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Researchers Develop Robotic Swarm That Acts Like a Smart Material

Catwell

These tiny disk-shaped robots work together to lift and manipulate objects or support weight. (Image Credit: Brian Long/UCSB) UC researchers sought inspiration from embryonic tissues to develop a swarm of robots that act like smart material. The dis...
- 5 Mar 2025
This Device Could Put Out Fires Using Nothing But Low-Frequency Sound Waves

Catwell

Operating at 30-60 hertz, the sound extinguisher douses flames in just seconds. (Image Credit: George Mason University/YouTube) Back in 2015, two engineering students at George Mason University developed a fire extinguisher that puts out fires usin...
- 26 Feb 2025
Researchers Turn to Nature to Develop Robotic Butterfly

Catwell

The robotic butterfly wings are actuated via magnetic fields and can perform precision movements without electronics or batteries. (Image credit: University of Darmstadt) German researchers from the Technical University of Darmstadt and the Helmholt...
- 14 Feb 2025
Researchers Develop Drone with Bird-Like Legs

Catwell

The RAVEN drone features bird-inspired legs to help improve walking, jumping, take-off, and landing capabilities. (Image Credit: Alain Herzog) École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and UC Irvine researchers built RAVEN...
- 18 Dec 2024
Ikea Kallax Insert with Door as DIN rail housing

Jan Cumps

Ikea Kallax is a modular storage range. Used in houses and offices. I'm going to turn their "Insert With Door" into an industrial DIN plug-in. It will be able to hold automation and compute devices in an office-like environment. An i...
- 23 Nov 2024
Robotic Arms Play The Cello For The First Time As Part of a Symphony Orchestra

Catwell

The cello-playing robot performed a piece composed by Jacob Muhlrad at the Malmö Live Concert Hall in Sweden (Image Credit: malmosymfoniorkester/Instagram) In a world-first, two industrial robotic arms played the cello with a symphony orchestr...
- 22 Nov 2024
TEPCO Collected Melted Fuel Sample from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

Catwell

Penetration from the robotic telescope. (Image Credit: TEPCO) Telesco, a remote-controlled extendable robot, recently retrieved a small amount of melted fuel from a reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. According to the Tokyo Electri...
- 8 Nov 2024
Robots Race in Micromouse Maze Competition

Catwell

The HAL900 micromouse robot participated in the APEC 2024 micromouse competition. (Image Credit: Micromouse/Youtube) Anyone else feel the need to compete in this? For years, competitors have participated in Micromouse events to build a small, autono...
- 5 Nov 2024
Meet These Three Interesting Robots – a Conductor, Doctor and a Shark

Catwell

The MAiRA Pro S robot is an ensemble of three arms that conduct music. (Image Credit: David.Suenderhauf/Hellerau hall) Dresden, Germany, deployed MAiRA Pro S, a three-arm music conducting robot that acts like a human orchestra conductor. Recently, i...
- 23 Oct 2024
Mushrooms on the Move: Mushroom Given Robot Body and Learns to Crawl

Catwell

The biohybrid robot uses the mushroom’s rhythmic voltage spikes to control its locomotion. (Image credit: Cornell University) It’s almost unbelievable. Researchers from Cornell University have placed a mushroom behind the controls of a r...
- 10 Sep 2024
California Startup Comes Up with a New Way to Generate Power with Sunlight at Night

Catwell

Reflect Orbital tested its concept by fitting mylar mirrors on a hot air balloon that reflected sunlight on a moving truck. (Image Credit: Reflect Orbital) Fly by night, conceptual, viral, whatever the case may be, this idea is inspiring. It's ...
- 3 Sep 2024
Silicone Raspberries Used to Train Robot Harvesters

Catwell

EPFL has developed a robotic arm capable of identifying ripe fruit and can harvest them without damage. (Image credit: EPFL) Engineers from EPFL's CREATE Lab have developed and tested a robotic arm capable of harvesting raspberries without dama...
- 22 Aug 2024
Tons of E-Waste Could be Prevented with New Recyclable Circuit Boards

Catwell

The new material has nearly the same performance as traditional PCB material but can be completely recycled. Researchers from the University of Washington have developed a new formulation for circuit boards that offers performance on par with tradi...
- 19 Aug 2024
How The Las Vegas "Sphere" Works

