Spiders have inspired a group of researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA to create a mobile robot which looks and moves as spiders. This high-tech assistant is still a prototype, but researchers envision its use as an exploratory tool in environments that are too hazardous or hardly reachable for humans…. »

A team of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, discovered that nanotubes composed of titanium dioxide can switch their phase as a battery is cycled, gradually boosting their operational capacity. Laboratory tests showed that batteries produced with this material could be recharged up to half of their original capacity in less… »

Honda Robotics, a newly established collective name used to represent all of Honda’s robotics technologies, unveiled a new version of their popular ASIMO humanoid robot. Its new autonomous behavior control technology allows it to continue moving without being controlled by an operator, and its improved algorithms and dexterity make ASIMO more practical in office or… »

In our previous article regarding green architecture, we wrote about a part of naked Retreats named naked Home Village – a rustic resort on Moganshan mountain in Zhejiang Province, just 200km from Shanghai. Their new venture which opened last month is named naked Stables Private Reserve – a luxury resort built to become the first… »

Aside the difference in coloration, a layman might think every glass material is the same, but there is more than it meets the eye in this transparent material. Glass can consist of up to 60 different elements, and experts are constantly creating glass with properties required in some application. Researchers of the Fraunhofer Institute for… »

In our previous articles we wrote about quadricopters used in research regarding swarm algorithms and entertainment, but a group of people from Germany took the application of these electrically charged flying machines a step further. They created e-volo electric multicopter – a sixteen propeller flying vehicle which completed its first manned flight at the end… »

Eucalyptus macocarpa, which is also known as The Rose of the West or Mottlecah, is a mallee Eucalyptus that is native to the south-west of Western Australia and noted for its large, spectacular flowers. Murdoch University researchers have discovered that it has unique self-cleaning and water-repellent properties which could be used in new nanotechnology applications…. »

Drawing inspiration from the gecko, researchers from the Simon Fraser University (SFU) have been able to create adhesives that carefully mimic the toe pads of the lizard that give it the amazing ability to climb smooth vertical surfaces. They used those adhesives on belts used by Timeless Belt Climbing Platform (TBCP-II) – a tank-like robot… »