Researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have added sensors to grippers on robot arms to give robots greater sensitivity and dexterity. The sensor can judge the hardness of surfaces it touches, enabling a robot to manipulate smaller objects than was previously possible.
The “GelSight” sensor consists of a block of transparent soft rubber — the “gel” of its name — with one face… read more
Researchers at the University of California Santa Barbara have demonstrated the first three-dimensional imaging of objects through walls using an ordinary wireless signal.
Applications could include emergency search-and-rescue, archaeological discovery, and structural monitoring, according to the researchers. Other applications could include military and law-enforcement surveillance.
Calculating 3D images from WiFi signals
In the research, two octo-copters (drones) took off and flew outside… read more
Queen’s University Belfast physicists have discovered a radical new way to modify the conductivity (ease of electron flow) of electronic circuits — reducing the size of future devices.
The two latest KurzweilAI articles on graphene cited faster/lower-power performance and device-compatibility features. This new research takes another approach: Altering the properties of a crystal to eliminate the need for multiple circuits in devices.
Reconfigurable nanocircuitry… read more
University of Illinois at Chicago scientists have solved a fundamental problem that has held back the use of wonder material graphene in a wide variety of electronics applications.
When graphene is bonded (attached) to metal atoms (such as molybdenum) in devices such as solar cells, graphene’s superior conduction properties degrade.
The solution: Instead of adding molecules directly to the individual carbon atoms of graphene, the new… read more
A future graphene-based transistor using spintronics could lead to tinier computers that are a thousand times faster and use a hundredth of the power of silicon-based computers.
The radical transistor concept, created by a team of researchers at Northwestern University, The University of Texas at Dallas, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and University of Central Florida, is explained this month in an open-access… read more
A team of researchers at MIT and elsewhere has developed a new approach to deep learning systems — using light instead of electricity, which they say could vastly improve the speed and efficiency of certain deep-learning computations.
Deep-learning systems are based on artificial neural networks that mimic the way the brain learns from an accumulation of examples. They can enable technologies such as face-… read more
MIT researchers and associates have come up with a breakthrough method of remotely stimulating regions deep within the brain, replacing the invasive surgery now required for implanting electrodes for Parkinson’s and other brain disorders.
The new method could make deep-brain stimulation for brain disorders less expensive, more accessible to patients, and less risky (avoiding brain hemorrhage and infection).
Working with mice, the researchers applied two high-frequency electrical currents… read more
In a paper published (open access) June 1 in the journal Cell, researchers report that they have cracked the code for facial identity in the primate brain.
“We’ve discovered that this code is extremely simple,” says senior author Doris Tsao, a professor of biology and biological engineering at the California Institute of Technology and senior author. “We can now reconstruct a face that a monkey… read more
A study by neuroscientists at Toronto-based Baycrest Rotman Research Institute and Stanford University involving playing a musical instrument suggests ways to improve brain rehabilitation methods.
In the study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience on May 24, 2017, the researchers asked young adults to listen to sounds from an unfamiliar musical instrument (a Tibetan singing bowl). Half of the subjects (the experimental group) were then… read more
Chinese doctors have reported success with a new type of immunotherapy for multiple myeloma*, a blood cancer: 33 out of 35 patients in a clinical trial had clinical remission within two months.
The researchers used a type of T cell called “chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T.”** In a phase I clinical trial in China, the patient’s own T cells were collected, genetically reprogrammed in a lab, and injected back into the patient. The reprogramming involved inserting an artificially designed gene… read more
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Robotics Institute researchers have developed a simplified interactive design tool that lets you design and make your own customized legged or wheeled robot, using a mix of 3D-printed parts and off-the-shelf components.
The current process of creating new robotic systems is challenging, time-consuming, and resource-intensive. So the CMU researchers have created a visual design tool with a simple drag-and-drop interface that lets you… read more
Researchers at MIT’s Tangible Media Group are exploring ways to make your dining experience interactive and fun, with food that can transform its shape by just adding water.
Think of it as edible origami or culinary performance art — flat sheets of gelatin and starch that instantly sprout into three-dimensional structures, such as macaroni and rotini, or the shape of a flower.
But the researchers suggest… read more
Engineers at UC San Diego have designed a light, flexible glove with soft robotic muscles that provide realistic tactile feedback for virtual reality (VR) experiences.
Currently, VR tactile-feedback user interfaces are bulky, uncomfortable to wear and clumsy, and they simply vibrate when a user touches a virtual surface or object.
“This is a first prototype, but it is surprisingly effective,” said Michael Tolley, a mechanical engineering… read more
University of Maryland (UMD) researchers have found evidence that a common, inexpensive, and safe antioxidant chemical called methylene blue could slow the aging of human skin, based on tests in cultured human skin cells and simulated skin tissue.
“The effects we are seeing are not temporary. Methylene blue appears to make fundamental, long-term changes to skin cells,” said Kan Cao, senior author on the study and an associate… read more
Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered a way to structurally modify the antibiotic called vancomycin to make an already-powerful version of the antibiotic even more potent — an advance that could eliminate the threat of antibiotic-resistant infections for years to come.
“Doctors could use this modified form of vancomycin without fear of resistance emerging,” said Dale Boger, co-chair of TSRI’s Department of… read more