Tag Archives: MIT

MIT researchers developing open source hydrogen powered motorcycle for other developers to improve on

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Electric battery-powered vehicles might seem the future but in the long run, they are harmful to the environment in their wicked way. The next best thing is the hydrogen-powered drivetrain and many automotive manufacturers are already exploring the possibility. Sure, the cost of such vehicles is not practical enough to go mainstream, still, constant innovations in technology are getting things closer to fruition.

MIT’s electric vehicle team is also exploring the possibility with their hydrogen-powered electric motorcycle prototype. The two-wheeler uses a new hydrogen-based testbed and is open source for other proactive automotive developers to test out as the files are available online. Led by Aditya Mehrotra, a graduate student working with mechanical engineering professor Alex Slocum, the Walter M. May and A. Hazel May Chair in Emerging Technologies, the project aims to take clean energy alternatives to the next level with innovation.

Designer: MIT

According to Aditya, “We’re hoping to use this project as a chance to start conversations around ‘small hydrogen’ systems that could increase demand, which could lead to the development of more infrastructure.” The team took a 1999  Ducati Supersport donor motorcycle frame as the basis and fitted an electric motor, drive train, hydrogen tank and other custom-made components to develop the design. Some components were donated by industry sponsors and the two-wheeler took shape over the period of one year.

The heart of the system is a fuel cell developed by South Korean company Doosan and it’s mated to the supporting gas cylinder for drawing energy. Until the drivetrain is fully developed the bike runs on this hybrid system. The bike is still in the early stages of development and is going to be purely a concept of proof for other designs to follow. To this accord, the team is mindful enough to create a handbook detailing the process of development and fail-safes in case anything goes wrong.

This is important because “a lot of the technology development for hydrogen is either done in simulation or is still in the prototype stages because developing it is expensive, and it’s difficult to test these kinds of systems,” as per one of the team members. There have been previous efforts to develop such hydrogen-powered vehicles but nothing that’s completely open-source like this one. The project is an ongoing endeavor until the cost of the fuel cell is made commercially viable.

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This paper-thin solar cell could bring solar power to any surface

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Solar energy is finally becoming more common these days, with some homes even using them for a big part of their overall consumption. The common conception about solar panels, however, takes for granted that this form severely limits where they can be used, which is often only on rooftops or large flat surfaces. In order to truly make solar power a more common technology, it should be more ubiquitous and more applicable to a variety of designs. This goes beyond merely having portable solar panels that are still clunky and inconvenient to use everywhere. This research achievement solves that problem by making a solar cell that’s so thin and lightweight that it can be put on almost any surface, including fabrics.

Designers/Inventors: Vladimir Bulovic, Jeremiah Mwaura, Mayuran Saravanapavanantham (MIT)

The two most common considerations when picking solar panels are their conversion efficiency and cost in dollars-per-watt. Few actually think about how well these panels will be integrated into their surroundings because it is always presumed they come in the form of big, thick, and heavy panels. It doesn’t have to be that way, though, and this innovation proves that not only is it possible to create almost impossibly thin solar panels, these flexible cells might even outdo their rigid counterparts in performance.

To make this paper-thin solar cell possible, MIT researchers utilized a relatively new yet increasingly popular technology that prints circuits using semiconductor inks. They then used a more traditional screen printing process, similar to the ones used for shirts, to deposit electrodes onto that thin substrate. The last critical layer is Dyneema fabric that protects the solar module from easily tearing, resulting in a robust sheet that you can bend and roll like a piece of paper or thick fabric.

And it isn’t all just for show, either. The extremely flexible solar panel can generate 370 watts-per-kilogram of power, 18 times more than conventional power cells. Not only does this mean that they are viable alternatives to heavy panels that burden your roof, they can also be installed on almost any surface, including flexible ones like boat sails or tents. The latter is important when such tents are needed in disaster-stricken areas where power grids are inoperative.

There is still one critical piece missing from the puzzle, though, a protective layer that will protect the cells from the environment. Traditionally, this is a role fulfilled by glass, which would defeat the purpose of having a flexible solar cell in the first place. The researchers are experimenting with a few ultra-thin packaging solutions that would let these solar cells stand the test of both weather and time, making solar power truly available for all.

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MIT researchers equip these bug-like bots with low-voltage, power-dense artificial muscles to take flight

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MIT researchers have reinvented the fabrication technique behind micro-robots so they can operate with lower voltage while carrying more payload.

As researchers at MIT put it, “When it comes to robots, bigger isn’t always better.” From pollinating drones to ones that can locate survivors buried in rubble, micro-robots can bring humans where we otherwise cannot go. While the potential of micro-robots is immense, their miniature size calls for a highly technical fabrication technique that MIT researchers have recently refined and tested for success. Comprised of soft actuators, elastomers, and voltage distributors, the new fabrication technique produces artificial muscles with fewer defects.

