Biomechanics

Conceptual image of the Emerald Tutu in Boston Harbor: green dots in the water hugging the coastline

“The Emerald Tutu” wins NSF grant for design to protect Boston’s coastline

The winners of an MIT competition to design a future, climate-ready Boston have landed an award to realize their vision.

September 3, 2020

Featured video: If the spacesuit fits

PhD student Richard Fineman is using wearable sensors to understand coordination and walking — and next-generation spacesuit design.

July 31, 2018

Dean Kamen: “The magic is out there!”

Noted inventors Kamen and Flowers urge students to unleash their imagination on world’s problems.

May 18, 2017

In addition to spit-shooting, an archer fish, pictured here, can launch itself from a near standstill, out of the water to a height of more than two times its body length. “Unlike, say, a shark that comes barreling up from the bottom to catch its prey, an archer fish’s initial momentum is zero,” says Alexandra Techet, associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT.

High-speed images capture archer fish’s rocket-like launch

Insights into the hydrodynamics of the move may improve underwater vehicle design.

April 19, 2017

“Say there are toxic gases leaking in a building, and you need to close a valve inside, but it’s dangerous to send people in,” says Sangbae Kim, associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT. “Now, there is no single robot that can do this kind of job. I want to create a robotic first responder that can potentially do more than a human and help in our lives.”

Taking a leap in bioinspired robotics

Mechanical engineer Sangbae Kim builds animal-like machines for use in disaster response.

December 16, 2016

The mechanical arm pictured here was created for people without a wrist or arm. The herringbone gears and arm base are printed in one full piece. Once that piece is printed, an Arduino motherboard and sensors, pictured above the arm, and a motor are attached to the arm.

Lincoln Laboratory lends a 3-D-printed hand

Researchers improve the designs for low-cost 3-D-printed arms and hands.

September 1, 2016

“This place is remarkable,” Alfredo Alexander-Katz, the Walter Henry Gale Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, says of MIT. “You can throw any crazy idea out there” and then pursue it.

Seeing nature through a molecular engineer’s eye

Alfredo Alexander-Katz probes systems in action, from clotting blood to walking molecules.

August 22, 2016

MIT scientists developed a super-resolution imaging technique, using a combination of multi-colored lasers and mirrors, to visualize very tiny, transient phenomena, such as enzyme clustering on genes.

Scientists illuminate a hidden regulator in gene transcription

New super-resolution technique visualizes important role of short-lived enzyme clusters.

May 25, 2016

MIT researchers have trained their robotic cheetah to see and jump over hurdles as it runs — making this the first four-legged robot to run and jump over obstacles autonomously.

MIT cheetah robot lands the running jump

Robot sees, clears hurdles while bounding at 5 mph.

May 29, 2015

Bound for robotic glory

New algorithm enables MIT cheetah robot to run and jump, untethered, across grass.

September 15, 2014

Getting a grip on robotic grasp

New wrist-mounted device augments the human hand with two robotic fingers.

July 18, 2014

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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