futuretech – TechieTonics

Plant-inspired Controller for Robotic Arms: Biomimicry

June 6, 2023June 6, 2023 Pooja Kashyap

Biomimicry is the practice of imitating biological systems and processes. So far, it has been a valuable approach in robotics. By copying animals’ designs, engineers have tried to replicate billions of years of evolution. It has resulted in highly efficient and adaptable designs that nature has already passed on to. For instance, energy-efficient walking patterns inspired by animal gaits or bio inspired vision systems or lizard inspired four-legged robot.

An Organic Electrochemical Transistor: AI Hardware

June 5, 2023June 5, 2023 Pooja Kashyap

Lately, there has been growing interest in creating brain-inspired hardware for enhancing efficiency of AI models. Conventional hardware architectures are specialized in three specific tasks, which are: Researches across the globe, however, are exploring the possibility of combining these functionalities into a single device. They aim to mimic the parallel and distributed nature of the human brain.

Artificial Skin to Mimic Sensory Feedback of Biological Skin: E-Skin talking to Brain

May 22, 2023May 22, 2023 Pooja Kashyap

Researchers at Stanford University have created a special kind of electronic skin that can sense things like heat and pressure and send signals to the brain. Electronic skin has been around for a while, but in the past, the devices used to convert these sensations into signals were bulky and inflexible. However, the new electronic skin is as soft and thin as real skin.

Bio-Inspired Device that Mimics Human Eye: Artificial Vision Systems

May 15, 2023May 15, 2023 Pooja Kashyap

Inspired by the natural design of our retinas, scientists at Penn State have created a sensor array using narrowband perovskite photodetectors to replicate the function of our cone cells. Cone cells in our eyes are responsible for color vision. And they are sensitive to red, green, and blue light wavelengths.

Antineutrinos Detected at SNO+ Collaboration: Water Cherenkov Detector

April 12, 2023April 12, 2023 Pooja Kashyap

Antineutrinos falls under the category of elusive particles. They are extremely difficult to detect due to their weak interaction with matter. These exotic particles have the same properties as neutrinos but with opposite charges. And have very little mass.

Piezoelectric Effect observed in Ionic Liquids: Pressure Electricity

April 3, 2023April 3, 2023 Pooja Kashyap

Certain materials like crystals, ceramics, and at times even biological matter (bone, DNA, and proteins), can generate an electrical charge. The effect is seen when the material is put under the influence of some mechanical stress – such as pressure or vibration – this phenomenon is termed as piezoelectricity. The charge is accumulated on the surface of the material. From there, it can be used for various applications.

Zinc Batteries for Sustainable Development: The New Hybrid Electrolyte

March 28, 2023March 28, 2023 Pooja Kashyap

Zinc batteries have been explored as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries for large-scale energy storage since long. Zinc-based batteries is preferred over li-ion batteries because it is abundant, low-cost, and environmentally friendly compared to other metals. However, their efficiency has been limited due to issues with the zinc metal anode. However, with the recent development of a new electrolyte that improves the efficiency of the zinc metal anode to nearly 100%, researchers envision that it could make zinc batteries a viable alternative.

Platform for Building Quantum Networks: Entanglement of Trapped-ion

February 6, 2023February 6, 2023 Pooja Kashyap

The researchers at the University of Innsbruck and the Université Paris-Saclay have developed a method for linking multiple quantum systems by trapping atoms in optical cavities. And then transferring the quantum information to light particles which can then be sent through optical fibers. They have successfully entangled two trapped ions located more than a few meters apart for the first time.

Wearable Electrotactile Feedback System: Skin VR

December 29, 2022December 29, 2022 Pooja Kashyap

Haptic systems are mainly designed to control virtual objects. Their efficacy is good, but when it comes to controllers, joysticks, and steering wheels, things look slightly bulky. And tangled wires is another task to deal with. Researchers at City University of Hong Kong have come up with a portable solution to enhance the tactile VR experience.

Microbial Miners to Colonize the Moon and Mars: Biomimetic Mining

December 13, 2022December 13, 2022 Pooja Kashyap

Evolutionary biological processes take time but what if we introduce microbial catalysis to the system? The phenomenon of how cyanobacteria obtain nutrients for its survival from rocks in Atacama Desert inspired an international team of collaborators from University of California and Johns Hopkins University to consider the microbes as tools that may help humans to develop colonies on the moon and Mars.

Butterfly Robots with Bistable Wings: Biomimicry

November 24, 2022January 11, 2023 Pooja Kashyap

In an effort to create faster and more energy-efficient soft robots, researchers at North Carolina State University have created a prototype of swimming soft robots based on manta rays. The team got inspired from the biomechanics of the marine animal. Rate of swimming for most of the (swimming) soft robot is one body length per second, manta rays, however, glide at much faster rate. Their swimming efficiency triggered the scientists to look into the potentiality of creating a similar robot, biomechanically.

Ceramic based Micro Glucose Fuel Cells: Implantable Power Sources

May 17, 2022May 17, 2022 Pooja Kashyap

In the coming two decades, nanotechnology will surely touch the lives of nearly all people across globe. As technology progresses, we will experience next generation sensors embedded in all things that we use, including our clothes, kitchen and within ourselves. Yes, IoT is coming here to stay. So, the next question is what will be the efficient power source for these devices, especially the implantable sensors and drug-delivery systems? Researchers at MIT have paved a way for glucose powered medical implants. With their newly designed glucose fuel cell, they are…

Tattoo like Sensors to Reveal Blood Oxygen Levels: Silk based Biomaterials

May 12, 2022May 12, 2022 Pooja Kashyap

Soft skin sensors are beginning to transform the health care industry. We can surely predict that within a decade, people will be wearing skin sensors to detect the blood glucose level, oxygen level and to track other different blood components which currently require an incision. Researchers at Tufts University have developed a tattoo-like sensor that glows when exposed to light. The degree of brightness depends on the level of oxygen in blood. Silk fibroin hydrogel The sensor is made up of silk fibroin hydrogel. Fibroin is an insoluble protein that…

China’s Particle Collider to Gear up: A Future Higgs Factory

May 4, 2022May 4, 2022 Pooja Kashyap

To explore more exotic particles, Beijing Electron Positron Collider (BEPC), the particle-physics lab, is undertaking a major re-equipping. The work is expected to complete by 2024. Dubbed as BEPCII-U, the new version will not only triple the current collision rate but it’ll also extend the maximum collision energy to 5.6 GeV from the existing 2–5 GeV. With the plans underway for next-generation collider, China might head the world in high-energy physics research.

Insulation-free Magnet to Facilitate Development of Fusion Power Plant: Superconductors

March 7, 2022March 7, 2022 Pooja Kashyap

Replicating fusion on earth is one of the things that scientists globally look forward to. Once they are able to reach a state through which fusion could be created, we might get virtually inexhaustible supply of power to generate electricity.