Miscellaneous

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/H6-XhvZ47e8

Hex Bugs Nano Micro Robot Remote Control Toys Toy Fair 2010 Preview

Uploaded on Mar 31, 2010


Hex Bug Micro Robotic Creatures by Innovation First. Hex bugs are 5 different types of robotic toys: Hex Bug Inchworm, Crab, Original Hex Bug, Ant, and the Hex Bug Nano. Some of these robots are remote controlled r/c, and some are antonymous with sensors and intelligent-seeming behavior! Miniature playsets are now available for the Nano

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/fgXXiHEdo1k

Uploaded on Nov 29, 2010

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/CSPv8tXISsU

Nanobots - They Might Be Giants

Published on Apr 12, 2013


Directed by Liam Lynch. From TMBG's album Nanobots.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/XWYuy-SwvLY

Science Nation - Check out the assembly line of the future!

Published on May 15, 2014


There's no shortage of ideas about how to use nanotechnology, but one of the major hurdles is how to manufacture some of the new products on a large scale. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), UMass Amherst chemical engineer Jim Watkins and his team are working to make nanotechnology more practical for industrial scale manufacturing. One of the projects they're working on at the NSF Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing (CHM) is a roll-to-roll process for nanotechnology that is similar to what is used in traditional manufacturing. They're also designing a process to manufacture printable coatings that improve the way solar panels absorb and direct light. They're even investigating the use of self-assembling nanoscale products that could have applications for many industries.

"New nanotechnologies can't impact the US economy until practical methods are available for producing products using them in high volumes, at low cost. CHM is researching the fundamental scientific and engineering barriers that impede such commercialization, and innovating new technologies to surmount those barriers," notes Bruce Kramer, senior advisor in the NSF Engineering Directorate's Division of Civil, Mechanical & Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI), which funded the research.

"The NSF Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing is developing platform technologies for the economical manufacture of next generation devices and systems for applications in computing, electronics, energy conversion, resource conservation and human health," explains Khershed Cooper, a program director in the CMMI Division. "The Center creates fabrication tools that are enabling versatile and high-rate continuous processes for the manufacture of nanostructures that are systematically integrated into higher order structures using bottom-up and top-down techniques. For example, CHM is designing and building continuous, roll-to-roll nanofabrication systems that can print, in high-volume, 3D nanostructures and multi-layer nanodevices at sub-100 nanometer resolution, and in the process realize hybrid electronic/optical/mechanical nanosystems."

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/KdHksgstcXY

Controllable nanoparticles

Published on Oct 9, 2014


New technology developed by MIT and several other institutions could make it possible to track the position of nano particles as they move within the body or inside a cell.

"Nanoparticles get a magnetic handle (http://news.mit.edu/2014/glowing-magnetic-nanoparticles-1009)"
New method produces particles that can glow with color-coded light and be manipulated with magnets. Watch Video

by David L. Chandler
October 9, 2014

At the same time, the nano particles could be manipulated precisely by applying a magnetic field to pull them along and control where they go.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/VjLRNkNgJGU

World’s Smallest Computer

Published on Dec 3, 2014


As computing devices progress toward smaller and more efficient designs, Michigan Engineers have taken the lead in millimeter sized units that can perform on many alternating platforms. Dennis Sylvester and David Blaauw, professors of UM’s Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, have developed units capable of harvesting solar power to utilize wireless communication, pressure and temperature sensors and even still image and video processing.

The design of each computer is developed at Michigan under a team of post-graduate students under Sylvester and Blaauw’s supervision. Each unit is assembled in layers and is capable of being customized to a particular function. While testing has been developed to place these units on top of tumors inside cancer patients to determine the results of chemotherapy, the range of applications seem unlimited.

Recently, as validation of the milestone these data gathering modules represent, samples of the team’s computers were featured at the Computer History Museum outside of Palo Alto, California. Future development of this technology is going to break down the size constriction even smaller. At a third of a millimeter, the hopes are these micro computers would be able to be placed inside biological cells to monitor and broadcast cellular activity.

