Machinery
World's smallest 3D printer
May 17, 2011 8:25 am | News | CommentsPrinters, which can produce three-dimensional objects have been available for years. However, at the Vienna Univ. of Technology, a printing device has now been developed, which is much smaller, lighter, and cheaper than ordinary 3D-printers.
Energy-efficient laser for optical communication systems
May 17, 2011 7:41 am | by Andrew Myers | News | CommentsIn the push toward ever-smaller and ever-faster data transmission technology, a team of Stanford electrical engineers has produced a nanoscale laser that is much faster and more energy efficient than anything available today.
Engineers to help paraplegic student walk at graduation
May 12, 2011 1:33 pm | by Sarah Yang, Media Relations | News | CommentsAustin Whitney was instantly paralyzed in 2007 when a car accident severed his spinal cord. When he graduates this Saturday at UC Berkeley, he will rise out of his wheelchair to accept his diploma thanks to the help of fellow students who have designed a robotic exoskeleton for his wheelchair.
Second Z plutonium 'shot' safely tests materials for NNSA
May 11, 2011 7:27 am | News | CommentsThe National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced that researchers from Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories have completed their second experiment in the past six months at Sandia's Z machine to explore the properties of plutonium materials under extreme pressures and temperatures.
Tiltable head could improve navigation of undulating robots
May 10, 2011 5:12 am | News | CommentsResearchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology recently built a robot that can penetrate and "swim" through granular material. In a new study, they show that varying the shape or adjusting the inclination of the robot’s head affects the robot’s movement in complex environments.
Robot engages novice computer scientists
May 6, 2011 4:44 am | News | CommentsLearning how to program a computer to display the words "Hello World" once may have excited students, but that hoary chestnut of a lesson doesn’t cut it in a world of videogames, smartphones, and Twitter. One option to take its place and engage a new generation of students in computer programming is a Carnegie Mellon Univ.-developed robot called Finch.
Speeding swarms of sensor robots
May 3, 2011 4:11 am | by Larry Hardesty, MIT News Office | News | CommentsA new MIT-developed algorithm ensures that robotic environmental sensors will be able to focus on areas of interest without giving other areas short shrift.
NASA technology looks inside Japan's nuclear reactor
April 29, 2011 10:14 am | News | CommentsDesign techniques honed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., for Mars rovers were used to create the rover currently examining the inside of Japan's nuclear reactors, in areas not yet deemed safe for human crews.
New submersible capable of return to deepest ocean depths
April 27, 2011 7:03 am | News | CommentsTriton Submarines this week announced the impending release of their Triton 36,000 full ocean depth submersible. Featuring passenger cockpit approximately six feet in diameter and made entirely of borosilicate glass developed using a new process from Rayotek Scientific, the sub will offer the possibility of a return to the deepest part of the ocean in more than 50 years.
Physicists nab new record for heaviest antimatter
April 25, 2011 4:28 am | News | CommentsMembers of the international STAR collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider have detected the antimatter partner of the helium nucleus: antihelium-4. This new particle, also known as the anti-alpha, is the heaviest antinucleus ever detected.
Slim SIA-series robots from Motoman
April 11, 2011 7:08 am | Product Releases | CommentsMotoman Robotics recently introduced their SIA-series robots, which feature an actuator-based 7-axis design with wrist performance characteristics that enable freedom of movement. The SIA-series is suited for assembly, injection molding, machine tending, and other industrial applications.
Company planning biggest rocket since man on moon
April 6, 2011 5:18 am | by Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsAlthough the Falcon Heavy has been in SpaceX’s plans for some time, Tuesday marks the first time founder Elon Musk has announced his company’s intentions to launch the first Heavy in 2013. The rocket would put 117,000 pounds of cargo into the same orbit as the International Space Station, more than twice as much as the Space Shuttle.
Richard Branson plans deep-ocean submarine dives
April 6, 2011 4:52 am | by Noaki Schwartz, Associated Press | News | CommentsOver the next two years, billionaire adventurer Richard Branson will plumb the deepest depths of the world’s five oceans with a new 18-foot-long Virgin Oceanic submarine that was unveiled Tuesday in Newport Beach, Calif. He has partnered with Scripps Institution of Oceanography and several other research laboratories to add scientific clout to his plans.
