After years of making progress on an organic aqueous flow battery, Harvard University researchers ran into a problem: the organic anthraquinone molecules that powered their ground-breaking battery were slowly decomposing over time, reducing the long-term usefulness of the battery. Now, the researchers — led by Michael Aziz, the Gene and Tracy Sykes Professor of Materials […]
Problem Solvers by Design
Rats on campus, disruptive noise pollution, and costly deep-sea research seem to have nothing in common—except that they could all be solved using an engineering design approach. Students in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences course Engineering Problem Solving and Design Project (ES 96) did just that, applying their engineering know-how, in collaboration […]
Snake-Inspired Robot Slithers Even Better Than Predecessor
Bad news for ophiophobes: Researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a new and improved snake-inspired soft robot that is faster and more precise than its predecessor. The robot is made using kirigami — a Japanese paper craft that relies on cuts to change the properties […]
A Safe, Wearable Soft Sensor
Children born prematurely often develop neuromotor and cognitive developmental disabilities. The best way to reduce the impacts of those disabilities is to catch them early through a series of cognitive and motor tests. But accurately measuring and recording the motor functions of small children is tricky. As any parent will tell you, toddlers tend to […]
Next-Generation Robotic Cockroach Can Explore Underwater
In nature, cockroaches can survive underwater for up to 30 minutes. Now, a robotic cockroach can do even better. Harvard’s Ambulatory Microrobot, known as HAMR, can walk on land, swim on the surface of water, and walk underwater for as long as necessary, opening up new environments for this little bot to explore. This next generation […]
Tunable Diamond String May Hold Key To Quantum Memory
A quantum internet promises completely secure communication. But using quantum bits or qubits to carry information requires a radically new piece of hardware – a quantum memory. This atomic-scale device needs to store quantum information and convert it into light to transmit across the network. A major challenge to this vision is that qubits are […]
Laser Frequency Combs May Be The Future Of Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi and cellular data traffic are increasing exponentially but, unless the capacity of wireless links can be increased, all that traffic is bound to lead to unacceptable bottlenecks. Upcoming 5G networks are a temporary fix but not a long-term solution. For that, researchers have focused on terahertz frequencies, the submillimeter wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. […]
Personalizing Wearable Devices
When it comes to soft, assistive devices — like the exosuit being designed by the Harvard Biodesign Lab — the wearer and the robot need to be in sync. But every human moves a bit differently and tailoring the robot’s parameters for an individual user is a time-consuming and inefficient process. Now, researchers from the […]
Novel 3D Printing Method Embeds Sensing Capabilities Within Robotic Actuators
Researchers at Harvard University have built soft robots inspired by nature that can crawl, swim, grasp delicate objects and even assist a beating heart, but none of these devices has been able to sense and respond to the world around them. That’s about to change. Inspired by our bodies’ sensory capabilities, researchers at the Harvard […]
Personalizing Wearable Devices
When it comes to soft, assistive devices — like the exosuit being designed by the Harvard Biodesign Lab — the wearer and the robot need to be in sync. But every human moves a bit differently and tailoring the robot’s parameters for an individual user is a time-consuming and inefficient process. Now, researchers from the […]