[Airicist]

https://vimeo.com/62429617

Scaling down robotics: mobility, mechanisms, and motors for microrobots
March 22, 2013


Assistant Professor Sarah Bergbreiter (https://pr.ai/showthread.php?t=19411)
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Institute for Systems Research
Abstract
Research on mobile microrobots has been ongoing for the last 20 years, but the few robots that have walked have done so at slow speeds on smooth silicon wafers. However, ants can move at speeds over 40 body lengths/second on surfaces from picnic tables to front lawns. What challenges do we still need to tackle for microrobots to achieve this incredible mobility? This talk will discuss some of the mechanisms and motors we have designed and fabricated to enable robot mobility at the insect size scale. Mechanisms utilize new microfabrication processes to incorporate materials with widely varying moduli and functionality for more complexity in smaller packages. Actuators are designed to provide significant improvements in force density, efficiency and robustness over previous microactuators. Results include a 4mm jumping mechanism that can be launched approximately 35 cm straight up as well as a 300mg robot that jumps 8 cm with on-board power, sensing, actuation and control.
Biorgraphy
Sarah Bergbreiter joined the University of Maryland, College Park in 2008 as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, with a joint appointment in the Institute for Systems Research. She received her B.S.E. degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University in 1999. After a short introduction to the challenges of sensor networks at a small startup company, she received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley in 2004 and 2007 with a focus on microrobotics. She received the DARPA Young Faculty Award in 2008 and the NSF CAREER Award in 2011 for her research on engineering robotic systems down to sub-millimeter size scales. She has also received the Best Conference Paper Award at IEEE ICRA 2010 on her work incorporating new materials into microrobotics and the NTF Award at IEEE IROS 2011 for early demonstrations of jumping microrobots.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/FeHwdyvvJ-w

Top 5 Nanotechnology Revolution Facts

Published on Jul 2, 2015


It's been said that people don't even realize when they're in the midst of a revolution. One one millionth of a millimetre: that's the size of a nanometre. And that's the scale at which nanotechnology is slowly starting a revolution. Clothes that generate electricity. Supercomputers built at home. Complete societal upheaval.

[Airicist]

Article "Rice makes light-driven nanosubmarines (http://news.rice.edu/2015/11/16/rice-makes-light-driven-nanosubmarines)"

by Mike Williams
November 16, 2015

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/vpl9sY1jY98

Laser-powered drops mimic beetles to skirt across water

Published on Apr 13, 2016


Drops of water coated in a powder that reacts to laser light creates a tiny engine that can pull more than 150 times its weight across water

"Laser-driven liquid marbles can push 150 times their own weight (https://www.newscientist.com/article/2084124-laser-driven-liquid-marbles-can-push-150-times-their-own-weight)"

by Jacob Aron
April 13, 2016

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/3RZzsn7DU7o

Discovering the micro/nano world

Published on Apr 11, 2016


One of the first classes to offer undergraduates a hands-on experience with cutting-edge micro/nano engineering, 2.674 incorporates the latest technology, inspiring students to the possibilities of a whole new field.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/w1d0Lg6wuvc

Nanotubes assemble! Rice introduces Teslaphoresis

Published on Apr 14, 2016


Carbon nanotubes in a dish assemble themselves into a nanowire in seconds under the influence of a custom-built Tesla coil created by scientists at Rice University.

But the scientists don't limit their aspirations for the phenomenon they call Teslaphoresis to simple nanowires.

The team led by Rice research scientist Paul Cherukuri sees its invention as setting a path toward the assembly of matter from the bottom up on nano and macro scales.

There are even hints of a tractor beam effect in watching an assembled nanowire being pulled toward the coil.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/bUzaxlA6kls

Crash testing bacteria at 670 mph

Published on May 23, 2016


BYU chemists have discovered that bacteria can survive impacts at incredible speeds. Smashing into a solid wall at 670 miles per hour doesn’t even leave a mark. BYU Chemistry professor Daniel Austin and his graduate students are learning just how hard it can be to kill bacteria.The research group, funded by NASA, is studying high velocity impact of bacterial spores. More specifically, the group is trying to find the speed limit above which bacteria won’t survive when they crash into a hard surface.

“There should be a velocity at which they’ll splat and die, but we haven’t reached it,” Austin said. “We can get pretty close to the speed of sound, and we’re planning to go to higher velocities in the near future, but it’s not easy to do.” To test velocity, bacteria are loaded into a vacuum chamber and then launched by a blast of air at speeds nearing 300 meters per second.

The group’s recently published study in Planetary and Space Science is the first of its kind to test the impact survivability rate of bare bacteria.

Although the main focus of the research is answering the question of how much force the bacteria can withstand, NASA has funded the research because of the planetary protection implications of the study: if bacteria can survive the ejection from one planet and the impact of landing on another planet, there are potential concerns about cross contamination of bacteria between those planets. However, Austin is quick to acknowledgethat there are other factors, like UV light, that may kill the bacteria in transition.

Even though the initial publication’s lead authors Brandon Barney and Sara Pratt have graduated, Austin continues to mentor current students as they develop the research. The group is now collaborating with Microbiology professor Richard Robison as they continue the quest for higher impact speeds. They anticipate that blasting bacteria at one kilometer per second (more than 2,200 miles per hour) should be more than enough to kill the bacteria, but the group hasn’t yet been able to create those speeds in the lab.

