Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: robotics/AI – Page 282

US’ secret, unmanned military space plane to embark on new mission

US secret military space plane to embark on new mission with undisclosed goal.

Developed by Boeing, the uncrewed spacecraft is used by the U.S. military to conduct experiments in high and low Earth orbits.

Boeing earlier claimed that the space plane is equipped with state-of-the-art technologies that provide exceptional performance and durability. Its modular design allows for a wide range of experiments and missions, making it a versatile and valuable asset in space exploration.

While it looks like a smaller version of the now-retired space shuttle, the X-37B can’t get into orbit without a boost. For this upcoming mission, it’s hitching a ride on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket inside the rocket’s fairing, a protective enclosure made of carbon composite that keeps it safe during the launch until it’s ready to be released into orbit, reported ABC News.

Optimizing how cells self-organize: Computational framework extracts genetic rules

One of the most fundamental processes in all of biology is the spontaneous organization of cells into clusters that divide and eventually turn into shapes—be they organs, wings or limbs.

Scientists have long explored this enormously complex process to make artificial organs or understand cancer growth—but precisely engineering to achieve a desired collective outcome is often a trial-and-error process.

Harvard applied physicists consider the control of cellular organization and morphogenesis to be an that can be solved with powerful new machine learning tools. In new research published in Nature Computational Science, researchers in the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have created a computational framework that can extract the rules that cells need to follow as they grow, in order for a collective function to emerge from the whole.

Gone but not forgotten: New research shows the brain’s map of the body remains unchanged after amputation

The brain holds a “map” of the body that remains unchanged even after a limb has been amputated, contrary to the prevailing view that it rearranges itself to compensate for the loss, according to new research from scientists in the UK and US.

The findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, have implications for the treatment of “phantom ” pain, but also suggest that controlling robotic replacement limbs via neural interfaces may be more straightforward than previously thought.

Studies have previously shown that within an area of the brain known as the somatosensory cortex there exists a map of the body, with different regions corresponding to different body parts.

Breaking Barriers in Surface Chemistry: The autoSKZCAM Framework for Ionic Materials

Understanding and predicting chemical reactions on surfaces lies at the heart of modern materials science. From heterogeneous catalysis to energy storage and greenhouse gas sequestration, surface chemistry defines the efficiency and viability of advanced technologies. Yet, computationally modeling these processes with both accuracy and efficiency has been a grand challenge.

A recent study published in Nature Chemistry introduces a breakthrough: the autoSKZCAM framework, an automated and open-source method that applies correlated wavefunction theory (cWFT) to surfaces of ionic materials at costs comparable to density functional theory (DFT). This achievement not only bridges the accuracy gap but also enables routine, large-scale studies of surface processes with chemical accuracy.

Shape-changing soft material for soft robotics, smart textiles and more

Harvard researchers developed liquid crystal elastomers that can switch between multiple shapes — chevrons, flat layers, and coils — in response to heat.

By aligning molecules in different directions, the material can be programmed to morph into domes, saddles, or fin-like motions inspired by stingrays and jellyfish.

The shape-shifting material could advance applications in soft robotics, biomedical devices, and smart textiles.

Liquid crystal elastomers are a class of soft materials that can change shape in response to stimuli such as light or heat — making them promising for applications in soft robotics, wearable and biomedical devices, smart textiles and more. But designing compositionally uniform elastomers that can change into different shapes in response to just one stimulus has been challenging and has limited the application of these potentially powerful materials.

Now, researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a way to program liquid crystal elastomers with the ability to deform in opposite directions just by heating — opening up a range of applications.

The research was published in Science.

(May be a repost from 2024)

Continue reading “Shape-changing soft material for soft robotics, smart textiles and more” | >

A Wearable Robot That Learns

Having lived with an ALS diagnosis since 2018, Kate Nycz can tell you firsthand what it’s like to slowly lose motor function for basic tasks. “My arm can get to maybe 90 degrees, but then it fatigues and falls,” the 39-year-old said. “To eat or do a repetitive motion with my right hand, which was my dominant hand, is difficult. I’ve mainly become left-handed.”

People like Nycz who live with a neurodegenerative disease like ALS or who have had a stroke often suffer from impaired movement of the shoulder, arm or hands, preventing them from daily tasks like tooth-brushing, hair-combing or eating.

For the last several years, Harvard bioengineers have been developing a soft, wearable robot that not only provides movement assistance for such individuals but could even augment therapies to help them regain mobility.

But no two people move exactly the same way. Physical motions are highly individualized, especially for the mobility-impaired, making it difficult to design a device that works for many different people.

It turns out advances in machine learning can create a more personal touch. Researchers in the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), together with physician-scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, have upgraded their wearable robot to be responsive to an individual user’s exact movements, endowing the device with more personalized assistance that could give users better, more controlled support for daily tasks.

Continue reading “A Wearable Robot That Learns” | >
/* */