New Inventions – Page 5

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

Scientists have created programmable shape-shifting liquid metal

November 3, 2018

Researchers at the University of Sussex and Swansea University have applied electrical charges to manipulate liquid metal into 2D shapes such as letters and a heart. The team says the findings represent an “extremely promising” new class of materials that can be programmed to seamlessly change shape. This open up new possibilities in ‘soft robotics’ and shape-changing displays, the researcher say.

While the invention might bring to mind the film Terminator 2, in which the villain morphs out of a pool of liquid metal, the creation of 3D shapes is still some way off. More immediate applications could include reprogrammable circuit boards and conductive ink.

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Engineering, New Inventions, Robotics, Robots

Robot masters human balancing act

November 2, 2018

Mercury, a biped robot developed in Cockrell School of Engineering professor Luis Sentis’ Human Centered Robotics Lab, is able to maintain balance when hit unexpectedly or when force is applied without warning.

AUSTIN, Texas — When walking in a crowded place, humans typically aren’t thinking about how we avoid bumping into one another. We are built to use a gamut of complex skill sets required to execute these types of seemingly simple motions.

Now, thanks to researchers in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, robots may soon be able to experience similar functionality. Luis Sentis, associate professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, and his team in the Human Centered Robotics Laboratory have successfully demonstrated a novel approach to human-like balance in a biped robot.

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Breakthrough Thinking, Ecological Products, Environment, New Inventions

’Venus Flytrap’ spheres catch and destroy BPA

October 31, 2018

Scientists have created micron-sized spheres built to catch and destroy bisphenol A (BPA), a synthetic chemical used to make plastics.

BPA is commonly used to coat the insides of food cans, bottle tops, and water supply lines, and was once a component of baby bottles. While BPA that seeps into food and drink is considered safe in low doses, scientists suspect prolonged exposure affects the health of children and contributes to high blood pressure.

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3D Printer, Business, Inventions, New Inventions, Science & Technology News

The newest industrial revolution: How a tech unicorn’s 3-d metal printers could remake manufacturing

October 7, 2018

Ric Fulop, the 43-year-old cofounder and chief executive of Desktop Metal, is eager to show off the skunkworks for the company’s giant 3-D metal printers, which can produce stainless steel, aluminum and other metal alloy parts at assembly-line speeds and in large quantities. It’s the first time he’s taken an outsider to the facility in Nashua, New Hampshire, just across the state line from Desktop Metal’s headquarters in Burlington, Massachusetts. The four machines—which are 16 feet long, 6 feet tall and weigh about as much as an SUV—are in various states of production. They’ll be able to 3-D print 100 times faster than existing high-end 3-D printing systems used for aerospace, and at one-twentieth the cost, without the tooling required for traditional manufacturing processes. “It’s the first metal printing press,” says Fulop, an exuberant, heavyset man with a slight accent from his native Venezuela.

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Inventions, New Inventions, Wearables

Lex folding wearable chair lets you take a seat anywhere

September 18, 2018

Imagine if anytime, anywhere you felt a little fatigued in the legs you could simply lean back and take a load off? The developers of Lex are working towards such a future with a folding exoskeleton that turns into an ergonomic chair in just a few seconds.

Lex is much like Chairless Chair we looked at back in March, in that it is essentially a seat that you wear and carry around with you. Where the Chairless Chair is aimed at factory workers in need of respite, Lex seems to be designed with all day, everyday use in mind.

Adhering to its owner with just a waist strap and two leg straps, Lex is made from aircraft-grade aluminum and weighs just over a kilogram (2.2 lb). When the user is on the go, it folds up into a neat, slimline package that allows full freedom of movement.

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Breakthrough Thinking, Inventions, New Inventions

Who needs ink cartridges? Harvard’s acoustic printer can spit out honey or cells

September 13, 2018

We’re all about innovative printing methods here at Digital Trends and, boy, have the folks at Harvard not disappointed with their latest piece of research. It involves using sound waves to make it possible to print with virtually any liquid imaginable. That includes everything from human cells and liquid metal to optical resins and even honey. Needless to say, these aren’t the usual water-like printing materials found in ordinary inkjet printers. The results could prove useful in fields including pharmaceutical development, cosmetics, or even the food industry.

“We have developed a new drop-on-demand printing method that is conducive to printing liquids with low to very high viscosity,” Jennifer Lewis, the Hansjorg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, told Digital Trends. “It’s exciting, because it can be applied to a very broad range of liquids.”

