Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

NSG Group, Ubiquitous Energy to develop transparent solar windows

The ongoing joint development work targets the development, manufacture, and integration of Ubiquitous Energy's ClearView Power technology into architectural window glass that has the potential to produce solar electricity for buildings.

Will Volkswagen Group Succeed in Electric Vehicles?

IDTechEx Research analyses whether or not the VW group can innovate their way through a challenging time and succeed in electric vehicles.

Low-cost, high-tech synthetic biology for the classroom

How can high school students learn about a technology as complex and abstract as CRISPR? It's simple: just add water.

Smarter training of neural networks

These days, nearly all the artificial intelligence-based products in our lives rely on "deep neural networks" that automatically learn to process labeled data.

Crystalline Mirror Solutions (CMS)

Crystalline Mirror Solutions (CMS) manufacture low-noise, reflective optical components based on a patented coating technology.

Robotics research may help Parkinson's patients

For years, Israeli neurologist Tamar Flash has had a fascination with the octopus, and the way the invertebrate's eight arms propel it effortlessly through the water. She's convinced this has major implications for diagnosing and treating Parkinson's disease — and possible other disorders as well.

Giving robots a better feel for object manipulation

A new learning system improves robots' abilities to mold materials into target shapes and make predictions about interacting with solid objects and liquids. The system, known as a learning-based particle simulator, could give industrial robots a more refined touch — and it may have fun applications in personal robotics, such as modelling clay shapes or rolling sticky rice for sushi. In robotic planning, physical simulators are models that capture how different materials respon

Robots that can sort recycling

Every year trash companies sift through an estimated 68 million tons of recycling, which is the weight equivalent of more than 30 million cars.

AI to accurately predict the useful life of batteries

Wouldn't it be nice if battery manufacturers could tell which of their batteries will last at least two years and sell those to mobile phone makers, and which will last for ten years or more and sell those to electric vehicle manufacturers? New collaborative research shows how they could start doing that.

New approach could boost energy capacity of lithium batteries

Researchers around the globe have been on a quest for batteries that pack a punch but are smaller and lighter than today's versions, potentially enabling electric cars to travel further or portable electronics to run for longer without recharging.

New 3-D printing approach makes cell-scale lattice structures

A new way of making scaffolding for biological cultures could make it possible to grow cells that are highly uniform in shape and size, and potentially with certain functions. The new approach uses an extremely fine-scale form of 3-D printing, using an electric field to draw fibers one-tenth the width of a human hair.

"Particle robot" works as a cluster of simple units

Taking a cue from biological cells, researchers have developed computationally simple robots that connect in large groups to move around, transport objects, and complete other tasks.

Machine learning identifies links between world's oceans

Oceanographers studying the physics of the global ocean have long found themselves facing a conundrum: Fluid dynamical balances can vary greatly from point to point, rendering it difficult to make global generalizations.

Spider silk could be used as robotic muscle

Spider silk, already known as one of the strongest materials for its weight, turns out to have another unusual property that might lead to new kinds of artificial muscles or robotic actuators, researchers have found.

Campaign for a more sustainable blockchain community

Eden GeoPower launched a crowdfunding campaign via StartEngine's fundraising platform to help its efforts to develop off-grid renewable geothermal power plants. Each geothermal power plant will be capable of producing up to 10 MW of renewable geothermal energy.

Robots track moving objects with unprecedented precision

A novel system developed at MIT uses RFID tags to help robots home in on moving objects with unprecedented speed and accuracy. The system could enable greater collaboration and precision by robots working on packaging and assembly, and by swarms of drones carrying out search-and-rescue missions.

Charting a path to cheaper flexible solar cells

There's a lot to like about perovskite-based solar cells. They are simple and cheap to produce, offer flexibility that could unlock a wide new range of installation methods and places, and in recent years have reached energy efficiencies approaching those of traditional silicon-based cells. But figuring out how to produce perovskite-based energy devices that last longer than a couple of months has been a challenge.

Unleashing perovskites' potential for solar cells

Researchers have been able to decipher a key aspect of the behavior of perovskites made with different formulations: With certain additives there is a kind of "sweet spot" where greater amounts will enhance performance and beyond which further amounts begin to degrade it.

Converting Wi-Fi signals to electricity with new 2-D materials

Imagine a world where smartphones, laptops, wearables, and other electronics are powered without batteries. Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have taken a step in that direction, with the first fully flexible device that can convert energy from Wi-Fi signals into electricity that could power electronics.

Putting neural networks under the microscope

Researchers are putting the machine-learning systems known as neural networks under the microscope. In a study that sheds light on how these systems manage to translate text from one language to another, the researchers developed a method that pinpoints individual nodes, or "neurons," in the networks that capture specific linguistic features.