The first sure sign of a robot uprising will be when robots gain self-awareness and begin acting autonomously – and if this self-assembling robot is any indication, we’re well on our way to the robopocalypse. Researchers at Harvard and MIT teamed up to produce a 3D-printed inchworm robot that is able to aseemble itself. Using shape memory polymers that automatically fold into desired shapes, the remarkable bot transforms itself from a completely flat, two-dimensional object into a walking inchworm-shaped robot with almost no help from human hands.

Read the rest of MIT and Harvard’s 3D-Printed Inchworm Robot Can Assemble Itself

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: 3D printing, 3d-printed inchworm robot, 3D-printed robot, harvard, ICRA 2013, inchworm robot, MIT, robots, self-assembling robot, Self-folding robot

A team from the University of California, San Diego has taken inspiration from the tails of seahorses to create a new flexible material that could have a wide range of applications – including the creation of body armor. The amazing thing about seahorses—other than the fact that the male of the species gives birth—is that their tails can be compressed to about half its size before any permanent damage occurs. It is this flexibility that the UCSD team seeks to duplicate in their research.

Read the rest of UCSD Developing Body Armor Inspired by Seahorse Tails

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: applications, body armor, flexible materials, flexible polymer, medical applications, polymer, seahorse, UCSD, University of California San Diego

Princeton University scientists have invented a new medical device that would have Ridley Scott nodding in recognition. By using live cells and metal nanoparticles, the researchers were able to use a 3D printer to create a bionic ear with an integrated coil antenna. The fully-functioning organ receives radio waves, and it could potentially improve upon the human body’s sense of hearing.

Read the rest of Princeton University Scientists Use a 3D Printer to Create a Bionic Ear

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: 3d printer, antenna, bionic ear, cartilage, cells, hearing, michael mcalpine, nano letters, nanoparticles, Princeton university, radio waves, ridley scott, Sound, tissue

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: bird, dutch, gouache, hague, johan scherft, Paper, PaperCraft, royal academy of art, taxidermy, watercolor

Last week we reported on the groundbreaking new media platform Earth 2 Hub which aims to create a space for the world’s most creative artists, designers, scientists, and storytellers to explore and share their solutions to the numerous problems facing earth and its inhabitants. To shed more light on Earth 2.0 and the newly-unveiled hub, we talked to Melissa Sterry, who is one of the most well-known futurists on the planet. A design scientist and transformational change strategist for the built environment, utilities, manufacturing, design, publishing, media and communications industries, Melissa is also a PhD researcher at AVATAR – the Advanced Virtual and Technological Architecture Research group, where she is developing The Bionic City – a sustainable smart city that transfers knowledge from earth’s ecosystems to create a mega-city blueprint that can withstand extreme meteorological and geological events such as flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, eruptions and earthquakes. Step on in for a fascinating glimpse of what the future of design and architecture might hold.

Read the rest of INTERVIEW: We Talk to Futurist Melissa Sterry About Earth 2.0 and the Bionic City

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: biomimicry, Bionic City, Earth 2 Hub, Earth 2.0, eco design, Futurist, green design, Melissa Sterry, social media, sustainable design, Technology

Arizona-based Monarch Power has unveiled a folding, flower-shaped solar array that creator Joseph Hui hopes will take solar power from being “strapped down” to being “light, personal and portable.” While the demonstration of the Lotus Mobile sprouting out of—and dwarfing—Hui’s own bright orange Tesla could make the device appear less than practical, the array in its standalone form is designed to provide pop-up power generation for everything from EVs to remote villages and disaster zones.

Read the rest of Folding Lotus Mobile Solar Array Provides Pop-Up Power Generation

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: folable solar, Joseph Hui, Lotus Mobile, Monarch power, portable power generation, portable solar, renewable energy, Solar Power

3D printing is already capable of fabricating a beak for an injured bald eagle and three-quarters of a prosthetic human skull. Now, scientists at the University of Notre Dame have successfully recreated an entire skeleton from a live animal. By taking a CT scan of an anesthetized rat, they were able to send the data to a 3D printer and create an exact replica of the individual’s anatomy. Far cheaper to purchase than a real skeleton and highly accurate in its detail, the technology has applications in veterinary and human medicine.

