DAILY INNOVATION BRIEF by Edward Kane, Journalist

DAILY INNOVATION BRIEF

By Journalists Edward Kane & Maryanne Kane

MIT SCIENTISTS CREATE MUSCLES FOR ROBOTS

Source: MIT & Stock

A team of scientists at MIT have created lab grown muscles for grafting onto robots. This appears to be a breakthrough in the effort to develop robots that mimic humans. Here are some key facts:

Scientists at MIT CSAIL along with Harvard's Wyss Institute have created origami-inspired artificial muscles for soft robots
The muscles add strength and "superpowers" to the robots
With the muscles, the robots are able to lift objects 1000-times their weight
1 of the team's 2.6 gram muscles can lift a 3-kilogram object - that's the equivalent of a duck lifting a car
It takes 10 minutes to make the muscle
Requires less than $1.00 worth of material
They're cheap and easy to test and replicate
The team says they can coat robots with the muscles
They say the muscles give robots flexible motor control and human-like senses
The muscles can self-heal from scratches
This innovative research is being funded by DARPA and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.

SINGAPORE'S WATER ROBOTS CLEANING WATERWAYS

Source: Weston Robot

The island nation of Singapore has long had a water pollution problem. Now, new 5G water robots are cleaning up the pollution and not emitting carbon emissions. Here are some key facts:

For many years, Singapore has been using gas-powered boats to clean the garbage in its waterways
Now 5-G powered, autonomous robots are doing the job with greatly reduced carbon emissions
They're called Weston Robots and are made by Weston Robot of Singapore
By replacing the boats with 5G robots, they're cutting carbon emissions by 80%
The robots are equipped with camaras and sensors to spot pollution
To do the cleanup they're remotely controlled over the 5G network
It's a 5G robotic approach to cleaning the water without polluting.

NEW TRAVEL VEHICLE - AIRLANDER

Source: HAV

From the UK, a new innovation in travel vehicles - the Airlander, which is part plane, part airship and green. Here's what we know:

Created by the UK's Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV)
This is the world's largest aircraft at 303' long
It's successfully completed 6 test flights
Combines airship and fixed wing aircraft technology
Can carry 100 passengers or 10 tons of cargo
Company is developing a totally electric version of the aircraft
Appears likely to start delivering cargo to the Hebrides, Orkny and Shetland regions of the UK
Company is doing extensive research on beginning operations with those routes
Research is showing a fleet of Airlanders could provide 79% more air freight capacity to the regions.

For more stories like this, FLIGHT PATH TO THE FUTURE

Important Innovations Collection