OPT Industries, an MIT spinoff, has created InstaSwab, a nasal swab “up to 20 times more effective in bacterial sample elution,” reports Brian Heater for TechCrunch. “With the ability to print around the clock, the firm also believes it can play a pivotal role in addressing supply chain concerns — a long-time goal for additive manufacturing,” writes Heater.
Yuanming Hu SM’19, PhD ’21 and Ye Kuang co-founded startup Taichi Graphics, a cloud-based platform which aims to make 3D content creation easier to develop, share and collaborate on, reports Rita Liao for TechCrunch. “Undergirding the platform is its open-source programming language Taichi, which offers a high-performance computation on spatially sparse data structures like those from 3D visual graphics,” writes Liao.
A team of scientists from MIT and Facebook have created a new object tagging system called InfraredTags, reports Charlotte Hu for Popular Science. “InfraredTags uses infrared light-based barcodes and QR codes that embedded permanently into the bodies of 3D printed objects,” reports Hu.
MIT startup Formlabs has announced a new pair of 3D printers featuring an exposure and printing speed increase that is up to 40% faster than previous models, reports Brian Heater for TechCrunch. “The Form 3+ is the next iteration designed to help users go from idea to part in hand as quickly and easily as possible,” says CEO Max Lobovsky MS ’11.
Researchers from MIT have developed a 3-D printable ink made from bacterial cells that can release anti-cancer drugs or remove toxins from the environment, reports Carissa Wong for New Scientist. This is the first of its kind,” says research affiliate Avinash Manjula-Basavanna. “A living ink that can respond to the environment. We have repurposed the matrix that these bacteria normally utilise as a shielding material to form a bio-ink.”
Mashable reporter Emmett Smith spotlights how MIT researchers have created a new toolkit for designing wearable devices that can be 3D printed. “The researchers used the kit to create sample devices, like a personal muscle monitor that uses augmented reality,” explains Smith, “plus a device for recognizing hand gestures and a bracelet for identifying distracted driving.”
Professor Xuanhe Zhao and his colleagues have developed a new soft robotic prosthetic hand that offers the wearer more tactile control. “You can use it to grab something as thin and fragile as a potato chip, or grasp another hand in a firm-but-safe handshake,” writes Mark Wilson for Fast Company. “By design, this rubbery, air-filled hand is naturally compliant.”
Dezeen reporter Rima Sabina Aouf writes that MIT researchers have created an inflatable prosthetic hand that can be produced for a fraction of the cost of similar prosthetics. “The innovation could one day help some of the 5 million people in the world who have had an upper-limb amputation but can't afford expensive prostheses.”
Engineers at MIT have developed a soft, inflatable, neuroprosthetic hand that allows users to carry out a variety of tasks with ease, reports Emmett Smith for Mashable. “People who tested out the hand were able to carry out quite complex tasks, such as zipping up a suitcase and pouring a carton of juice.”
TechCrunch reporter Brian Heater writes about Inkbit, a CSAIL spinout, which is developing self-correcting 3D printing technology. “Its primary differentiator from the slew of existing 3D printers is a vision and AI system designed to identify and correct mistakes during the printing process,” writes Heater.
Gizmodo reporter Andrew Liszewski spotlights MIT startup OPT Industries, which has created a new type of Covid-19 nasal swab “that’s faster at absorbing samples, and better at releasing it for analysis.”
In this video, Mashable spotlights how MIT researchers have developed a new system that can 3-D print objects without human intervention. “The system works thanks to a software toolkit that lets you design custom blueprints,” Mashable explains.
CSAIL researchers have developed a new system, dubbed LaserFactory, that can print custom devices and robots without human intervention, reports Brian Heater for TechCrunch. “The system is comprised of a software kit and hardware platform designed to create structures and assemble circuitry and sensors for the machine,” Heater writes.
Graduate student Benjamin Jenett speaks with Tech Briefs about his work developing a new kind of airplane wing that can adapt in the air to changing conditions. "If you can have an aircraft that can actively change its shape, then you can optimize its performance," says Jenett.
MIT researchers have developed a new way to optimize how soft robots perform certain tasks. It "shrinks drastically the amount of computational overhead required to get good movement results out of soft robots,” writes Darrell Etherington for TechCrunch, “which is a key ingredient in helping make them partial to actually use in real-life applications.”