Read the rest of Scientists Successfully 3D Print the Skeleton of a Live Animal

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: 3d printer, ct scan, evan doney, makerbot, matthew leevy, Medicine, projet hd 3000, rabbit, rat, replica, Shapeways, skeleton, Technology

Scientists from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the Research Center on Animal Cognition have used robot technology to shed light on how ants forage and navigate. By creating sugar cube-sized machines called “Alices”, the researchers successfully replicated the movement patterns of Argentine ants without having to program the robots. The Alices left light trails that were able to be detected by the other units via sensors – a process similar to the way ants leave chemical markers. By choosing the path that deviated the least from their trajectory through a maze, the robots mimicked the behaviors of the insects.

Read the rest of Scientists Create Robot Ants That Imitate Colony Behavior and Navigate Mazes

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: alices, ant colony, argentine ants, maze, mimic, new jersey institute of technology, path, research center on animal cognition, robots, trail

When you imagine a high-stakes Navy spy mission, you might think of something like a shark with laser beam on its head, a swift and graceful manta ray, or even some sort of mechanical fish. Instead, engineers at Virginia Tech have created Cryo, a five-and-a-half-foot, eight-armed autonomous jellyfish robot that undulates with the help of a large silicone hat. It’s not as frighting as an animal outfitted with an intimidating array of teeth, but the battery-powered jellyfish uses energy-efficient undulations to move its 170 lb bulk.

Read the rest of Cryo: Virginia Tech Creates Giant 170-Pound Jellyfish Robot!

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: autonomous, cryo, jellyfish, mission, navy, ocean, Office of Naval Research, robot, spy, virginia tech

When you think of bacteria, the last word that might come to mind is “clean.” However, researchers at the University of East Anglia have made a breakthrough in battery technology that will allow microbes to generate clean electricity. Their work was published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), and it shows that the surface of the organisms can produce an electric current when touching a mineral surface. When lying directly on a mineral or metal surface, the bacteria can be “tethered” to electrodes, bringing the scientists one step closer to developing a battery powered by living creatures.

Read the rest of Researchers Harness Bacteria to Make Clean ‘Bio-Batteries’

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "Carbon Cycle", "clean energy", bacteria, bio battery, CO2, dr tom clarke, Electricity, electrodes, Iron, Metal, microbe, mineral, pacific northwest national laboratory, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, proteins, shewanella oneidensis, university of east anglia

MIT has unveiled plans to 3D print a pavilion inspired by the technique that silkworms use to build their cocoons. Data that tracks the movement of a silkworm as it makes its pupal casing will be fed into a robotic arm, which will weave a cocoon-like 3D structure that is tough on the outside but softer on the inside.

Read the rest of MIT Researchers to 3D Print a Silkworm-Inspired Pavilion Using a Robotic Arm

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: 3d printed pavilion, 3D printers, biomimicry, building material research, composite materials, computational design, digital fabrication, Mediated Matter Group, MIT 3D printing, MIT Media Lab, MIT silkworm pavilion, silkworm cocoons, WYSS Institute Harvard

Over the past few years, many scientists have looked to nature for inspiration and brought us robotic animals ranging from fish to cheetahs, fleas and even bees. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology‘s latest development—an amphibious salamander-like robot named Salamandra robotica II—is poised to help researchers to gain greater understanding of how vertebrates move.

Read the rest of Amphibious Robot Salamander Could Aid Medical Reseach in Switzerland

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: BIOSwimmer, Boston Dynamics, cheetah, robot animals, robot salamander, robotics, robots, Salamandra robotica II, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "eVolo", Air quality, Architecture, concept, Design, earthworms, evolo skyscraper competition, Green Building, skyscraper, soil contamination, urban pollution

Read the rest of pH Conditioner: Floating Jellyfish Skyscrapers Combat Air Pollution While Producing Fresh Water

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "eVolo", "sustainable architecture", 2013 evolo competition, 2013 evolo skyscraper competition, acid rain, acidification, air purification, Air quality, eco design, eco skyscraper, eco tower, futuristic design, green architecture, Green Building, green design, Green Future, Hao Tian, Huang Haiyang, ph conditioner, ph conditioner skyscraper, ph levels, Shi Jianwei, skyscraper, Sustainable Building, sustainable design

An upgrade to the high-tech BeBionic3 prosthetic hand is enabling one man to perform incredibly sophisticated operations such as dealing cards, tying his own shoelaces and touch typing on a computer keyboard. Nigel Ackland’s Terminator-like mechanical limb, designed by RSL Steeper, has been reinforced with stainless steel and titanium, and it’s now equipped with insulating pads that avoid picking up heat or static electricity.

