Darn you, R2! When can we blame robots?
A recent study finds that people are likely to blame robots for workplace accidents, but only if they believe the robots are autonomous.
Read moreEngineering
Giving robots a faster grasp
Engineers have found a way to significantly speed up the planning process required for a robot to adjust its grasp on an object by pushing that object against a stationary surface. Whereas traditional algorithms would require tens of minutes for planning out a sequence of motions, the new team's approach shaves this planning process down to less than a second.
Read moreNew augmented reality system lets smartphone users get hands-on with virtual objects
A new augmented reality system places virtual objects within real-world backgrounds on cell phone screens and lets people interact with those object by hand as if they were really there.
Read moreClingfish biology inspires better suction cup
A team of engineers and marine biologists built a better suction cup inspired by the mechanism that allows the clingfish to adhere to both smooth and rough surfaces. Researchers reverse engineered the clingfish's suction disk and developed devices that cling well to wet and dry objects both in an out of water. The devices can hold up to hundreds of times their own weight.
Read moreAssembler robots make large structures from little pieces
Systems of tiny robots may someday build high-performance structures, from airplanes to space settlements.
Read moreSecretive targets for CEO bonus pay signal poor performance
Investors need to pay closer attention to the non-financial measures linked to CEO cash bonuses, because targets that are not disclosed, or undefined, in annual reports are associated with worse company performance down the track, new research reveals.
Read moreFrom ribbon to scroll: Gaining shape control by electrostatics
New insights into how the molecular organization of charged molecules can be regulated to transform large-scale structures from ribbons to scroll-like cochleate structures could inform future drug-delivery strategies.
Read moreCreating miracles with polymeric fibers
Scientists are studying the fabrication of polymeric nanofibers and microfibers — very thin fibers made up of polymers. The fibers can be woven into textile-like structures but depending on the use, different fiber thicknesses may be necessary. To study the effects of various parameters on fiber fabrication, the researchers compared the characteristics of fibers created in different ways.
Read morePhysicists shed new light on how liquids behave with other materials
Using a range of theoretical and simulation approaches, physicists have shown that liquids in contact with substrates can exhibit a finite number of classes of behavior and identify the important new ones.
Read moreOscillation assisted 3D printing renders ultrafast fabrication of microlens array
An oscillation assisted digital light processing (DLP) based 3D printing approach is developed to enable ultrafast fabrication of microlens arrays with optically smooth surface (1 nm surface roughness) via a single 1-3 seconds exposure of grayscale UV light.
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