New Inventions – Page 3

New Inventions, Robotics, Robots, Science & Technology News

Stanford makes giant soft robot from inflatable tubes

April 1, 2020

As much as we love soft robots (and we really love soft robots), the vast majority of them operate pneumatically (or hydraulically) at larger scales, especially when they need to exert significant amounts of force. This causes complications, because pneumatics and hydraulics generally require a pump somewhere to move fluid around, so you often see soft robots tethered to external and decidedly non-soft power sources. There’s nothing wrong with this, really, because there are plenty of challenges that you can still tackle that way, and there are some up-and-coming technologies that might result in soft pumps or gas generators.

Researchers at Stanford have developed a new kind of (mostly) soft robot based around a series of compliant, air-filled tubes. It’s human scale, moves around, doesn’t require a pump or tether, is more or less as safe as large robots get, and even manages to play a little bit of basketball.

Continue reading… “Stanford makes giant soft robot from inflatable tubes”

Automobiles, Engineering, New Inventions, new technology, Science & Technology News, Transportation

Goodyear invented a new tire that never needs to be changed. Here’s how its self-regenerating tread works.

March 21, 2020

Goodyear has unveiled its reCharge Concept tires that are self-regenerating and self-charging with artificial intelligence features.

The tires can change its treads according to the climate and terrain.

Goodyear claims its concept tires keep in line with the trending needs of electric and sustainable mobility.

Continue reading… “Goodyear invented a new tire that never needs to be changed. Here’s how its self-regenerating tread works.”

Energy, Green Friendly, New Inventions, new technology, Science & Technology News

‘We are literally making electricity out of thin air’; UMass develops groundbreaking technology that will change the way we power electronics

February 27, 2020

Graphic image of a thin film of protein nanowires generating electricity from atmospheric humidity. (Ella Maru Studios)

Soon having to replace batteries or spend time recharging your phone could be a thing of the past. Scientists in Amherst are developing a new technology that will use the moisture from the air to create a charge.

The device is still in early stages having only been made public on Monday on the UMass website. It uses a natural protein to create electricity from moisture in the air and could have significant implications for the future of renewable energy, climate change and the future of medicine.

In layman’s terms; “We are literally making electricity out of thin air,” said the laboratories of electrical engineer Jun Yao. “The Air-gen generates clean energy 24/7.”

Continue reading… “‘We are literally making electricity out of thin air’; UMass develops groundbreaking technology that will change the way we power electronics”

Engineering, New Inventions, new technology, quantum computing, Science & Technology News

Engineers just built an impressively stable quantum silicon chip from artificial atoms

February 19, 2020

Newly created artificial atoms on a silicon chip could become the new basis for quantum computing.

Engineers in Australia have found a way to make these artificial atoms more stable, which in turn could produce more consistent quantum bits, or qubits – the basic units of information in a quantum system.

The research builds on previous work by the team, wherein they produced the very first qubits on a silicon chip, which could process information with over 99 percent accuracy. Now, they have found a way to minimise the error rate caused by imperfections in the silicon.

“What really excites us about our latest research is that artificial atoms with a higher number of electrons turn out to be much more robust qubits than previously thought possible, meaning they can be reliably used for calculations in quantum computers,” said quantum engineer Andrew Dzurak of the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia.

“This is significant because qubits based on just one electron can be very unreliable.”

Continue reading… “Engineers just built an impressively stable quantum silicon chip from artificial atoms”

Aviation, Engineering, New Inventions, Science & Technology News

Scientists built a robot pigeon that flaps just like the real thing, and it’s mesmerizing

January 22, 2020

Most of us see birds every day. Go look outside your nearest window and chances are you’re not going to have to wait long before you spot a feathered friend cruising by. Despite that, scientists have long struggled with replicating the flight mechanics that birds are naturally blessed with

Building a “bird robot” that flies with fixed wings is easy enough, but creating something that bends and flaps its wings like a real animal is surprisingly difficult. Now, a team of researchers has taken a huge step toward achieving that lofty goal with a new artificial avian aptly named PigeonBot.

Continue reading… “Scientists built a robot pigeon that flaps just like the real thing, and it’s mesmerizing”

Fashion, Health & Fitness, Medicine, New Inventions, Science & Technology News

New Harvard study fights fat with salty, icy injections

January 19, 2020

Injecting an icy saline slurry into fat deposits could be a new fat-reduction technique

It sure sounds like a pop-up ad you’d see online, but scientists have created and tested a new treatment that melts away belly fat. The new technique, developed by researchers from Harvard and the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), involves injecting an icy saline solution directly into fat deposits to shrink them by half.

The new process sounds simple enough. It uses a sterile solution made up of saline, glycerol, and between 20 and 40 percent small ice particles, giving it a slushy texture. This mixture is injected directly into fat deposits, such as around the abdomen, where it crystallizes and kills the fat cells. Over the course of a few weeks following the treatment, the body will flush out the dead cells.

The team says that this process could be used to reduce fat stores in basically any part of the body, at any depth, as long as it can be accessed by a needle or catheter. Importantly, it doesn’t seem to have any adverse effects on other tissues, such as muscle.

