Today on Engineering Newswire, we’re injecting nanodiamonds into our teeth, teaching robots to fall gracefully, and 3D printing a functioning railgun.

Nanodiamonds Rooted in New Dental Breakthrough

According to a paper published in ACS Nano, researchers are working with nanodiamonds, a diamond refining and mining byproduct, to fortify gutta percha, the polymer that dentists inject into your empty canal after they scrape out your infected pulp.

The nanodiamonds, with are thousands of times smaller than a human hair, not only reinforce the polymer’s strength, but researchers have even preloaded one version with amoxiicillin, which effectively prevented bacteria growth.

Teaching Robots to Fall Gracefully

Two Ph.D. graduate students have developed a new algorithm that tells a robot how to react to a variety of falls – from a single step to recover from a gentle nudge, to a rolling motion that breaks a high speed fall.

The planning algorithm was validated in physics simulation and experimentally tested on a BioloidGP humanoid robot. Their work is giving robots a tool to automatically determine the total number of contacts, the order of contacts, and the position and timing of those contacts.

This study builds upon one of the researcher’s previous investigation into how cats modify their bodies in the midst of a fall. From this work, they knew that one of the most important factors in a fall is the angle of the landing.

Handheld Railgun Fires Projectiles at 560 MPH

Recently, youtube user “Xtamared” built a partially 3D-printed railgun. The design is capable of firing aluminum or graphite projectiles at more than 560 mph.

The device itself houses six capacitors that weigh 20 pounds and to deliver more than 3,000 kilojoules of energy per shot. The creator also added an Arduino Uno R3 to monitor factors such as charging levels and temperature.