Miniscule robotic drones might be the future, but they’ve been tricky to get off the ground. Until now, any wing-flapping insect robot had to have a power source, making it too heavy to lift off with its tiny wings. Now, however, researchers at the University of Washington have found a way to transmit power to a flying robotic insect (lovingly dubbed RoboFly) via laser, obviating the need for a separate power supply.
Posts Tagged 'laser'
RoboFly – Tiny Drone Powered By Laser Beams
Published May 18, 2018 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: drone, laser, RoboFly, robotic drone, robotics, science, University of Washington, Vikram Iyer
Laser-equipped Shoes Help Parkinson’s Patients Walk
Published January 5, 2018 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: gait freezing, laser, medicine, neurodegenerative, Parkinson, research, walking
Here’s an unexpected but pleasant little way tech might be able to improve a few lives: laser shoes. Yes, seriously. Shoes equipped with small laser emitters were shown in recent tests to help sufferers of Parkinson’s disease to walk normally.
Chocolate Now More Awesome – With Holograms
Published May 14, 2014 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: candy, chocolate, etching, food, gastronomy, gourmet, hologram, holographic, laser, Lausanne, Morphotonix, sweets, Switzerland, Veronica Savu
Why settle for a bar of boring old regular chocolate when you can chow down on the holographic variety instead? Morphotonix, a company based in Lausanne, Switzerland, has developed a way to imprint holograms on to chocolate – without using additives. Morphotonix etches the required structure into a master mould made from metal. This is then used to make plastic moulds that in turn shape the chocolate. Both dark and milk chocolate can be used, though the complex physics and chemistry of microstructures means the hologram won’t form on some varieties. “We have been testing it with many types of chocolate. Sometimes it works great and sometimes no matter how hard we try it doesn’t mould,” says Morphotonix CEO Veronica Savu.
Dancing Industrial Robots [video]
Published June 25, 2012 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: assembly line, Choreography, Dancing Industrial Robots, kawasaki spot welding robot, laser, light saber, music video, video
Scientists Create Living Laser From Human And Jellyfish Cells
Published June 13, 2011 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: biology, bioluminescent, doped crystals, green fluorescent protein, Harvard Medical School, laser, optical, research, science, semiconductors, technology
Building a laser requires two things: a lasing material that amplifies light from an external source (a ‘gain medium’) and an arrangement of mirrors (an ‘optical cavity’), which concentrates and aligns the light waves into a tight beam. Until now, the gain medium has only been made from non-biological substances such as doped crystals, semiconductors or gases, but in this case the researchers used enhanced green fluorescent protein (GFP) — the substance that makes jellyfish bioluminescent, which is used extensively in cell biology to label cells. The team engineered human embryonic kidney cells to produce GFP, then placed a single cell between two mirrors to make an optical cavity just 20 micrometres across. When they fed the cell pulses of blue light, it emitted a directional laser beam visible with the naked eye — and the cell wasn’t harmed. The width of the laser beam is “tiny” and “fairly weak” in its brightness compared to traditional lasers, says Yun, but “an order of magnitude” brighter than natural jellyfish fluorescence, with a “beautiful green” colour.
So Cool – Must Have – Lasers May Replace Auto Spark Plugs
Published April 24, 2011 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: automobile, Car engine, efficiency, Electro-Optics, internal combustion engine, laser, Spark Plug, Sparkplug, Star Wars
Car engines could soon be fired by lasers instead of spark plugs, researchers say. A team at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics will report on 1 May that they have designed lasers that could ignite the fuel/air mixture in combustion engines. The approach would increase efficiency of engines, and reduce their pollution, by igniting more of the mixture. The team is in discussions with a spark plug manufacturer.
Doctors Develope Suturing Laser
Published February 13, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: Israel, laser, medicine, science, Suturing Laser
“It’s science fiction made real,” a doctor from Tel Aviv University told Reuters, as he demonstrated how a new laser the university has developed is better than stitching up a patient. The laser allows a wound to be welded shut as opposed to sutured, which makes it far more watertight and there’s less tearing. It’s done by very carefully controlling the temperature of the beam, and Israeli patients treated with the laser have already enjoyed faster healing times and less scarring.
This appears to be truly revolutionary. See a video about it HERE.