University of Pennsylvania

Shape shifting modular robot

A robot can assemble a car door or pack a box much faster and more efficiently than any human, but such single-purpose machines struggle when asked to perform in challenging environments that contain elements such as stairs or tunnels.

Wearables powered by body movements

A wearable energy-harvesting device could generate energy from the swing of an arm while walking or jogging, according to a team of researchers. The device, about the size of a wristwatch, produces enough power to run a personal health monitoring system.

Biosensor chip wirelessly detects disease

Researchers have developed a chip that can detect a type of genetic mutation known as a single nucleotide polymorphism and wirelessly send the results in real time to a smartphone, computer, or other electronic device. The chip is at least 1,000 times more sensitive at detecting an SNP than current technology.

Fiber lasers: unique tools for automotive & aerospace manufacturing

Automotive and aerospace manufacturers are increasingly turning to fiber lasers to resolve their manufacturing challenges.

Brain stimulation decreases intent to commit assault

Research shows that using minimally invasive electrical currents on the prefrontal cortex can reduce the desire to carry out physical and sexual assault and increase the perception that such violence is morally wrong.

Self-heating, fast-charging battery for electric vehicles

Californians do not purchase electric vehicles because they are cool, they buy EVs because they live in a warm climate. Conventional lithium-ion batteries cannot be rapidly charged at temperatures below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, but now a team of engineers has created a battery that can self-heat, allowing rapid charging regardless of the outside chill.

3D printing the (near) impossible with soluble supports

Since its inception in the late 1980s, 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, has been the subject of intense media attention due to the design and manufacture freedom afforded to the end user. Indeed, this freedom has become so intertwined with the concept of 3D printing that manufacturers will promote their products with the tagline that "complexity is free".

Deep learning may help predict when people need rides

Computers may better predict taxi and ride sharing service demand, paving the way toward smarter, safer and more sustainable cities, according to an international team of researchers.

Wearable helps fight addiction

WearIT is a scientific framework that uses a wearable device — such as a Fitbit or Apple watch — along with a smartphone and a web server to detect indicators of stress and/or anxiety in the person wearing the device.

Rotational 3D printing technique yields high-performance composites

Nature has produced exquisite composite materials—wood, bone, teeth, and shells, for example—that combine light weight and density with desirable mechanical properties such as stiffness, strength and damage tolerance.

3-D printed microfibers could aid artificially grown body part

Much as a frame provides structural support for a house and the chassis provides strength and shape for a car, a team of engineers believe they have a way to create the structural framework for growing living tissue using an off-the-shelf 3-D printer.

Piezoelectrics stretch their potential

Thin-film piezoelectrics, with dimensions on the scale of micrometers or smaller, offer potential for new applications where smaller dimensions or a lower voltage operation are required.

Engineers to develop intelligent, adaptive and resilient robot teams

The United States Army Research Laboratory has awarded a five-year, $27 million grant to develop new methods of creating autonomous, intelligent, and resilient teams of robots.

Octopus inspires 3-D texture morphing project

A group is using the cephalopod as inspiration for a method to morph flat surfaces into three-dimensional ones on demand.

Small robots are inspired by origami

Through origami-inspired engineering, researchers hope to not only create rapidly fabricable robots capable of completing tasks, but also build intuitive design software that enables others who may not be trained in engineering to create their own personalized origami robots.

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.

Better way to create organic bioelectronics

With increasing scientific and medical interest in communication with the nervous system, demand is growing for biomedical devices that can better record and stimulate the nervous system, as well as deliver drugs and biomolecules in precise dosages.

Repairing damaged hearts with self-healing heart cells

New research has discovered a potential means to trigger damaged heart cells to self-heal. The discovery could lead to groundbreaking forms of treatment for heart diseases.

Designing custom robots in a matter of minutes

Even as robots become increasingly common across different parts of our world, they remain incredibly difficult to make.

Teaching robots to feel with their eyes

One of the immediate goals of the project is to be able to take an image of a surface that hasn't necessarily been seen before and pick out properties like how soft it will feel or how slippery it's going to be.