Designer: MIT

Since the micro-robots are featherweight, before refining this new fabrication technique, they couldn’t carry the necessary power electronics that would allow them to fly on their own. The artificial muscles are produced from the soft actuators that rapidly flap the diminutive drone’s wings, giving flight to the micro-robots. MIT researchers found that the more surface area the actuator has, the less voltage is required. With this in mind, they “were able to create an actuator with 20 layers, each of which is 10 micrometers in thickness (about the diameter of a red blood cell).”

MIT researchers then developed soft actuators that operate with a 75-percent lower voltage than current versions while carrying 80-percent more payload. In addition, the power output of the actuator increased by more than 300 percent and significantly improved the microrobot’s lifespan. As Kevin Chen, an assistant professor at MIT, explains, “We demonstrate that this robot, weighing less than a gram, flies for the longest time with the smallest error during a hovering flight.”

In a newly released video that describes the design and construction process behind these micro-robots, MIT researchers note, “Each rectangular micro-robot…has four sets of wings that are each driven by a soft actuator. These muscle-like actuators are made from layers of elastomer that are sandwiched between two very thin electrodes and then rolled into a squishy cylinder. When the voltage is applied to the actuator, the electrodes squeeze the elastomer and that mechanical strain is used to flap the wings.” In addition, researchers optimized the thin electrodes, which are composed of carbon nanotubes to increase the actuator’s power output and reduce the voltage.

Working with such a thin layer of elastomer, the sharp ends of the carbon nanotubes would puncture the elastomer before researchers perfected the concentrations. As more layers are added during the curing stage, the actuators also take longer to dry. As Chen explains, “The first time I asked my student to make a multilayer actuator, once he got to 12 layers, he had to wait two days for it to cure. That is totally not sustainable, especially if you want to scale up to more layers.”

Following this, they found that once the carbon nanotubes are transferred to the elastomer, baking each layer for a few minutes significantly reduces the curing time. As researchers continue to refine the microrobot’s operation, Chen hopes to reduce its thickness to only one micrometer, leading to many more possible applications for the insect-sized robot.

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This moon village plans to harness solar energy to sustain tourism in the future!

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In the south polar region of the Moon, architects at SOM–Skidmore, Owings & Merrill have envisioned a Moon Village. In collaboration with ESA–European Space Agency and MIT–Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the debut of Moon Village at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia kicked off an initiative of returning to the Moon five decades after humans first set foot on its surface. Visualized on the rim of the Moon’s Shackleton Crater, the location was chosen with consideration for the near-continuous daylight it receives throughout the lunar year.

Primarily conceived of as a cluster of research stations, Moon Village would host an array of functions spanning from sustainability research opportunities to the future prospect of Moon tourism. The south polar region of the Moon supports the possibility of a self-sufficient settlement, receiving near eternal sunlight that could be harnessed and stored for energy. This part of the Moon also hosts a variety of untouched matter that could offer insight into the Solar System’s early history as well as the general emergence of our larger universe.

Above all else, the structure of each individual hub comprises a modular frame and protective exterior to cater to the varied projects taking place inside. Most of the action would be taking place in each structure’s open centralized space, leaving room for the supportive framework, made from titanium alloy to be built into each building’s perimeter. Describing the structure’s blueprint, the architects at SOM say, “The innovative structural design of the modules is a hybrid rigid-soft system, made of two key elements: a rigid composite perimeter frame and an inflatable structural shell that integrates a multi-layer assembly with an environmental protection system.”

SOM decided on an inflatable shell and rigid, if not a minimal internal framework to easily transport each structure’s building materials by rocket. The combination of a rigid framework and inflatable structural shell, made from open-foam polyurethane and double-aluminized Mylar for insulation, was also chosen by SOM to adapt to internal and external environmental conditions, optimize airflow, and maintain transparent working spaces, while the free centralized volume promotes efficiency and mobility for research projects.

Designer: SOM–Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Located in the south polar region of the Moon, SOM’s Moon Village would harness energy from the sun to generate their research facilities.

Comprising a cluster of Moon Villages, SOM intended for a human-centric design when developing Moon Village.

SOM envisions solar towers to form grids around Shackleton Crater and harness the sunlight’s energy.

Inside, an open centralized volume will leave plenty of room for efficient working and unrestricted mobility.

The main internal structure will be located in the perimeter of each structure.

An external, inflatable structural shell will protect Moon Village hubs from micrometeorites.

The internal framework of Moon Village’s research hubs will ensure the structure’s stability and soundness.

