Photo credit: Daegan Miller | UMass
There’s LiFi that uses light rather than radio frequencies, and then 6G wireless technology, which opens the door to Visible Light Communication (VLC). This essentially a wireless version of fiberoptics, utilizing flashes of light to transmit information. University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers have developed a low-cost, innovative way to harvest the waste energy from VLC by using the human body as an antenna.
Photo credit: İbrahim Can Erdinçmer
Designed by industrial designer İbrahim Can Erdinçmer, the LEGO Brick wireless charging station lets you build unique designs that match your decor using various modules. Whether it be a small night light or a small display to show the battery status for all of your devices, it can easily be added without having to worry about wires and confusing instructions.
Rolls-Royce tested the first hydrogen-powered jet engine late last year, and now, ZeroAvia’s 19-seat Dornier 228 hydrogen aircraft has successfully completed its maiden voyage. It’s currently the world’s largest hydrogen aircraft and was retrofitted with ZeroAvia’s hydrogen-electric engine on its left wing, which works alongside a single Honeywell TPE-331 stock engine on the right. The hydrogen-electric powertrain consists of two fuel cell stacks, with lithium-ion battery packs providing peak power support during take-off and adding additional redundancy for safe testing.
Hyundai’s innovative Hug Airbag is designed for autonomous vehicles, as it deploys instantly when a collision is detected. Unlike standard airbags, it hides within the seat itself and comprises of three chambers, protecting the head, body as well as pelvis area, holding onto the body tightly when deployed.
NASA has just released a proposal for building an oxygen pipeline in the Moon’s lunar south pole region for future Artemis astronauts. This oxygen will be used for human habitats, rovers, life support systems, and an oxidizer for launch vehicles departing the Moon. These oxygen extraction technologies are set to be demonstrated at large scale on the Moon as early as 2024, while supporting Artemis astronauts as early as 2026.
Palmer Luckey’s ALTIUS drone is designed for the battlefield, while this specialized drone developed by ETH Zurich and Swiss Federal research institute WSL researchers collects DNA from trees. It can autonomously land on tree branches and collect DNA, thanks to adhesive strips. When the drone lands on a branch, material from the branch sticks to these strips and the DNA is then extracted in the lab.
Photo credit: Aerovironment
This innovative MEDUSA drone can fly and land on water, while future drones could have flapping wings, thanks to engineers at Lund University. They are developing a biohybrid robotic wing that is partly built from real feathers, with more advanced kinematic capabilities than previous robotic wings and similar to those of a real bird.
Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robot has acquired a new set of skills and wanted to get hands on to showcase them. So, engineers decided to have the claw-equipped humanoid robot manipulate the real world at a simulated construction site. Atlas skillfully interacts with objects and then modifies the course to reach its goal, all the while testing locomotion, sensing, and athleticism.
A strontium plasma lightsaber was the last big project for the Hacksmith team, and now they’re back with a real-life spider mech robot that you can actually drive around. It all started with building the hexagonal frame, which required chopping up mass manufactured alignment arms typically used for automobiles. After welding the arms and attaching the legs, they discovered that they all worked perfectly, other than the need for computerized controls.
There are robot dogs that climb stairs, but what a stair-climbing robot that can handle bends? Engineer James Bruton has just the solution. This homemade robot uses eight motors and special wheels split over three sections to move up or down stairs. Each of these sections then move individually to keep the robot balanced as it climbs or descends stairs.