Catwell

The Las Vegas Sphere is a technological feat, boasting the world's largest interior and exterior screens. (Photo by Y2kcrazyjoker4 is licensed under CC BY 4.0) With a $2.3 billion construction cost, the Las Vegas Sphere is home to the world'...
- 16 Aug 2024
Japanese Government Retires the Floppy Disk

Catwell

Last month, the Japanese Digital Agency scrapped all 1,034 regulations governing floppy disk use, except for one that applies to vehicle recycling. (Image credit: Wikipedia) It's almost the end of floppy disk use in the industrial world. The Jap...
- 6 Aug 2024
Rockwell’s ArmorKinetix Distributed Servo Drives Facilitate Smaller Machine Designs

Catwell

The ArmorKinetix Servo Drives can also lower system costs and increase productivity and uptime. (Image via Rockwell) Rockwell Automation touts its new ArmorKinetix Distributed Servo Drives as the technology behind faster deployments and more capable...
- 1 Aug 2024
Why Southwest Airlines Remained Unaffected by The Worldwide IT Outage

Catwell

(Image Credit: april_kim/Pixabay) “Don’t fix what isn’t broken” is a big motto in the design world. I always love stories of old technology still doing its job, and well. This is one of those cases. Last week, the world exper...
- 23 Jul 2024
Bota Systems PixONE Torque Sensor Features Hollow Shaft Design for Robotics Applications

Catwell

The PixONE platform packs a 6-axis IMU, gyroscope, temperature sensor and can handle payloads up to 250 kg. (All images via Bota Systems) Bota Systems, a Zurick-based developer and manufacturer of multi-axis force-torque sensors, recently unveiled i...
- 18 Jul 2024
Japan Proposes an Underground Transportation System to Deliver Cargo

Catwell

(Image Credit: Tama66/pixabay) The Japanese Transport and Tourism Ministry is planning to develop a huge 310-mile automated underground conveyor belt, called the Autoflow-Road, transporting packages from Tokyo to Osaka. Japan hopes this will address...
- 12 Jul 2024
Meet The Mini Replica of TARS Showcased at Open Sauce 2024

Catwell

The mini TARS replica robot was built by Charlie Diaz. (Image Credit: Charlie Diaz/hackster.io) Charlie Diaz is no stranger when it comes to Interstellar. The film features TARS, a two-legged robot, and he felt inspired enough to build a mini versio...
- 10 Jul 2024
Maple Seed-Inspired Robot Uses Light to Control Its Glide Path

Catwell

Image showing a natural maple samara (left) and artificial seed (right) while descending. (Image Credit: Jianfeng Yang / Tampere University) Researchers at Tampere University, Finland, and the University of Pittsburgh collaborated to develop a robot...
- 3 Jul 2024
Robots Look More Lifelike With This Lab-Grown Human Skin Tissue

Catwell

The left image shows a 3D mold covered with living skin. The right image shows a 2D facial robot covered with living skin. ©2024 Takeuchi et al. CC-BY-ND Lifelike robots are starting to take shape and become a reality. Researchers at the Univer...
- 28 Jun 2024
Robotic Snail Swarm Work Together to Move Across Challenging Terrain

Catwell

As shown in the image, the snail robots can work together or individually to move across terrain, climb, or overcome obstacles. (Image Credit: Zhao et al., Nature Communications, 2024) Researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong developed a r...
- 14 Jun 2024
Climeworks' Massive Direct Air Capture Tech Begins Removing Carbon from The Air

Catwell

The Mammoth carbon capture plant began operations and aims to capture 36,000 tons of carbon per year. (Image Credit: Climeworks) Mammoth, a carbon capture plant built by Climeworks, recently started removing CO2 from the earth's atmosphere. Base...
- 22 May 2024
NASA Seeks New Plans for The Mars Sample Return Mission

Catwell

An illustration of the Mars Sample Return mission. (Image Credit: NASA/ESA/JPL-Caltech) According to NASA, the existing Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission plans to return the Mars rock samples before 2040 need to be reconsidered. The space agency says...
- 16 May 2024