“We seem so frequently surprised at what bacteria can survive, and this just adds to the list,” Austin said. “Our understanding of the limits of life have expanded a lot since the 1970s as we find bacteria surviving and even thriving under extreme conditions.”

In testing the limits of bacteria, Austin’s team has additionally observed an unusual elasticity of the bacterial spores, which may have potential applications in nanotechnology.

"Crash Testing Bacteria: BYU Chemists Try to Find Fatal Limit (http://news.byu.edu/news/crash-testing-bacteria-byu-chemists-try-find-fatal-limit)"
Research team discovers bacteria can survive impacts at incredible speeds

by Natalie Tripp
May 23, 2016

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/gJ-sIzbhmo4

Caterpillar soft robot powered by light

Published on Aug 19, 2016


Using Liquid Crystalline Elastomers (LCEs), researchers created a bioinspired soft robot. The 15-millimeter long micro-robot harvests and is controlled by spatially modulated green laser beam to mimic caterpillar locomotion.

Article "Researchers unveil light-powered caterpillar robot (http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2016/08/18/Researchers-unveil-light-powered-caterpillar-robot/1261471550166)"
Most robots use complex electric or pneumatic actuators to enact motion.

by Brooks Hays
August 18, 2016

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/qe_uWIlySWw

Cell-like nanorobots: interview with UC San Diego nanoengineers (http://jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/news/news_releases/release.sfe?id=2550)

Published on May 30, 2018


Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed tiny ultrasound-powered robots that can swim through blood, removing harmful bacteria and the toxins they produce.

Berta Esteban-Fernández de Ávila and Professor Joseph Wang from the Department of NanoEngineering at UC San Diego describe the project in this video.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/TgxibgMO-Vg

How to mass produce cell-sized robots

Published on Oct 23, 2018


A team of engineers at MIT have developed a novel method to mass-produce tiny robots, no bigger than a cell, quickly, easily and accurately with little to no external stimulus.

"How to mass produce cell-sized robots (http://news.mit.edu/2018/how-mass-produce-cell-sized-robots-1023)"
Technique from MIT could lead to tiny, self-powered devices for environmental, industrial, or medical monitoring.

by David L. Chandler | MIT News Office
October 23, 2018

[Airicist]

Article "Researchers develop smart micro-robots that can adapt to their surroundings (https://phys.org/news/2019-01-smart-micro-robots.html)"

January 18, 2019

Mahmut Selman Sakar (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mahmut-selman-sakar-357a4416)

Brad Nelson (https://pr.ai/showthread.php?8398)

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/YWK3gg6J8ng

Laser-activated microrobots deliver drug therapy

Published on Aug 21, 2019


Microrobots developed by Caltech’s Lihong Wang and Wei Gao may provide a new way of treating cancers in the digestive tract. They travel through the stomach and intestines carrying medication until they are activated by a pulse of laser light. When activated, they travel forward on a jet of tiny bubbles until they embed themselves into nearby tissue, where they slowly release their medicine.

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/MU9AMczMeN4

Artificial Intelligence plays nanoLEGO

Sep 3, 2020


Artificial intelligence (AI) was given the task of removing individual molecules from a closed molecular layer. First, a connection is established between the tip of the microscope (top) and the molecule (middle). Then the AI tries to remove the molecule by moving the tip without breaking the contact. Initially, the movements are random. After each pass, the AI learns from the collected experiences and becomes better and better.

"Artificial intelligence system plays with individual molecules (https://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news2/newsid=56046.php)"

September 3, 2020

[Airicist]

https://youtu.be/Gp5dtmOGIzE

Magnetic spray transforms inanimate objects into mini-robots

Nov 24, 2020


Scientists have engineered a spray that turns inanimate materials into mobile, insect-scale machines. The spray contains particles of iron, polyvinyl alcohol and gluten, which combine with water to form sticky, magnetic skins, or “M-skins.” Thanks to the spray’s magnetic properties, the scientists managed to bring ordinary objects to life, like origami paper and cotton thread, according to a paper published last week in Science Robotics.

The researchers captured footage of the “millirobots” rolling, swimming, and walking—literally strutting their stuff. But they also performed more purposeful tasks: simulated biomedical procedures. Robotic catheters navigated narrow blood vessels and egg-shaped capsules delivered drugs into living rabbit stomachs.

