The secret to the skillful skydiving of wingless springtails

Early in the pandemic, Víctor Ortega-Jiménez was exploring creeks near his home and observing springtails. The organisms are the most abundant non-insect hexapods on earth, and Ortega-Jiménez suspected their avoidance ...

Small robot swimmers that heal themselves from damage

Living tissue can heal itself from many injuries, but giving similar abilities to artificial systems, such as robots, has been extremely challenging. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Nano Letters have developed small, swimming ...

Advance could enable remote control of soft robots

Soft materials, such as rubber or polymers that can endure drastic changes to their shape, are promising for applications where flexibility and shapeshifting abilities are paramount.

Small satellite concept finalists target moon, Mars and beyond

NASA has selected three finalists among a dozen concepts for future small satellites. The finalists include a 2022 robotic mission to study two asteroid systems, twin spacecraft to study the effects of energetic particles ...

Army project develops agile scouting robots

In a research project for the U.S. Army, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley developed an agile robot, called Salto that looks like a Star Wars Imperial walker in miniature and may be able to aid in scouting ...

Autonomous weed control via smart robots

Driving across Iowa, Hendrik J. Viljoen, distinguished professor of chemical and biological engineering at the University of Nebraska, noticed that soybean fields were becoming increasingly infested with weeds each season. ...

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