A team of engineers at Princeton University in New Jersey have designed and built soft-rigid hybrid robots that move and shift without the need for motors or external pneumatic controls, combining a printable polymer, called a liquid crystal elastomer, with flexible electronics and folding techniques based on the art of origami. With their ability to shapeshift and … [Read more...] about Engineers design soft robot that uses only electric current to move
Materials
What can Chinese characters tell us about designing strong materials?
Inspired by cultural geometries, researchers from the University of Edinburgh have created and tested a number of metamaterials – materials whose properties depend highly on their patterned structure rather than solely on their composition – comprised of Chinese characters. ‘Certain Chinese characters have strong, distinctive geometries, and these are shapes that “felt” like … [Read more...] about What can Chinese characters tell us about designing strong materials?
Boston Micro Fabrication unveils clear resin for micro-precision 3D printing
Micro-precision 3D-printing company Boston Micro Fabrication (BMF) has launched BMF Clear, an optically transparent photopolymer resin engineered for applications that require exceptional light transmission and micron-level accuracy, such as microfluidics, photonics, advanced optical components, biomedical devices and more. With greater than 90% light transmittance, the … [Read more...] about Boston Micro Fabrication unveils clear resin for micro-precision 3D printing
Bio-inspired structural design improves impact resistance and energy absorption
A collaborative research team from Tohoku University in Japan and the Wuhan University of Technology in China has taken inspiration from butterfly wings to develop a new lightweight lattice structure that also boasts enhanced mechanical strength, impact resistance and energy absorption capability through advanced structural design. They suggest that this strong yet … [Read more...] about Bio-inspired structural design improves impact resistance and energy absorption
Research begins on a sustainable wind turbine tower design made with UK steel
The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult is leading a research and development team to transform the design and manufacture of steel onshore wind turbine towers in order to make them more efficient and sustainable. The consortium, largely based in Wales, includes Tata Steel UK, RWE, Bute Energy, Hutchinson Engineering and Ledwood. The project has won £174,000 SMART … [Read more...] about Research begins on a sustainable wind turbine tower design made with UK steel