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Columbia engineers develop ‘tactile robot finger with no blind spots’

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Researchers at Columbia Engineering say they have developed a new type of robotic finger with a sense of touch. Their finger can localize touch with very high precision – less than 1 mm – over a large, multicurved surface, much like its human counterpart. (See video below.)

Matei Ciocarlie, associate professor in the departments of mechanical engineering and computer science, says: “There has long been a gap between standalone tactile sensors and fully integrated tactile fingers–tactile sensing is still far from ubiquitous in robotic manipulation.”

Ciocarlie led this work in collaboration with Electrical Engineering Professor Ioannis Kymissis. [Read more…] about Columbia engineers develop ‘tactile robot finger with no blind spots’

Iowa scientists create nanoscale sensors to ‘better see how high pressure affects materials’

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Scientists at Iowa State University have developed new nanoscale technology to image and measure more of the stresses and strains on materials under high pressures.

As the researchers reported in the journal Science, that matters because, “Pressure alters the physical, chemical and electronic properties of matter.”

Understanding those changes could lead to new materials or new phases of matter for use in all kinds of technologies and applications, said Valery Levitas, a paper co-author and Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering at Iowa State University, the Vance Coffman Faculty Chair and professor in aerospace engineering. [Read more…] about Iowa scientists create nanoscale sensors to ‘better see how high pressure affects materials’

Automation increases productivity in materials science by 384 times, say researchers

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An automated method of conducting materials science research can increase productivity by 384 times when compared to a human, according to researchers. 

The robot-plus-software system also makes it easier for people who are not expert researchers or scientists to create new materials.

A Rutgers-led team of engineers has developed an automated way to produce polymers, making it much easier to create advanced materials aimed at improving human health. [Read more…] about Automation increases productivity in materials science by 384 times, say researchers

Lenovo and Intel provide advanced supercomputing infrastructure to Harvard University

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Lenovo and Intel are providing critical components for Harvard University’s first liquid-cooled supercomputer, while Lenovo is creating a ‘Visionary Council’ to drive broad adoption of exascale technology

The new supercomputing infrastructure will enable discoveries in earthquake forecasting, predictions on the spread of disease, and star formation.

Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences Research Computing’s newest supercomputing cluster performs three to four times faster with the upgrade. [Read more…] about Lenovo and Intel provide advanced supercomputing infrastructure to Harvard University

Researchers develop robot fingertips for grasping and releasing objects in dry and wet conditions

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A team of researchers at Kanazawa University has developed a robot control system – or fingertips – for grasping and releasing objects in dry and wet conditions.

The researchers say that the study was able to verify that “object grasping by soft surface fluid fingertips with high friction was controllable by applying a suitable lubricant”.

However, they added that it was necessary to do more experiments under various conditions in order to apply the current controlling technology to manufacturing environments. [Read more…] about Researchers develop robot fingertips for grasping and releasing objects in dry and wet conditions

Scurrying cockroaches help researchers steady staggering robots

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Ew, a cockroach! But it zips off before the swatter appears. Now, researchers have leveraged the bug’s superb scurrying skills to create a cleverly simple method to assess and improve locomotion in robots.

Normally, tedious modeling of mechanics, electronics, and information science is required to understand how insects’ or robots’ moving parts coordinate smoothly to take them places.

But in a new study, biomechanics researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology boiled down the sprints of cockroaches to handy principles and equations they then used to make a test robot amble about better. [Read more…] about Scurrying cockroaches help researchers steady staggering robots

Want to know how safe your warehouse job is? There’s an app for that

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In 2017 there were nearly 350,000 incidents of workers taking sick leave due to injuries affecting muscles, nerves, ligaments or tendons – like carpal tunnel syndrome – according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Among the workers with the highest number of incidents: people who work in factories and warehouses.

Musculoskeletal disorders happen at work when people use awkward postures or perform repeated tasks. These behaviors generate strain on the body over time. So it’s important to point out and minimize risky behaviors to keep workers healthy on the job. [Read more…] about Want to know how safe your warehouse job is? There’s an app for that

Human-robot teams work better ‘when there’s an emotional connection’, say researchers

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Humans and robots work better together when there’s an emotional connection, according to a study by the University of Michigan.

The researchers observed that soldiers develop attachments to the robots that help them diffuse bombs in the field. They add that, despite numerous warnings about privacy, “millions of us trust smart speakers like Alexa to listen into our daily lives”.

“Some of us name our cars and even shed tears when we trade them in for shiny new vehicles,” they say. [Read more…] about Human-robot teams work better ‘when there’s an emotional connection’, say researchers

Nvidia unveils new reinforcement learning research at ICRA 2019

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Nvidia researchers from the newly opened robotics research lab in Seattle, Washington have presented a new proof of concept reinforcement learning approach that aims to enhance how robots trained in simulation will perform in the real world. (See video below.)

The work was presented at the recent International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Montreal, Canada.

The research is part of a growing trend in the deep learning and robotics community that relies on simulation for training. [Read more…] about Nvidia unveils new reinforcement learning research at ICRA 2019

Researchers create ‘extremely small’ sensor using ‘white graphene’

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Researchers from TU Delft in the Netherlands, in collaboration with a team at the University of Cambridge, have found a way to create and clean tiny mechanical sensors in a scalable manner.

They created these sensors by suspending a two-dimensional sheet of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), or “white graphene” over small holes in a silicon substrate. This innovation could lead to extremely small gas and pressure sensors for future electronics.

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is an interesting material, since it has a honeycomb lattice structure similar to that of graphite. But while graphite conducts electricity, h-BN acts as an insulator.  [Read more…] about Researchers create ‘extremely small’ sensor using ‘white graphene’

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