[Airicist]

Article "Foldable, organic and easily broken down: Why DNA is the material of choice for nanorobots (https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/foldable-organic-and-easily-broken-down-why-dna-material-choice-nanorobots.html)"

May 10, 2021

[Airicist2]

https://youtu.be/xYB02zgulDg

Shape-morphing microrobots for localized cancer treatment

Nov 18, 2021


Researchers have designed magnetically propelled microrobots capable of targeted drug delivery. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, a shape-morphing microfish (SMMF) is designed to encapsulate a drug (doxorubicin (DOX)) by closing its mouth in phosphate-buffered saline and release the drug by opening its mouth in a slightly acidic solution. According to the researchers, “With the continuous optimization of size, motion control, and imaging technology, these magnetic SMMRs will provide ideal platforms for complex microcargo operations and on-demand drug release.”
Credit:
Environmentally Adaptive Shape-Morphing Microrobots for Localized Cancer Cell Treatment
Chen Xin, Dongdong Jin, Yanlei Hu, Liang Yang, Rui Li, Li Wang, Zhongguo Ren, Dawei Wang, Shengyun Ji, Kai Hu, Deng Pan, Hao Wu, Wulin Zhu, Zuojun Shen, Yucai Wang, Jiawen Li, Li Zhang, Dong Wu, and Jiaru Chu
ACS Nano, DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.1c06651

[Airicist2]

https://youtu.be/GxDxCm_xEOE

Could YOU swallow a robot?

Jun 16, 2022


Have you ever wondered if that over-the-counter pill you took an hour ago is helping to relieve your headache?

With NSF's support, a team of Stanford University mechanical engineers has found a way to target drug delivery…to better attack that headache.

Meet the millirobots. These finger-sized, wireless, origami inspired, amphibious robots could become medicines future lifesaver. They can roll, spin, and swim into narrow spaces with a mission to deliver and dispense a high-concentration drug exactly where the body needs it. Especially helpful when treating more complicated medical conditions like cardiovascular disease or cancer.

Millirobots go beyond the basic origami foldability to maneuver by utilizing accordion fold action to squeeze the medicine out.

Besides dispensing medicine more effectively, they could also carry instruments or cameras into the body, changing how doctors examine patients. The team is working on using ultrasound imaging to track where the robots go, eliminating the need to cut open organs.

While more testing is needed, the team continues combining novel smart materials and structures into unique designs to form new biomedical devices that could one day maximize health outcomes while minimizing the need for invasive procedures.

[Airicist2]

Article "Smart microrobots learn how to swim and navigate with artificial intelligence (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/08/220804130621.htm)"
The AI-powered swimmer is able to switch between different locomotory gaits adaptively to navigate toward any target location on its own

August 4, 2022

[Airicist2]

Article "MiGriBot: a miniature robot able to perform pick-and-place operations of sub-millimeter objects (https://robohub.org/migribot-a-miniature-robot-able-to-perform-pick-and-place-operations-of-sub-millimeter-objects)"

September 6, 2022

[Airicist2]

https://youtu.be/1va-OQvfJDg

Tiny, caterpillar-like soft robot grabs, rolls and degrades (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/09/220914101532.htm)

Sep 14, 2022


When you hear the term “robot,” you might think of complicated machinery working in factories or roving on other planets. But “millirobots” might change that. They’re robots about as wide as a finger that someday could deliver drugs or perform minimally invasive surgery. Researchers reporting in ACS Applied Polymer Materials have developed a soft, biodegradable, magnetic millirobot inspired by the walking and grabbing capabilities of insects.

“Soft Tunable Gelatin Robot with Insect-like Claw for Grasping, Transportation, and Delivery (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsapm.2c00522)” - Wanfeng Shang, Ph.D., and Yajing Shen, Ph.D. (corresponding authors)

[Airicist2]

https://youtu.be/dPg_o-g-H2s

Phase-changing metal robot

Jan 31, 2023


A new type of robot can change between solid and liquid forms on demand, to achieve a range of different goals

"Scientists invented a melting liquid robot that can escape from a cage (https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2023/01/26/liquid-metal-shape-shifting-melting-robot)"

by Leo Sands (https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-sands-2091b5a3)
January 26, 2023

[Airicist2]

https://youtu.be/A340W0uSWKM

Micro robots with brains

Mar 6, 2023


Micro Robots are a revolutionary new technology that could change how we interact with the world around us. For the first time, a collaborative research team of electrical and computer engineers , with support from NSF, has installed electronic brains on solar-powered microbots the size of a human hair. One of the biggest challenges is their small size-requiring external control, such as a computer or smartphone, limiting their range and making the bots difficult to manipulate remotely until now.

[Airicist2]

Article "Urine-powered nanobots shrink bladder cancer tumors in mice by 90% (https://newatlas.com/medical/urease-powered-nanobots-bladder-cancer-tumor-shrink-90-percent)"

by Paul McClure (https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-d-mcclure)
January 15, 2024