If a ship is anchored for longer periods of time, local algae, shells and barnacles colonize its hull and cause biofouling. Biofouling causes large economic losses since its growth on water vehicle hulls causes corrosion as well as higher fuel consumption. While some research groups develop surfaces which deny the initial formation, a group of… »
Although we already wrote about many materials that could serve as liquid repellant surfaces, the one developed by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz and the Technical University Darmstadt stands out by being superamphiphobic. They used candle soot to produce a fluorinated silicon coated silica nanostructure which is capable to… »
Sitting in a cozy sidewalk cafe, watching passersby and enjoying a chocolate-cream éclair – for many of us, this is a portrait of a relaxation, but the bakers who make the éclairs out of pastry dough inside our favorite home made bakery have to use a special machine that they operate by hand. Researchers have… »
Air duct cleaning is a tedious job which most of us leave to professionals whose methods and tidiness vary in quality. Group of engineers from Czech Republic developed Jetty – a robot for air duct inspection and cleaning. Robot Jetty is a belt robot with a unique design which allows it to fit air vents… »
In one of our mini-series we started a while ago, we wrote about robotic vacuum cleaners that could take the throne from the ruler of that niche. In this article we’re going to write about LG RoboKing’s successor named Hom-Bot Smart Vacuum Cleaning Robot. The robot is developed for the European market, and it’s much better… »
As the primary component of smog, nitrogen oxide (NOx) not only makes buildings dirty, but it also threatens the quality of the air we breathe. Alcoa Architectural Products has developed EcoClean technology – a special titanium dioxide coating for aluminum panels which counter smog and clean the panels from other organic materials such as diesel… »
Researchers at MIT have created a robotic prototype that could autonomously navigate the surface of the ocean to collect surface oil and process it on site. The system, called Seaswarm, is a fleet of vehicles that may make cleaning up future oil spills both less expensive and more efficient than current skimming methods. It uses… »
Although we already wrote about lotus biomimicry for water-repelling surfaces, in this article we’re going to write about a surface with similar properties. Engineering researchers have created what they say is a “nearly perfect hydrophobic interface” by mimicking spiders. By using plastic to reproduce the shape and patterns of the minute hairs that grow on… »
