robotics

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Watch: Underwater Robots based on the Loch Ness Monster

Current underwater vehicles are either difficult to manoeuvre making them unsuitable for sensitive work, or are extremely expensive. Gabe Weymouth and his team at the University of Southampton are designing new underwater robots based on the Plesiosaur – the dinosaur behind the legend of the Loch Ness Monster – which are much smaller, cheaper and more energy efficient.…

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Announcing – Wearable Technologies

Cambridge University Press is pleased to announce a major new open access journal, Wearable Technologies, the first journal dedicated to publishing original research and industrial developments related to wearable devices.

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The path to future robotics is paved with materials

There has been a notable trend in storytelling toward the redemption of beings that were once considered purely evil. In fantasy, for example, dragons have evolved from simple, violent animals into noble beasts, often of near- or above-human intellect, who act as helpers of humanity or as heroes in their own right. In science fiction, we’ve seen a similar shift in the purpose and personality of robotic characters. In her article in the April 2019 issue of MRS Bulletin, Hortense Le Ferrand, recipient of the 2018 MRS Bulletin Postdoctoral Publication Prize, connects the emergence of benevolent robots to “the use of soft materials, characterized by conformability, colors, and constant adaptation to the environment.”

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On the Cover of HPL: Assembly and Metrology of NIF target subassemblies using robotic systems

When the first targets for the National Ignition Campaign (NIC) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) were built to be fielded on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in the late 2000’s, the assemblies were handcrafted, meticulously measured, and carefully tested. The resulting assemblies were literally one-of-a-kind and fairly fragile pieces of art, as well as fully functional high energy density physics targets. They were true engineering marvels.

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