There are numerous examples in nature where ‘active touch’ plays a primary role in how an animal finds its way around and how it behaves. Inspired by the Etruscan shrew, one of the world’s tiniest mammals, researchers at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL) developed Shrewbot – the newest generation of a robots that use sophisticated… »
Stanford researchers have developed a stretchable, transparent skin-like sensor that can be stretched to more than twice of its original length and return to its original shape. It can sense pressure from a firm pinch to thousands of pounds. The sensor could be used in used in medicine as pressure-sensitive bandages or sensors on prosthetic… »
Researchers at Technical University of Munich (TUM) are developing an artificial skin for robots to help them navigate in their environments. It will provide important tactile information to the robot and thus supplement its perception formed by camera eyes, infrared scanners and gripping hands. They have built a single robotic arm equipped with sensors to… »
Unlike other researchers who are developing self-repairing materials, civil engineers at MIT cooperated with physicists at the University of Potsdam, Germany, went in a different direction and developed a flexible skin-like fabric with electrical properties which could be applied to areas of structures where cracks are likely to appear and be used to detect cracks… »
These days, we normally use sensors to measure whether these components are strained beyond capacity, and it requires a lot of effort to install them into the component parts or glue them onto their surface, and even install networks of sensors with various sensibility. Researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Applied Material Research… »
Floods cut down more bridges than fire, wind, earthquakes, deterioration, overloads and collisions combined, costing lives and hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. The speed and turbulence of an overflowing stream scours away the river bottom that provides the support for a bridge foundation. In order to counter that, researchers at the Case Western… »
A research group, consisting of people from International Rescue System Institute, Chiba Institute of Technology and Tohoku University, has developed a rescue robot named QUINCE. It will be used to collect rescue information in case of Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRNE) disasters, including hazardous substance leaks in the underground malls or tall buildings, and… »
In one of our previous articles we wrote about a robot developed to inspect the aging power lines in the USA, as well as about importance of preventive maintenance and inspection of the aging power lines. Many power lines in western Japan are 80 years old, so Tokyo-based HiBot worked with western Japan’s Kansai Electric… »
