Mechanical engineering

Feeling the way

Robotic device developed in MIT’s Touch Lab can help visually impaired people navigate around a virtual model of a real building.

November 23, 2009

Professor of Mechanical and Ocean Engineering John J. Leonard.

Leonard named new director of Ford-MIT Alliance

November 10, 2009

During a tour of MIT research labs, President Barack Obama left his signature for MIT students on a piece of equipment in the Organic and Nanostructured Electronics Laboratory.

Energy researchers find Obama an eager student

In the President's visit to MIT labs he showed keen interest, quick understanding and warm appreciation, say his hosts

October 27, 2009

The photo was taken from the Glamour Magazine photo shoot which took place this past summer in Washington D.C., while Tish was interning with the World Bank.

Tish Scolnik ’10 selected as one of Glamour Magazine’s Top 10 College Women

The October issue of Glamour Magazine has named 2009 Truman Scholar Tish Scolnik as one of their Top 10 College Women, recognizing her work on mobility issues for the disabled.

October 19, 2009

Deshpande Center's latest funding cycle supports goal of 'idea to impact'

Since 2002, the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation has funded more than 80 projects with over $9 M in grants. The center supports a wide range of emerging technologies including biotechnology, biomedical devices, information technology, new materials, tiny tech, and energy innovations. Eighteen projects have spun out of the center as independent startups, having collectively raised over $150 million in outside financing from investors.

October 17, 2009

At left, a high-resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy image of platinum nanoparticles on a fuel cell's electrode reveals surface steps that researchers say are responsible for dramatically improving efficiency. These steps are shown in greater detail in the diagram at the right.

Fuel cells get a boost

Creating tiny steps to electrode surfaces can double the efficiency of the emissions-free electricity sources, MIT researchers find.

October 15, 2009

Avinatan Hassidim, a postdoc in the Research Laboratory of Electronics, writes out a system of four linear equations with four variables. The quantum algorithm that he, Seth Lloyd, and Aram Harrow devised can solve systems with a trillion equations and a trillion variables.

Quantum computing may actually be useful

A quantum algorithm that solves systems of linear equations could point in a promising new direction.

October 9, 2009

Stickybot has specially designed footpads, inspired by the surface of a gecko’s foot, that allow it to climb smooth surfaces. MIT Assistant Professor Sangbae Kim worked on the robot as a graduate student at Stanford.

From nature, robots

Mechanical engineer Sangbae Kim looks to animals to inspire his robot designs

September 25, 2009

An example of what happens when the plants are not harvested early enough - mature pods begin to regerminate and those nuts are no longer useable.

In the World: A better way to beat around the bush

International teams in Ghana tackle local needs of village farmers for better methods and devices to harvest their crops

September 25, 2009

Of Note: MIT professors win NIH grants aimed at spurring innovative research

September 24, 2009

This schematic drawing shows the sensor Manalis and colleagues built to weigh single cells. Cells flow through a channel (dark blue lines) that carries them to the end of a vibrating cantilever and back.

In Profile: Scott Manalis

His technology to weigh single cells led to an unexpected research focus: figuring out how cancerous cells escape normal growth controls.

September 23, 2009

Carol Livermore, associate professor of mechanical engineering, left, stands with graduate student Frances Hill in Livermore's lab.

Small springs could provide big power

Mechanical engineer Carol Livermore and colleagues find that carbon nanotubes, used as springs, have potential to compete with batteries for energy storage.

September 21, 2009

A close up of the 6dot Braille Labeler, a device created by MIT students to enable blind or visually impaired people to make labels for objects easily and inexpensively.

Braille made simple

MIT students develop device that could make labeling easier for the visually impaired. Product could be on the market next year.

September 21, 2009

Researchers at MIT have shown the benefits of a new approach toward eliminating carbon-dioxide emissions at coal-burning power plants.

Concentrating emissions

Ahmed Ghoniem of mechanical engineering leads an MIT effort to make coal plants cleaner by using a pressurized combustion system to capture carbon dioxide.

September 17, 2009

Professor Kamal Youcef-Toumi holds two robotic fishes he designed with recent PhD student Pablo Valdivia y Alvarado. The sleek robots can more easily maneuver into areas where traditional underwater autonomous vehicles can't go.

Fish and chips

New robots mimic fish's swimming and could explore areas where traditional underwater autonomous vehicles can't currently go.

August 24, 2009

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