Taking a cue from biological cells, researchers from MIT, Columbia University, and elsewhere have developed computationally simple robots that connect in large groups to move around, transport objects, and complete other tasks.
University of Glasgow’s Professor Ravinder Dahiya has plans to develop ultra-flexible, synthetic Brainy Skin that ‘thinks for itself’. The super-flexible, hypersensitive skin may one day be used to make more responsive prosthetics for amputees, or to build a robotic hand with a sense of touch.
MIT engineers have created soft, 3D-printed structures whose movements can be controlled with a wave of a magnet, much like marionettes without the strings. The menagerie of structures that can be magnetically manipulated includes a smooth ring that wrinkles up, a long tube that squeezes shut, a sheet that folds itself, and a spider-like “grabber” that can crawl, roll, jump, and snap together fast enough to catch a passing ball.
Germ-killing robots are being enlisted to further safeguard Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) patients from health care-associated infections. The robots will be deployed in selected inpatient areas, starting this month with the burn unit at Vanderbilt University Adult Hospital.
Delta expands its EtherCAT product offering to include Remote IO modules. As a major provider of Industrial Automation (IA) product technology, and a key contributor to the global advancement of smarter & greener manufacturing – Delta has released its R1-EC series remote IO modules.
