Important Innovations

  Breakthrough Medical Robotic System Being Developed                                       Source:  MIT & Origami Robots Potential Drug Treatment Delivery System, Non-Invasive Surgery and More Researchers at MIT's world famous CSAIL (Computer Science Artificial Intelligence Laboratory) are developing revolutionary, new, tiny robots, shaped like centuries old, Japanese art called origami, with tremendous medical potential.  Here are the key facts: MIT scientists and roboticists are using origami folding patterns to create tiny robots to perform "no incision, no pain and no infection risk surgeries" Robot can fold to the size of a pill It is ingestible It can be moved around in the digestive system by using magnetic fields It has been successfully tested and removed a tiny battery button in an artificial stomach and digestive tract - young kids in the thousands ingest these potentially deadly battery buttons every year MIT has been developing and moving this technology

Tiny, Laser Powered and Wireless Flier University of Washington mechanical engineers have cracked the code on tiny, flying robots.  Their creation RoboFly is the first tiny robot to fly free, untethered to a power source.  It's remarkable tech so tiny it can sit on your finger and then takeoff powered by laser light. Teaching RoboFly to Smell The University of Washington team has a goal and mission for RoboFly.  It's tiny and highly maneuverable.  They want to teach it to smell.  So that it can fly into crevices and detect, for instance, the smell of gas.  In effect, it's a tiny search robot that initially through smell can serve as an early warning system that there's a gas leak. Tech on the Fly This flying robot is just like its insect inspiration.  It has delicate, transparent wings.  It contains a photovoltaic cell that converts laser light into electric power that lets it fly.  A microcontroller in an onboard circuit acts as a brain.  It sends pulses of v

DARPA's Going for the Gold with Tiny Robots  DARPA, the US Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency, has just announced a bug sized Olympic Robot competition.  They're asking for innovative designs for robots that measure a fraction of an inch. On Your Mark, Get Set, Go This isn't fun and games.  This research program is serious and potentially life-saving work.  DARPA's mission is to provide the US military with overwhelming technological advantages.  It's storied history of innovation includes GPS, cloud computing, the internet and most of the world's most advanced robots.  The tiny bots are going to compete against each other for agility, strength and speed for dangerous missions. SHRIMP SHRIMP is the name of the tiny robot program. It's DARPA's Short-Range Independent Microrobotic Platforms.  The bots are going to be tested for use in locations people can't navigate or are dangerous and inaccessible to humans.  DARPA s