Research Laboratory of Electronics

Graduate student Yi-Hsuan (Nemo) Hsiao and City University of Hong Kong Prof. Pakpong Chirarattananon have developed a “hopping robot that can leap over tall obstacles and jump across slanted or uneven surfaces, while using far less energy than an aerial robot,” writes Andrew Corselli for Tech Briefs Magazine. “One of the biggest challenges is our robot is still connected with a power cable,” explains Hsiao. “I think going into power autonomy — which means we carry a battery and a sensor onboard — will be the next step. And this robot has really opened the opportunities for us to do that.”

MIT researchers have made a key advance in the creating a practical quantum computer by demonstrating “remote entanglement—an essential step in building distributed quantum networks—by sending photons between two quantum processors,” reports Military & Aerospace Electronics. “This breakthrough lays the groundwork for large-scale quantum computing networks and could extend to other quantum computing platforms and the quantum internet.”

MIT scientists have developed a new programmable fiber that can be stitched into clothing to help monitor the wearer’s health, reports Stephen Beech for FOX 28 News. “The gear has been tested by U.S. Army and Navy personnel during a month-long winter research mission to the Arctic,” Beech notes. 

Dezeen reporter Rima Sabina Aouf spotlights how MIT researchers have created a “thin and flexible fiber computer and woven it into clothes, suggesting a potential alternative to current wearable electronics.” Prof. Yoek Fink explains: "In the not-too-distant future, fiber computers will allow us to run apps and get valuable health care and safety services from simple everyday apparel.” He adds: "The convergence of classical fibers and fabrics with computation and machine learning has only begun.” 

MIT engineers have manufactured a programmable computer fiber that can be woven into clothing and used to help monitor the wearer’s vital signs, reports Jennifer Ouellette for Ars Technica. “The long-term objective is incorporating fiber computers into apparel that can sense and respond to changes in the surrounding environment and individual physiology,” Ouellette notes. 

New Scientist reporter Alex Wilkins spotlights how MIT researchers have created a “computer that can be stitched into clothes, made from chips that are connected in a thread of copper and elastic fiber.” U.S. Army and Navy members will  be testing the use of the fiber computer to help monitor health conditions and prevent injury during a monthlong mission to the Arctic. Prof. Yoel Fink explains: “We’re getting very close to a point where we could write apps for fabrics and begin to monitor our health and do all kinds of things that a phone, frankly, cannot do.” 

Researchers at MIT have developed a new chip-based system capable of improving “how terahertz (THz) waves pass through silicon chips,” reports Rupendra Brahambhatt for Interesting Engineering. The researchers “applied a principle called matching, which involves reducing the difference between silicon (dielectric constant is 11) and air (dielectric constant is 1) so that more waves can travel through,” writes Brahambhatt. 

In a letter to The Guardian, Research Scientist Florian Metzler, Research Affiliate Matt Lilley and their colleagues highlight the important advancements being made in cold fusion research. “Cold fusion could result in spectacular technologies. But we are convinced that the way forward requires rigorous, open-source scientific investigation, not more claims,” they write. “In many ways, cold fusion’s time has come. Advances in theory and experiment have made the LENR field eminently actionable.” 

In this interview (in Spanish), graduate students Suhan Kim and Yi-Hsuan (Nemo) Hsiao speak with Telemundo correspondent Miriam Arias about their work developing insect-sized robots to assist with agricultural needs. “There might be one year where you have a lot of bees in the field that help you pollinate everything. Maybe the next year, it might be affected by the temperature or something [and] you just don’t have enough bees to help you do so,” explains Hsiao. 

Graduate students Suhan Kim and Yi-Hsuan (Nemo) Hsiao speak with Tech Briefs reporter Andrew Corselli about their work developing insect-sized robots capable of artificial pollination. “Typical drones use electromagnetic motors plus propellers. But, our system is a little different in that we are primarily using an artificial muscle,” explains Kim. 

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have develop insect-sized robots that could one day be used to help with farming practices like artificial pollination, reports Alice Rizzo for Reuters. "These type of robots will open up a very new type of use case," says graduate student Suhan Kim. "We can start thinking of using our robot, if it works well, for tools like indoor farming."

Researchers at MIT have developed an insect-like, flying robot capable of performing acrobatic maneuvers and hovering in the air for up to 15 minutes without failing, reports Alex Wilkins for New Scientist. “By having a hugely increased [flying] lifetime, we were able to work on the controller parts so that the robot can achieve precise trajectory tracking, plus aggressive maneuvers like somersaults,” says graduate student Suhan Kim. 

MIT engineers have developed “two new control techniques that have enabled them to achieve a world-record single-qubit fidelity of 99.998 percent using a superconducting qubit called fluxonium,” reports Aman Tripathi for Interesting Engineering. “This breakthrough marks a significant step towards the realization of practical quantum computing,” Tripathi notes. 

Quanta Magazine reporter Charlie Wood spotlights how MIT researchers have contributed to the recent discoveries of new superconductive materials. Prof. Long Ju and his research team “placed a five-layer graphene flake on an insulator at a twisted angle and observed a rare electron behavior that normally requires a strong magnetic field to induce,” explains Wood. 

Ars Technica reporter Jacek Krywko spotlights how MIT researchers have developed a new photonic chip that that can “compute the entire deep neural net, including both linear and non-linear operations, using photons.” Visiting scientist Saumil Bandyopadhyay '17, MEng '18, PhD '23 explains that: “We’re focused on a very specific metric here, which is latency. We aim for applications where what matters the most is how fast you can produce a solution. That’s why we are interested in systems where we’re able to do all the computations optically.”