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Award Winner, New Inventions, Robots

Award-winning robot travels through water pipes to detect leaks

September 8, 2018

It sounds unbelievable, but each day around 20 percent of clean water produced in the world is lost as the result of leaky pipes. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, this amounts to an estimated 6 billion gallons of clean water per day in the U.S. alone. The problem is exacerbated by current detection technology, which means that most of the leaks are either not found or discovered too late, after they’ve already caused sinkholes and burst pipes.

A new soft robot may be able to help, however — and it’s just netted the 2018 James Dyson Award, a design competition to celebrate up-and-coming inventors. The award-winning creation is the work of recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) doctoral graduate You Wu. Called Lighthouse, the low-cost bot is designed to travel through water pipes on the hunt for leaks before they turn into major problems.

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Automation, Drone, New Inventions, New Viewpoints

General Drones’ Auxdron Lifeguard UAV rescues swimmer in Spain

August 29, 2018

A group of seven swimmers was in trouble when an undertow whisked them off to sea. Fortunately, a lifeguard drone was deployed to the rescue.

When a group of seven swimmers found themselves carried off into the ocean by an undertow in Valencia, Spain Wednesday, time was of the essence. Though they successfully managed to alert the lifeguards, rapid response wasn’t guaranteed at 230 feet from the beach. Fortunately, an Auxdron Lifeguard Drone was at the scene and quickly flown to the rescue.

According to New Atlas, Diego Torres remotely piloted the eight-rotor General Drones vehicle. Guided by a lifeguard via radio and assisted by the drone’s camera feed, he managed to reach the swimmers in danger and drop a life jacket which automatically inflated upon deployment. The woman in most immediate need of assistance managed to untether it from the vehicle, and save herself from drowning.

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Ecological Products, Google, Microsoft, New Inventions

Photos show how Microsoft took a big step forward in its crazy plan to power the internet from the sea

July 11, 2018

Microsoft has put a data centre in the sea in an experimental effort to see if it can provide internet services faster to coastal cities using renewable energy.

As part of its bigger Project Natick “moonshot,” Microsoft has put the data centre on the seafloor close to Scotland’s Orkney Islands.

The data centre is submerged 117 feet under the sea and is powered by a submarine cable running from Orkney. Microsoft picked the islands because it wants its data centres to run on renewable power, and Orkney is a major hub for renewable energy.

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Great New Product, Inventions, New Inventions

This diving system lets you stay submerged for 2 hours, no tank needed

June 20, 2018

Do you want a diving system that bridges the gap between scuba diving and snorkeling, minus the limitations of both? If so, a new Kickstarter campaign could be for you. Described by its creators as the smartest and safest hookah-diving system around, Supa Huka possesses neither the complications of scuba diving nor the restrictions of snorkeling. In its place, you get a device which allows you to dive up to 30 feet underwater for up to two hours on a single charge. No back tank required.

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Healthcare, Medical Breakthrough, Medicine, New Inventions, Science & Technology News

Gastric bypass “surgery in a pill” points to inspired new treatment for diabetes

June 15, 2018

While gastric-bypass, or bariatric, surgery can be a very successful weight-loss treatment option for those suffering from obesity, it has also been seen to be extraordinarily effective in reversing type 2 diabetes. An exciting new study from a team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital has now demonstrated an oral agent that can potentially mimic the effects of bariatric surgery to reduce post-meal blood sugar spikes.

For some years, researchers have identified a connection between gastric-bypass surgery and the reversal of type 2 diabetes. The exact mechanism at play is still unclear, but it seems to operate independently of the weight loss that comes as a consequence of the procedure. One recent study comprising 20,000 patients found that gastric bypass surgery completely cured 84 percent of patients with type 2 diabetes.

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Great New Product, Inventions, New Inventions, Robots

Boston Dynamics will start selling its dog-like SpotMini robot in 2019

May 17, 2018

After 26 years, Boston Dynamics is finally getting ready to start selling some robots. Founder Marc Raibert says that the company’s dog-like SpotMini robot is in pre-production and preparing for commercial availability in 2019. The announcement came onstage at TechCrunch’s TC Sessions: Robotics event today at UC Berkeley.

“The SpotMini robot is one that was motivated by thinking about what could go in an office — in a space more accessible for business applications — and then, the home eventually,” Raibert said onstage.

Continue reading… “Boston Dynamics will start selling its dog-like SpotMini robot in 2019”