The 17th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia hosted Moon Village’s model debut.

MIT scientist weaves smart fabric with electrical signal to monitor health and store digital memory!

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MIT scientist Yoel Fink has worked on developing smart fabrics for longer than a decade. In 2010, Fink and some of his colleagues produced fibers that could detect audio. A first for smart fabric developments, the fiber could be woven into a fabric, which transformed it into a needle-thin, working microphone. Today, the team of scientists continues work on spinning fibers into the smart fabric but moves past analog capabilities towards a digital future, weaving fibers that carry continuous electrical signals into a piece of wearable smart fabric.

Published in a Nature Communications academic journal, Fink’s research suggests that the fibers carrying electrical signals could be woven into the wearable smart fabric for “applications in physiological monitoring, human-computer interfaces, and on-body machine-learning.” Incorporating those capabilities into smart fabric required first embedding hundreds of silicon digital chips into casting pre-forms before spinning that into a piece of wearable fabric.

Each string of flexible fiber reaches tens of meters in length, containing hundreds of intertwined, digital sensors that monitor temperature changes and store memory. Each digital fiber, for instance, can collect and store information on changing body temperatures, garnering real-time inference for the wearer’s activity throughout the day. In addition to tracking and collecting data on physiological measures, the smart fabric retains the information gathered and “harbors the neural pathways” necessary to understand that data and infer the future activity of the wearer.

Thin enough to slide through the eye of a needle, the smart fabric is woven with hundreds of laced digital chips that still remain undetectable to the wearer. Forming a continuous electrical connection, the textile fiber also weaves a neural network made up of 1,650 AI connections into the smart fabric, pushing the new development even further. Capable of collecting 270 minutes worth of changing body temperatures and storing a 767-kilobit full-color short film as well as a 0.48-megabyte music file, the smart fabric can retain all of this and store it for two months at a time without power.

Designer: Yoel Fink

Each string of fabric is intertwined with fibers that contain hundreds of digital chips to monitor body temperature and track memory devices.

When woven together, the fibers form a string of fabric thin enough to pass through the eye of a needle.

The fabric is thin enough that Gabriel Loke,  a Ph.D. student at MIT says, “When you put it into a shirt, you can’t feel it at all. You wouldn’t know it was there.”

This origami-inspired medical patch when applied to internal injuries biodegrades on its own

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A century ago not a soul would have imagined the advances in medical science we have achieved. Taking the evolution of medical surgeries a step further MIT engineers have crafted an origami-inspired medical patch that can be applied to internal organs with the utmost ease. Pretty useful in application to internal injuries or sensitive parts of the internal organs – airways, intestines, or hard to reach spaces. Looking at nothing more than a foldable piece of paper, the patch comes in contact with the tissues and organs. Thereafter it morphs into a thick gel that stays firmly on the injured area until it heals. The patch is made from three layers – the top layer is elastomer film consisting of zwitterionic polymers that become a water-based skin-like barrier. The middle layer is the bio-adhesive hydrogel having the compound NHS esters to form a strong bond with the tissue surface. The bottom layer is made up of silicone oil to prevent it from sticking to the body surface before reaching the intended target.

As compared to the adhesive tapes currently used, the MIT’s solution does not contaminate and also resists the growth of bacteria and body fluids. The newly developed patch will come in very handy in case of invasive procedures where small cameras and surgical tools are inserted inside the body. To bind the internal wounds and tears, this medical patch will be a god sent aid for the surgeons as well as the recovering patient. Currently, the team at MIT is working with doctors and surgeons to fine-tune the design of the patch so that it can be easily applied via invasive surgical tools – either by the surgeon or using medical robots. According to Xuanhe Zhao, professor of mechanical engineering and of civil and environmental engineering at MIT, “Minimally invasive surgery and robotic surgery are being increasingly adopted, as they decrease trauma and hasten recovery related to open surgery. However, the sealing of internal wounds is challenging in these surgeries.”

Adding to this co-author Christoph Nabzdyk, a cardiac anesthesiologist and critical care physician at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota said that this new development could be really useful for repairing a perforation from a colposcopy or to tend the solid organs and blood vessels after surgery. This will eliminate the need to perform open surgery and the patch can be delivered to seal the wound and once the injury heals it biodegrades on its own leaving behind no residue. Clearly, the medical patch will change the medical surgeries in a big way and also speed up the healing process which is great for the patients.

Designer: MIT

MIT researchers have built the most precise atomic clock to date

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MIT researchers have built what they say is the most precise atomic clock to date. Their approach could help scientists explore questions such as the effect of gravity on the passage of time and whether time changes as the universe gets older. More a...