Manufacturing

Scaling solutions for the developing world

In MIT D-Lab class 2.729 (Design for Scale), MIT students devise ways to manufacture products to reach as many people as possible.

May 5, 2019

MIT Media Lab researchers (l-r) Xin Liu, Felix Kraemer, Ariel Ekblaw, Pete Dilworth, Rachel Smith, and Harpreet Sareen stand in front of the Blue Origin capsule holding their six payloads.

Six suborbital research payloads from MIT fly to space and back

Space Exploration Initiative research aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard experiment capsule crossed the Karman line for three minutes of sustained microgravity.

May 3, 2019

A gel-like yield stress fluid, top, moves as a plug without shearing in a tube with the new surface coating. At bottom, the same fluid is seen shearing while it flows in an uncoated tube, where part of the fluid gets stuck to the tube while part of it continues to flow.

How slippery surfaces allow sticky pastes and gels to slide

Engineered surface treatment developed at MIT can reduce waste and improve efficiency in many processes.

April 22, 2019

Left to right: David Dolev, assistant director of MISTI and managing director of MISTI’s programs in the Middle East; Deanna Rockefeller, Lockheed Martin Global Science and Technology Portfolio manager; and Joshua "Shiki" Shani, CEO of Lockheed Martin in Israel.

MIT-Lockheed Martin Seed Fund launches

Collaboration between Lockheed Martin and MISTI will enable MIT faculty and students to collaborate, research, and intern in Israel, Germany, and beyond.

April 18, 2019

MIT researchers used these manganese oxide nanoparticles to catalyze the breakdown of water and the subsequent incorporation of oxygen into useful compounds called epoxides.

Shrinking the carbon footprint of a chemical in everyday objects

New method for synthesizing the epoxides found in plastics, textiles, and pharmaceuticals could be powered by electricity.

April 9, 2019

The image on the right shows a graphene sheet coated with wax during the substrate-transfer step. This method drastically reduced wrinkles on the graphene’s surface compared to a traditional polymer coating (left).

Smoothing out the wrinkles in graphene

Coating graphene with wax makes for a less contaminated surface during device manufacturing.

March 6, 2019

MIT researchers have developed a technique to grow 2-D materials directly onto patterned substrates (shown here) and then recycle the patterns for faster, simpler chip manufacturing.

Technique streamlines fabrication of 2-D circuits

Growing material directly onto substrates and recycling chip patterns should enable faster, simpler manufacturing.

March 4, 2019

MIT Professor Lionel Kimerling, speaking at Stonehill College, leads the AIM Academy program for AIM Photonics.

Training technicians in developing technologies

MIT leads AIM Photonics Academy’s development of a technician-training apprenticeship program.

February 15, 2019

The Jenga-playing robot demonstrates something that’s been tricky to attain in previous systems: the ability to quickly learn the best way to carry out a task, not just from visual cues, as it is commonly studied today, but also from tactile, physical interactions.

MIT robot combines vision and touch to learn the game of Jenga

Machine-learning approach could help robots assemble cellphones and other small parts in a manufacturing line.

January 30, 2019

Associate Professor Asegun Henry is researching how to use superheated metals like molten tin to store heat from a concentrated solar power system, so it can be used to generate electricity as needed.

Tackling greenhouse gases

Faculty in the Department of Mechanical Engineering are developing technologies that store, capture, convert, and minimize greenhouse gas emissions.

January 7, 2019

MIT researchers have devised a technique that “reverse engineers” complex 3-D computer-aided design (CAD) models — breaking them down into the many individual shapes they’re made of — to make them far easier for users to customize for manufacturing and 3-D printing applications.

Customizing computer-aided design

System breaks down complex designs into easily modifiable shapes for custom manufacturing and 3-D printing.

January 2, 2019

MIT researchers have 3-D printed a novel microfluidic device that simulates cancer treatments on biopsied tumor tissue — and keeps the tissue alive for days — so clinicians can better examine how individual patients will respond to different therapeutics.

To guide cancer therapy, device quickly tests drugs on tumor tissue

Inexpensive 3-D-printed microfluidics device could be used to personalize cancer treatment.

December 12, 2018

The principal researchers of Lincoln Laboratory's 12 finalists for 2018 R&D 100 Awards pose with Lincoln Laboratory Director Eric Evans (far left). The principal researchers of the 10 winning technologies are holding their award plaques.

MIT Lincoln Laboratory wins 10 R&D 100 Awards

Technologies ranging from a hurricane-evacuation decision platform to algorithms that compare DNA samples honored as some of the world's best inventions of 2018.

November 30, 2018

Associate Professor A. John Hart (right), doctoral student Adam Stevens SM ’15, and their colleagues have designed a 3-D printer that can deposit material 10 times faster than today’s desktop models can. The team has also developed a novel process for 3-D printing using cellulose, a widely available natural polymer.

Accelerating 3-D printing

Researchers have designed a novel printhead that works with unprecedented speed and pioneered ways to melt and extrude renewable materials.

November 29, 2018

The RePaint system reproduces paintings by combining two approaches called color-contoning and halftoning, as well as a deep learning model focused on determining how to stack 10 different inks to recreate the specific shades of color.

Reproducing paintings that make an impression

CSAIL's new RePaint system aims to faithfully recreate your favorite paintings using deep learning and 3-D printing.