Pumping up the polarization of protons for RHIC
April 6, 2011 4:50 am | News | CommentsThe competition may have been slim, but the feat was great. With custom-built power supplies built from old inventory and 1960s quadrupole magnets pulled from storage, Brookhaven Lab's Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS) can now provide researchers with five to eight percent more protons that are polarized—breaking its own world record set in 2009 for the highest polarization, energy, and intensity beams at BNL’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC).
Digging through the discontinuity
March 30, 2011 9:23 am | by Paul Livingstone | Blogs | CommentsIn the late 1950s and early 1960s, some of the last hurdles in human exploration of the globe were overthrown, notably the scaling of Mt. Everest and the plumbing of the depths of the Marianas Trench. They paved the way for planting a flag on the Moon. But one notable project went underfunded and eventually forgotten.
Japan quake stirs unease about global supply chain
March 30, 2011 7:02 am | by Joe McDonald, AP Business Writer | News | CommentsA shortage of auto parts and other components after Japan's earthquake has stirred unease about two pillars of manufacturing: the country's role as a crucial link in the global supply chain and "just in time" production. The realization that these practices have made companies brittle in the face of natural disasters has some questioning current practices.
An observation first: Rare particles produced at the Large Hadron Collider
March 29, 2011 5:15 am | News | CommentsShortly after experiments on the Large Hadron Collider at the CERN laboratory began yielding scientific data last fall, a group of scientists led by a Syracuse Univ. physicist became the first to observe the decays of a rare particle that was present right after the Big Bang. By studying this particle, scientists hope to solve the mystery of why the universe evolved with more matter than antimatter.
“Good-bye, blind spot” – man and machine always in view
March 21, 2011 8:19 am | News | CommentsResearchers in Germany are introducing a new prototype for intelligent safety monitoring in industrial workplaces that illuminates the entire production hall. The process involves building a 3-D model of the factory and using to eliminate any blind spots where accidents or collisions could occur.
Modeling accelerators at near lightspeed
March 18, 2011 5:12 am | News | Comments"Tabletop" laser-plasma accelerators like BELLA promise high energies in short spaces. Modeling the acceleration of electrons by a laser beam moving through a plasma in 3D, however, has until now been an impractical challenge even for supercomputers. Borrowin a page from Albert Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity, Berkeley Lab researchers have perfected a way to accelerate calculations up to a million times faster.
NASA's humanoid robot unveiled on space station
March 17, 2011 5:38 am | News | CommentsAstronauts at the International Space Station unpacked Robonaut on Tuesday, more than two weeks after arriving at the space station. Prying open its “coffin”, the crew was surprised to find the robot was missing. They soon found the ‘bot in front of a work station, already attempting to gain system control, HAL 9000-style.
Large Hadron Collider: The world's first time machine?
March 16, 2011 3:51 am | News | CommentsIf the latest theory of Tom Weiler and Chui Man Ho is right, the Large Hadron Collider could be the first machine capable of causing matter to travel backwards in time.
Study: How do people respond to being touched by a robot?
March 9, 2011 5:53 am | News | CommentsFor people, being touched can initiate many different reactions from comfort to discomfort, from intimacy to aggression. But how might people react if they were touched by a robot? In an initial study, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology found people generally had a positive response toward being touched by a robotic nurse, but that their perception of the robot’s intent made a significant difference.
Imaging system helps improve sandwich bun quality
March 9, 2011 3:39 am | News | CommentsThe Georgia Tech Research Institute may possess the secret to baking perfect buns. Its researchers have developed a production-line system that automatically inspects the quality of sandwich buns exiting the oven and adjusts oven temperatures if it detects unacceptable buns.
Improving robot navigation systems
March 2, 2011 3:59 am | News | CommentsResearchers from the European Centre for Soft Computing and the UPM’s Facultad de Informática have developed an antonym-based technique for building maps for mobile robots. This technique can be applied to improve current robot navigation systems.
NIST and Willow Garage launch first robot 'perception challenge'
February 28, 2011 4:38 am | News | CommentsThe National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is teaming up with Willow Garage, a Silicon Valley robotics research and design firm, to launch an international “perception challenge” to drive improvements in sensing and perception technologies for next-generation robots.
