Grace Williams reports for FOX News that CSAIL researchers are 3-D printing shock-absorbing skins to protect robots. “Dubbed the ‘programmable viscoelastic material’ (PVM) technique, MIT’s printing method gives objects the precise stiffness or elasticity they require,” writes Williams.
To develop safer, more durable robots, CSAIL researchers have developed a technique to 3-D print robots with shock-absorbing skins, reports Matt McFarland for CNN. McFarland explains that as the “‘bumpers’ aren't rigid, it's less dangerous for a robot to crash into something.”
Popular Science reporter Mary Beth Griggs writes that researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab have developed a method to 3-D print robots with customized shock absorbers. The researchers hope that the “shock absorbing material could be used to create better shock absorbers for delivery drones, shock-resistant shoe soles, and even helmets.”
Edd Gent writes for LiveScience that MIT researchers “have devised a new fabrication process that uses ultraviolet (UV) light to print successive layers of polymers into 3D, Transformer-like structures that ‘remember’ their shapes.”
MIT researchers have developed a method to 3-D print heat-responsive materials that can remember their original form, reports Rachel Zimmerman for WBUR. Prof. Nicholas Fang explains that this development is "critical for drug delivery — you could deliver a smaller, more tailored dose depending on the temperature change."
Salon reporter Scott Eric Kaufman writes that MIT researchers are using light to print 3-D structures that are able to remember their original shapes, and could be used in solar panel tracking and drug delivery. Kaufman writes that the structures are capable “of springing back to their original forms.”
In an article for The Atlantic, Jessa Gamble highlights MIT alumnus David Sengeh’s work, which is focused on designing better-fitting prosthetics by examining a patient’s internal anatomy using MRI technology. “We’ve been able to make the [world’s] first socket entirely from quantitative methods,” says Sengeh. “No human hands were involved in defining the shape, including the cut lines and material properties of the socket.”
Prof. Neil Gershenfeld speaks with Adam Shaw of BBC Horizons about how the fabrication labs he started at the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms have spread around the world. Gershenfeld explains that Fab Labs “are places where ordinary people can go and they can turn data into things and things into data,” adding that they are part of the maker revolution.
Janissa Delzo writes for CNN that MIT researchers have developed a platform to 3-D print thousands of hair-like structures in minutes. "The purpose of this project is looking beyond the aesthetic perspective," explains graduate student Jifei Ou. "What kind of new functionality can we bring to the material?"
Washington Post reporter Matt McFarland writes that MIT researchers have developed a technique for printing solid and liquid materials at the same time, a development that could make producing robots faster and easier. Prof. Daniela Rus explains that the new process could make “a big difference in what kind of machines you can make.”
Popular Science reporter Kelsey Atherton writes that a new 3-D printing process developed by MIT researchers incorporates both solid and liquid materials at the same time. Atherton explains that the prototype robot developed using the process walks “with hydraulic bellows, fluid pumping in and out to turn a crankshaft that moves the legs back and forth.”
Researchers from MIT CSAIL have developed a new 3-D printing process that produces robots with no assembly required, reports Brian Mastroianni for CBS News. “MIT's new process is significant in that the production period is streamlined, with the robot's solid and liquid hydraulic parts being created in one step,” Mastroianni explains.
Boston Magazine reporter Jamie Ducharme writes that MIT researchers have developed a way to simultaneously 3-D print liquid and solid materials, “allowing them to create functional, nearly assembly-free robots.”
Jonathan Webb reports for BBC News that MIT researchers have developed a “molten glass sewing machine.” "It does exactly what a sewing machine does," explains applied mathematics instructor Pierre-Thomas Brun. "You go from a thread, to patterns which are tied to each other like stitching patterns - but this time they're made out of glass."
In this video, the BBC’s LJ Rich reports on the 3-D printed, soft robotic hand developed by researchers at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab. Rich explains that the robotic hand can “handle objects as delicate as an egg and as thin as a compact disk.”