Category Archives: Research

Soft actuators help MIT power nano drones

MIT researchers have demonstrated diminutive drones that can zip around with bug-like agility and resilience, which could eventually perform these tasks. The soft actuators that propel these microrobots are very durable, but they require much higher voltages than similarly-sized rigid actuators. The featherweight robots can’t carry the necessary power electronics that would allow them fly on their own. Continue reading →

Building Future Air Taxis to See Through the Fog

The frame of an unmanned aerial vehicle is installed at the end of a 180-foot-long chamber filled with fog at Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque, New Mexico

While the sun beat down on the New Mexico desert, inside, a dense fog hung in the air. In a special facility outside Albuquerque, a team of NASA researchers was working with the kind of fog that’s so thick you can’t see three feet in front of you. Continue reading →