they dig into a subject with a companion. But what if that companion is artificial?

Mantis Composites

Mantis composites specialize in the 3D Printing of continuous fiber reinforced composites. Michael Chapiro (COO) spoke with technology analyst Dr Richard Collins.

Introducing the latest in textiles: Soft hardware

The latest development in textiles and fibers is a kind of soft hardware that you can wear: cloth that has electronic devices built right into it.

Ultra sensitive skin for robots

A smart skin that will give robots more sensitive tactile feeling than humans. The smart skin technology allows the robots to sense temperature changes and surface variations, which would allow a person alongside the robot to be safer or react accordingly.

Nanotube rebar makes graphene twice as tough

Rebar graphene is the nanoscale analog of rebar (reinforcement bars) in concrete, in which embedded steel bars enhance the material's strength and durability. Rebar graphene, developed by the Rice lab of chemist James Tour in 2014, uses carbon nanotubes for reinforcement.

Eden GeoPower awarded $225,000 from National Science Foundation

Eden GeoPower is pleased to announce that it has been granted the Small Business Innovation Research Program Phase I award of $225,000 from the National Science Foundation.

Gentle robotic hand for sea life

The open ocean is the largest and least explored environment on Earth, estimated to hold up to a million species that have yet to be described. However, many of those organisms are soft-bodied - like jellyfish, squid, and octopuses - and are difficult to capture for study with existing underwater tools, which all too frequently damage or destroy them. Now, a new device safely traps delicate sea creatures inside a folding polyhedral enclosure and lets them go without harm using a novel, origami-inspired design.

Cell-sized robots

Researchers have created what may be the smallest robots yet that can sense their environment, store data, and even carry out computational tasks. These devices, which are about the size of a human egg cell, consist of tiny electronic circuits made of two-dimensional materials, piggybacking on minuscule particles called colloids.

Researchers improve conductive property of graphene

Researchers have connected a graphene layer with two other atomic layers (molybdenum diselenide and tungsten disulfide) thereby extending the lifetime of excited electrons in graphene by several hundred times.

Drones survey African wildlife

A new technique enables fast and accurate counting of gnu, oryx and other large mammals living in wildlife reserves. Drones are used to remotely photograph wilderness areas, and the images are then analysed using object recognition software and verified by humans.

Magnetic 3-D-printed structures crawl, roll, jump, and play catch

New printing technique could be used to develop remotely controlled biomedical devices.

Chip upgrade helps miniature drones navigate

Researchers at MIT, who last year designed a tiny computer chip tailored to help honeybee-sized drones navigate, have now shrunk their chip design even further, in both size and power consumption.

One-step, 3D printing for multimaterial projects

Similar to the advance from black and white to color printing, a research team for the first time has used 3D printing technology in a one-step process to print structures made of two different materials.

Frozen yoghurt robots, eliminates need for staff

Launching off success in US markets, revolutionary frozen yogurt robots, are set to disrupt the industry in Canada.