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PARITy drivetrain govern the flight of minuscule aerial robots

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Engineers at Harvard University have created a millionth-scale automobile differential to govern the flight of minuscule aerial robots. Their new approach is the first to passively balance the aerodynamic forces encountered by these miniature flying devices, letting their wings flap asymmetrically in response to gusts of wind, wing damage, and other real-world impediments.
“The drivetrain… »

Stickybot gecko-like robot climbs vertical surfaces

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Gecko’s foot ability to stick to many surfaces, including glass, has been inspiring scientists to mimic that ability in other to make dry adhesive materials and robots able to walk up various materials. A group of scientists from Stanford University are developing such a robot which is fittingly named Stickybot. They are already working on… »

Frog skin germ-fighting substances for new antibiotics

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Even witchdoctors in the past knew that some frog skins contain germ-fighting substances since they manage to live in swampy and hostile environments. A group of scientists, led by Michael Conlon, Ph.D., noted that modified frog skin substances could be used against the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria, which have the ability to shrug off conventional… »

Green architecture – Paul Smith Children’s Village

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Here is a nice example of green architecture, first of its kind children’s garden, which through play and adventure provides children the experience to understand practical methods of sustainable living. The Cheyenne Botanic Gardens announced that the Paul Smith Children’s Village and the Lowes Discovery Lab have been awarded with LEED Platinum certification.
Visitors to the… »

Harvard researchers use nanoFETs to delicately probe cells

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Chemists and engineers at Harvard University have used nanowires in order to make a new type of V-shaped transistor small enough to be used for sensitive probing of the interior of cells. The new device is smaller than many viruses and about one-hundredth the width of the probes which are currently used to take cellular… »

Seaswarm – autonomous oil-absorbing robot from MIT

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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… »

REEM-H2 – humanoid service robot created by PAL Robotics

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PAL Robotics is a Spanish company, based in Barcelona, dedicated to the Research & Development of humanoid robots. It forms part of the PAL Group from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. After many years of study and various prototypes, the company is now commencing the launch and production of commercial products. The latest… »

Air Clean pavement slabs clean air from nitrogen oxide

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We already wrote about several projects where pavement could be used to generate energy, and in this article we’re going to write about progress in technology used to clean the air with usage of a special pavement. Coated in titanium dioxide nanoparticles, pavement is able to reduce the amount of nitrogen oxide in the air…. »

Glints of DJing in near future? Touch-screen DJing

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Although DJ’s across the world strongly disagree with the idea that turntables and additional gear should become digitized in live performance, we’re going to describe a concept and a prototype DJ mixing tool that rely on touch-screen technology. Unlike the iPad and iPod solutions that are on the market, these 2 are yet to become… »

Social robot OLIVIA developed to be used as a receptionist

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Researchers at A*STAR’s Social Robotics Programme (ASORO), integration of research capabilities of the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), the Data Storage Institute (DSI) and the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech), are developing social robot OLIVIA – an experimental platform for social robot study. The folks from ASORO envision OLIVIA as a receptionist or a… »