Cooling buildings worldwide
Analysis points the way to energy-efficient systems that take a location-specific approach to cooling and dehumidifying places where people live and work.
Department
Mechanical Engineering
Ties with MIT run deep for the US Navy’s top officer
Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson SM ’89, EE ’89, ENG ’89 poses global challenges to academe.
Kirigami-inspired technique manipulates light at the nanoscale
Folding and cutting thin metal films could enable microchip-based 3-D optical devices.
Study finds potential in brackish groundwater desalination
Water-starved areas could find new sources by desalinating water that’s much less salty than seawater.
“Blind” Cheetah 3 robot can climb stairs littered with obstacles
Improved design may be used for exploring disaster zones and other dangerous or inaccessible environments.
Alumni-founded robotic kitchen cooks up tasty meals
Spyce, a robot-assisted restaurant located in Boston, was invented to respond to a common MIT student desire: good, low-cost food.
Let it rain! New coatings make natural fabrics waterproof
MIT-developed process could offer nontoxic alternative to environmentally harmful chemicals.
The race to build the Navy’s next fleet of ships
Retired Rear Admiral Chuck Goddard OCE ’85, SM ’85 is leading a bid to design the US Navy’s next class of guided-missile frigates.
Low-cost prosthetic foot mimics natural walking
New design can be tuned to an individual’s body weight and size.
Evelyn Wang named head of Department of Mechanical Engineering
Expert in high-efficiency energy and water systems will succeed Gang Chen as MechE department head.
MIT researchers release evaluation of low-cost cooling devices in Mali
CITE and D-Lab study finds evaporative cooling devices show promise for helping small-scale farmers, market vendors, and families store and preserve vegetables.
MIT and SUSTech announce Centers for Mechanical Engineering Research and Education at MIT and SUSTech
Two centers located in Shenzhen, China, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, will facilitate collaborative research opportunities.
MIT engineers build smart power outlet
Design can “learn” to identify plugged-in appliances, distinguish dangerous electrical spikes from benign ones.
MIT engineers configure RFID tags to work as sensors
Platform may enable continuous, low-cost, reliable devices that detect chemicals in the environment.
Magnetic 3-D-printed structures crawl, roll, jump, and play catch
New printing technique could be used to develop remotely controlled biomedical devices.