Read the rest of The BeBionic3 Prosthetic Hand Can Now Tie Shoelaces, Peel Vegetables and Even Touch Type

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: amputees, BeBionic3, BeBionic3 Prosthetic Hand, biomimicry, bionic limbs, Design for Health, high-tech hand, Interactive Objects, Nigel Ackland bionic hand, prosthetic hand, prosthetic limbs, prosthetic technology, RSL Steeper prosthetic device, Terminator hand

Honey bee populations around the world are in decline due to causes ranging from ‘super mites‘ to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and even cell phones – and if the insects disappear completely the planet’s ecosystems would be in peril. The issue has become so dire that now a team of Harvard and Northeastern University scientists are working on a swarm of miniature Robobee robots that could pollinate flowers and do the job of real bees if required.

Read the rest of Scientists Develop Flying Robobees to Pollinate Flowers as Bee Populations Decline

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: bee loss, bees, biomimicry, harvard, miniature robots, Northeastern University, robert wood, robobees, robot bees, robot swarm

Feel like you have lost your head? No problem, simply print yourself another. An unnamed man from the US was able to do just that, courtesy of Oxford Performance Materials (OPM) in Connecticut. He had his cranium scanned by a 3D scanner before the prosthesis was formed to fit his features, and the resulting plate was surgically implanted earlier this week. The technology, called the OsteoFab Patient Specific Cranial Device, received FDA approval on February 18 of this year, and it’s now ready to take the field of medical 3D printing to a level that is literally head and shoulders above the competition.

Read the rest of Man Has 75 Percent of His Skull Replaced with a 3D-Printed Implant

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: 3d printer, 3d scanner, additive manufacturing technology, biomedical, body, bone, connecticut, fda, opm, osteofab patient specific cranial device, oxford performance materials, patient, pekk, polymer, prosthesis, replacement, skull

Last year, we reported that MIT’s cheetah robot broke the speed record for four-legged robots by running at 18mph. Now, MIT researchers say that their robotic version of the wild cat may soon outpace its animal counterpart in running efficiency! The robot’s streamlined stride and its lightweight electric motors produce high torque with very little energy wasted.

Read the rest of MIT’s Cheetah Robot Could Soon Match its Real-Life Counterpart in Efficiency

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: all terrain robot, bigdog, bigdog robot, Boston Dynamics, cheetah, darpa, ls3, power arm, robots, us army robot

Over the years, robotics company Boston Dynamics has developed a number of robots that take inspiration from nature such as the Cheetah, PETMAN and Rise. Among the most famous of their designs is BigDog, a rough-terrain robot that can walk, run, climb and carry heavy loads. Recently Boston Dynamics equipped the heavy-duty machine with a power arm that is powerful enough to lift and toss a heavy cinder block.

Read the rest of Boston Dynamics Equips BigDog Robot With an Arm Strong Enough to Throw Cinder Blocks

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: all terrain robot, bigdog, bigdog robot, Boston Dynamics, cheetah, darpa, ls3, power arm, robots, us army robot

Dutch designer Tim Van Cromvoirt wanted to create a wall application that would look organic and act like living organism. So he used his final year at the ST. Joost Academy, in Breda to experiment with materials and reactions. What he developed was Thermophores, a spiky, sensitive and surreal piece of wall-art that reacts to changing temperatures.

Read the rest of Tim Van Cromvoirt’s Trippy Thermophores Change Color with Heat

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Art, biomimicry, Decorative Objects, Design Aacdemy of Eindhoven, dutch design, heat, sensitive, Spiky organism, Thermophores, thermosensitive, Tim van Cromvoirt