Continue reading… “New Harvard study fights fat with salty, icy injections”

Fashion, New Inventions, Science & Technology News

Scientists create lightweight 18-carat gold using ordinary plastic

January 15, 2020

Researchers with ETHzurich have successfully used plastic to create lightweight gold that retains its purity, according to a recent announcement from the institution. The lightweight gold is ideally suited for products like jewelry and watches — things that would benefit from a reduction in weight without a loss in gold purity or beauty.

The gold found in jewelry is made with metallic alloys that help reduce the weight, though some pieces of jewelry may still be too heavy to suit some buyers. The newly created 18-carat gold replaces the metallic alloy elements with a ‘matrix of plastic,’ reducing the density from a typical 15 g/cm3 to 1.7 g/cm3.

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Environment, Green Friendly, New Inventions, Science & Technology News

This leaf-shaped bottle cap condenses and collects atmospheric moisture, turning it into drinking water

January 7, 2020

Designed to magically ‘turn air into water’, the Limbe is a new sort of dehumidifier that works without electricity, giving its user access to drinking water throughout the day. Its unique leaf-inspired design harks back to how water droplets condense on the surface of leaves, while its 3D printed intricate PET structure helps guide those water droplets down the ‘veins of the leaf’ into Limbe’s central axis which collects the water in your regular plastic drinking bottle.

Fabien envisioned the Limbe as an easy way to allow people with no access to running water, to easily capture atmospheric water vapor for drinking purposes. While the Limbe works best in high-humidity areas, it can work wonders in deserts and drought-struck regions too, gathering condensed fog in the early hours of dawn, filling up a single bottle. Plus, its ability to be printed or even molded at a relatively low cost means anyone can dehumidify air into drinking water… without electricity!

Continue reading… “This leaf-shaped bottle cap condenses and collects atmospheric moisture, turning it into drinking water”

Nanotechnology, New Inventions, new technology, Science & Technology News

Researchers demonstrate chip-to-chip quantum teleportation

December 27, 2019

Llewellyn et al realize an array of microring resonators (MRRs) to generate multiple high-quality single photons, which are monolithically integrated with linear-optic circuits that process multiple qubits with high fidelity and low noise.

A research team led by University of Bristol scientists has successfully demonstrated quantum teleportation of information between two programmable micrometer-scale silicon chips. The team’s work, published in the journal Nature Physics, lays the groundwork for large-scale integrated photonic quantum technologies for communications and computations.

Quantum teleportation offers quantum state transfer of a quantum particle from one place to another by utilizing entanglement.

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Great New Product, New Inventions, Science & Technology News

Motorized fin gives surfers a boost

December 19, 2019

The Boost Surfing Fin temporarily replaces a third-party board’s existing fin, via an included adapter

Surfers use up a lot of energy, both paddling out to the lineups where the waves roll in, and then paddling even harder to catch one of those waves. The Boost Surfing Fin is designed to help, by giving users … well, an electric boost.

Developed by California-based Boost Surfing, the Fin non-permanently replaces a third-party board’s existing fin. It’s made of a combination of ABS plastic and fiberglass, tipping the scales at a claimed 1.7 lb (771 g).

When users want a boost, they activate the Fin’s brushless 800-watt motor via a board-mounted or wrist-mounted wireless remote. That motor responds by putting out up to 20 lb (9 kg) of thrust – this takes the board to a top speed of 11 mph (18 km/h) for either eight or 20 seconds, depending on the selected boost length. Plans call for sensors to shut off the motor if the user falls off the board, so it won’t continue on without them.

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Engineering, New Inventions, new technology, Science & Technology News

How the end of Moore’s Law will usher in a new era in computing

December 11, 2019

Will the next evolution of technology super power our computers?

In 1965 Gordon Moore, the founder of Intel, predicted that the number of components that could fit on a microchip would double every year for the next decade.

Moore revised his prediction in 1975 to a doubling of components every two years – a prophecy that remained true for another four decades.

The ramifications on the world of technology and, by extension, society itself of what is now known as “Moore’s Law” have proven immeasurable.

The doubling of transistors – semi-conductor devices that switch electronic signals and power – meant that technology would become exponentially more powerful, smaller and cheaper.

Continue reading… “How the end of Moore’s Law will usher in a new era in computing”

Energy, Engineering, Green Friendly, New Inventions, Science & Technology News

This “Anti-solar panel” could generate power from the darkness

October 2, 2019

A new poll confirms that the majority of constituents in the United States are still opposed to president Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement, as well as his overall views on climate change. According to reporting by Time Magazine, “while the administration has rolled back regulations to cut emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide from power and industrial plants and pushed for more coal use, wide shares of Americans say they want just the opposite, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.”

Meanwhile, the scientific community continues to release studies showing that the need to address the threat posed by global warming is greater than ever and growing more dire all the time. At the end of last year, the premiere global authority on the state of global warming, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, released a report showing that compiled data and research indicates that in order to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial averages this century, we will have to cut global carbon emissions by 45 percent by 2030 and down to zero by the middle of the century.

This is going to be extraordinarily difficult to do with just renewable resources. As Vox reports, explaining the tension between whether going 100 percent renewable is really an option, “at the heart of the debate is the simple fact that the two biggest sources of renewable energy — wind and solar power — are ‘variable.’ They come and go with the weather and time of day. They are not ‘dispatchable,’ which means they cannot be turned on and off, or up and down, according to the grid’s needs. They don’t adjust to the grid; the grid adjusts to them.

Continue reading… “This “Anti-solar panel” could generate power from the darkness”