ENG: By combining inspiration from the digital world of polygon meshing and the biological world of swarm behavior, the Mori3 robot can morph from 2D triangles into almost any 3D object. The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) research, which has been published in Nature Machine Intelligence, shows the promise of modular robotics for space travel.
Category: Robotics
Urban Reef
ENG: Dutch designers Pierre Oskam and Max Latour have come up with a way to make cities more biodiverse, named Urban Reef. Their solution involves using natural materials to create structural ecosystems that can be integrated within the built environment like fountains, for example.
Origami-Inspired Robots Can Sense, Analyze and Act in Challenging Environments
ENG: Roboticists have been using a technique similar to the ancient art of paper folding to develop autonomous machines out of thin, flexible sheets. These lightweight robots are simpler and cheaper to make and more compact for easier storage and transport. However, the rigid computer chips traditionally needed to enable advanced robot capabilities — sensing, analyzing and responding to the environment — add extra weight to the thin sheet materials and makes them harder to fold. The semiconductor-based components therefore have to be added after a robot has taken its final shape. Now, a multidisciplinary team led by researchers at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering has created a new fabrication technique for fully foldable robots that can perform a variety of complex tasks without relying on semiconductors.
A 4D printer for smart materials with magneto-and electro-mechanical properties has been developed
ENG: Researchers at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid have created software and hardware for a 4D printer with applications in the biomedical field. In addition to 3D printing, this machine allows for controlling extra functions: programming the material’s response so that shape-changing occurs under external magnetic field, or changes in its electric properties develops under mechanical deformation. This opens the door to the design of soft robots or smart sensors and substrates that transmit signals to different cellular systems, among other applications.