>>Its extendable appendage can meander through tight spaces and then lift heavy loads By Jennifer Chu In today’s factories and warehouses, it’s not uncommon to see robots whizzing about, shuttling items or tools from one station to another. For the most part, robots navigate pretty
>>Coating particles with “right-handed” molecules could help them penetrate cancer cells more easily By Anne Trafton MIT engineers have shown that they can enhance the performance of drug-delivery nanoparticles by controlling a trait of chemical structures known as chirality — the “handedness” of the structure.
>>Navigation method may speed up autonomous last-mile delivery By Jennifer Chu In the not too distant future, robots may be dispatched as last-mile delivery vehicles to drop your takeout order, package, or meal-kit subscription at your doorstep — if they can find the door. Standard
>>Model alerts driverless cars when it’s safest to merge into traffic at intersections with obstructed views By Rob Matheson MIT and Toyota researchers have designed a new model to help autonomous vehicles determine when it’s safe to merge into traffic at intersections with obstructed views.
>>New adhesive that binds wet surfaces within seconds could be used to heal wounds or implant medical devices By Anne Trafton Inspired by a sticky substance that spiders use to catch their prey, MIT engineers have designed a double-sided tape that can rapidly seal tissues
>>New control system may enable humanoid robots to do heavy lifting and other physically demanding tasks By Jennifer Chu Rescuing victims from a burning building, a chemical spill, or any disaster that is inaccessible to human responders could one day be a mission for resilient,
>>Passive device relies on a layer of material that blocks incoming sunlight but lets heat radiate away By David L. Chandler Imagine a device that can sit outside under blazing sunlight on a clear day, and without using any power cool things down by more
>>By sensing tiny changes in shadows, a new system identifies approaching objects that may cause a collision By Rob Matheson To improve the safety of autonomous systems, MIT engineers have developed a system that can sense tiny changes in shadows on the ground to determine
>>Physicists simulate critical “reheating” period that kickstarted the Big Bang in the universe’s first fractions of a second By Jennifer Chu As the Big Bang theory goes, somewhere around 13.8 billion years ago the universe exploded into being, as an infinitely small, compact fireball of
>>The process could work on the gas at any concentrations, from power plant emissions to open air By David L. Chandler A new way of removing carbon dioxide from a stream of air could provide a significant tool in the battle against climate change. The