Category Technology/Electronics

Research by Cho and Yongping Zheng (pictured) focuses on the electrolyte catalysts inside the battery, which, when combined with oxygen, create chemical reactions that create battery capacity. Credit: Image courtesy of University of Texas at Dallas

Dr. Kyeongjae Cho, professor of materials science and engineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, has discovered new catalyst materials for lithium-air batteries that jumpstart efforts at expanding battery capacity. Lithium-air (or lithium-oxygen) batteries “breathe” oxygen from the air to power the chemical reactions that release electricity, rather than storing an oxidizer internally like lithium-ion batteries do...

E band transmitters with parabolic antenna. The installed integrated circuits achieve particularly high performance. Credit: © Photo Jörg Eisenbeis, KIT

Transmitting the contents of a conventional DVD in <10s by radio transmission is incredibly fast – and a new world record in wireless data transmission. With a data rate of 6 Gb/s over 37km, a collaborative project ACCESS (Advanced E Band Satellite Link Studies) with researchers from University of Stuttgart and Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF exceeded the state of the art by a factor of 10.

The team achieved the record data transmission on a stretch between Cologne and Wachtberg...

On-body test configuration. (a) A photograph of Chem–Phys hybrid patch. (b) Location of the Chem–Phys patch for mounting on the human body—the fourth intercostal space of the chest. (c) Cycling resistance profile for on-body tests. (d) Effect of amperometric measurement on the electrocardiogram signal before cycling (no sweat state) and during cycling (sweating state).

Engineers at the UC San Deigo have developed the first flexible wearable device capable of monitoring both biochemical and electric signals in the human body. The Chem-Phys patch records electrocardiogram (EKG) heart signals and tracks levels of lactate, a biochemical that is a marker of physical effort, in real time...

The RoboBee, pioneered at the Harvard Microrobotics Lab, uses an electrode patch and a foam mount that absorbs shock. The entire mechanism weighs 13.4 mg, bringing the total weight of the robot to about 100mg — similar to the weight of a real bee. The robot takes off and flies normally. When the electrode patch is supplied with a charge, it can stick to almost any surface, from glass to wood to a leaf. To detach, the power supply is simply switched off. Credit: Harvard Microrobotics Lab/Harvard University

New system extends the lives of flying microrobots. Call them the RoboBats. In a recent article in Science, Harvard roboticists demonstrate that their flying microrobots, nicknamed RoboBees, can now perch during flight to save energy – like bats, birds or butterflies...