Imagine an edible optical sensor that could be placed in produce bags to detect harmful levels of bacteria and consumed right along with the veggies. Or an implantable device that would monitor glucose in your blood for a year, then dissolve.
Scientists at Tufts University’s School of Engineering have demonstrated for the first time that it is possible to design such “living” optical elements that could enable an entirely new class of sensors.
You don’t need a wine expert to identify a ‘74 Pinot Noir from Burgundy – a handheld “electronic tongue” devised by European scientists will tell you the grape variety and vintage at the press of a button.
Designed for quality control in the field, the device is made up of six sensors which detect substances characteristic of a certain wine variety. Components such as acid, sugar and alcohol can be measured by this detection, and from these parameters it can determine the age and variety of the wine.
A puppet with robotic features, Heart Robot is covered with sensors that respond to movement and touch. It responds to loud noises and agitation by appearing to become more anxious – it tenses up and its heart beats faster, while as its environment becomes less worrying, it relaxes and calms down.
The Heart Robot project has brought together researchers from the Bristol Robotics Laboratory at the University of West England (UWE), circus performers, artists, model makers, puppeteers and experts in animatronics.
Engineers at the University of Kitakyushu, have developed ‘Tai-robot-kun’, a 7kg robotic sea bream covered with realistic-looking hand-painted scales.
The robotic fish features a propulsion system that allows it to move its tail and drift silently through the water like a real fish. It can swim for an hour on a full battery charge, and relies on a ballast system, similar to that used in a submarine, to adjust its depth and buoyancy.
According to University of Kitakyushu professor Ikuo Yamamoto, the robot can easily be mass produced, fitted with various cameras and sensors, and released into the sea to perform a range of oceanographic survey tasks, without alarming sea life.
Robots that can understand grief or happiness or anger, could soon become a reality with technology currently being developed by Felix Growing.
According to the company, software will allow the robot to learn when a person is feeling a certain way. Using cameras and sensors, the robots will be able to detect several variables from the human including their facial expression, voice, and tone. It will then combine the factors to determine what mood the person is in.
Companies and research institutes are developing a vest that will read muscle tension and deduce stress levels at any given time, as part of the EU-funded CONTEXT project.
‘Wearable electronics’ are at the core of the vest. Sensors woven into fabric register the electrical excitation of muscle fibres, while thin conducting metallic fibres pass the signals to an electronic analysis system.
Human muscle tension changes with stress levels – the greater the stress, the more likely the muscles are to produce a synchronous twitching effect. Although this is barely perceptible, the electrodes register the change.
Individuals with severe disabilities could lead more independent lives with the help of an assistive technology developed by engineers at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
To operate the Tongue Drive system, potential users only need to be able to move their tongues.
Maysam Ghovanloo, an assistant professor at the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, who helped develop the device, explained: “We chose the tongue to operate the system because unlike hands and feet, which are controlled by the brain through the spinal cord, the tongue is directly connected to the brain by a cranial nerve that generally escapes damage in severe spinal cord injuries or neuromuscular diseases.
“Tongue movements are also fast, accurate and do not require much thinking, concentration or effort.”
A motorised quasi robotic suit could soon be helping disabled people to sit down, stand up, walk about, and even climb stairs.
ReWalk, developed at by Israel-based Argo Medical Technologies, provides user-initiated mobility - using advanced motion sensors, sophisticated robotic control algorithms, on-board computers, real-time software, actuation motors, tailored rechargeable batteries and composite materials.
Users walk with the assistance of crutches, controlling suit movement through subtle changes in centre of gravity and upper-body movements. In addition to simplifying suit control, this user participation in mobility brings tangible health benefits.
Problems with the urinary, respiratory, cardiovascular and digestive systems, as well as osteoporosis, pressure sores are all common side affects of prolonged wheelchair use. By keeping users upright on a daily basis, and exercising even paralysed limbs, ReWalk alleviates many of the health-related problems associated with long-term wheelchair use.
To help scientists collect the more detailed data they need in order to find out why the world’s ice shelves are melting, without risking scientists’ safety, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, in conjunction with Pennsylvania State University, have created specially designed robots called SnoMotes to traverse these potentially dangerous ice environments.
The SnoMotes work as a team, autonomously collaborating among themselves to cover all the necessary ground to gather assigned scientific measurements. Data gathered by the Snomotes could give scientists a better understanding of the important dynamics that influence the stability of ice sheets.
Ayanna Howard, lead on the project and an associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech, explained: “In order to say with certainty how climate change affects the world’s ice, scientists need accurate data points to validate their climate models. Our goal was to create rovers that could gather more accurate data to help scientists create better climate models. It’s definitely science-driven robotics.”
A puppet with robotic features, 
Robots that can understand grief or happiness or anger, could soon become a reality with technology currently being developed by 
Companies and research institutes are developing a vest that will read muscle tension and deduce stress levels at any given time, as part of the EU-funded 
Individuals with severe disabilities could lead more independent lives with the help of an assistive technology developed by engineers at the 
A motorised quasi robotic suit could soon be helping disabled people to sit down, stand up, walk about, and even climb stairs.
To help scientists collect the more detailed data they need in order to find out why the world’s ice shelves are melting, without risking scientists’ safety, researchers at the 
