Northeastern University

A robot that can walk and fly

The robot is known as LEONARDO, an acronym for LEg ON Aerial Robotic DrOne, or Leo for short. It has a capability most robots these days just don't have: It can both walk and fly.

Robots are coming to the seafood industry. Here's why

New England is known for being an excellent source of lobster and other seafood. But while fishing is done locally, much of the processing is outsourced to other countries. A lack of local manpower means scallops caught off the coast of Massachusetts might travel to China or India for processing before they appear on your plate at a restaurant in Boston.

Squid skin could be the solution to new materials

Cephalopods—which include octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish—are masters of disguise. They can camouflage to precisely match their surroundings in a matter of seconds, and no scientist has quite been able to replicate the spectacle. But new research brings us a step closer.

Next big breakthrough in robotics

While drones and driverless cars dominate the headlines, another breakthrough—robot dexterity—is likely to have an even greater impact in both business and everyday life.

Robots to assist with disaster relief

Quickly following a natural disaster, it's critical to evaluate the health and strength of a city's infrastructure. Failure to do so can have catastrophic consequences.

Flying robot is the newest expert inspecting your city's bridges

Researchers have joined forces to develop the Aerial Robotic Infrastructure Analyst. This tabletop-sized drone uses photo and video capture techniques, as well as state-of-the-art laser scanners, to create a high-resolution 3-D model of the bridge, which can then be safely analyzed by an inspector on the ground.

Self folding, origami robots

Researcher envi­sions a world in which tem­po­rary housing would autonomously con­structed, and origami robots would fold them­selves into 3-​​D machines for space explo­ration.

Prepping a robot for its journey to Mars

Researchers are preparing an astronaut named Valkyrie for a mission to Mars. It is 6 feet tall and weighs 300 pounds.

IDTechEx Show! Berlin grows 27%

IDTechEx Research announced today that Europe's largest event on emerging technologies, IDTechEx Show! held in Berlin on 27-28 April, grew 27% vs. last year's event. This year's exhibition and conference featured attendees from 57 countries with 171 exhibitors and 2,300 attendees.

IDTechEx Printed Electronics Europe 2016 Award Winners

At the 12th IDTechEx Printed Electronics Europe conference and exhibition, four companies were awarded for their great achievement in developing and commercializing printed electronics technologies. The awards were presented to the four winning companies by Mr Stéphane Egret, R&D Packaging Innovator at The Coca-Cola Company, who was also one of the judges of the awards. The two other judges were Dr Cristina Bertoni, Project Leader, Electrolux Italia and Ashutosh Tomar, Principal Engineer, Technology Strategy, at Jaguar Land Rover.

This necklace 'hears' what you eat

Carrots and apples not only taste different. They make distinct sounds when chewed.

Metallic glue may stick it to soldering and welding

Scientists have created a glue that bonds metal to metal or to other materials that sets at room temperature.

Technology for robot bees and wearables

The technology the team develops likely won't be limited to robot insects. The sensors could be used, among other things, in wearable technology.

Translating thought to print

Coupling multiscale modeling with emerging microscale 3D-printing techniques, scientists enabled a pathway to directly fabricate and test synthetic web structures by design.

Scientists cook up new electronic material

Scientists grew sheets of an exotic material in a single atomic layer and measured its electronic structure for the first time.

For energy storage devices, thin is in

A flex­ible and trans­parent super­ca­pac­itor, a device that stores energy as an elec­trical field instead of a chem­ical reac­tion, as bat­teries do.

Thin and flexible energy storage

Cell phones as thin and flex­ible as a sheet of paper. Energy-​​storing house paint. Roll-​​up touch screen dis­plays. These are the sorts of devices that the engi­neering industry is preparing for and expecting.

Energy harvesting and wireless sensors ready for prime time

Energy harvesting is the conversion of ambient energy into electricity to drive small or mobile electronic and electrical devices. Wireless sensors are particularly in need of energy harvesting because they are increasingly deployed in numbers and locations where hard wiring or battery changing are impracticable. We are at an exciting stage with both because harvesting is becoming better and electronics is demanding less power -so they meet in the middle.

Dip coated SWCNT for flexible electronics

Dip coated SWCNT microstructures on wafer-scale polymer for flexible electronics