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Technologies 10

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• Circe: Tailored Fats for Food Applications
  The Problem Human society relies on an inefficient, carbon-intensive linear manufacturing process in which products are created, used, and discarded. This system produces large amounts of waste at every step that is not captured and reused, causing a significant loss of value and damage to the environment. Food production is responsible for one quarter of...
• Circe: Transforming Greenhouse Gases into Biodegradable Products
  Our society is built upon cheap, widely available petrochemicals. Beyond gasoline and other fuels, petrochemicals are primary components of many of the objects in our everyday lives, including clothing, cosmetics, electronics, packaging, paint, floors, cars, and furniture. The vast majority of these products do not biodegrade in the environment and are not recycled, and the...
• cold-SNAP: Eco-Friendly Air Conditioning
  As average global temperatures steadily climb, the worldwide demand for air conditioning is expected to triple by 2050. Conventional air conditioners, while now cheap to manufacture, still rely on low-efficiency mechanical vapor compression to cool and dehumidify air, making them one of the largest consumers of energy in industrialized countries. An alternative cooling method called...
• RAPID: Testing for Food Contaminants
  Contamination of food by microorganisms such as certain bacteria, viruses and fungi is a constant concern, with even miniscule amounts of certain species posing a risk for foods to become unsafe and spoiled during storage. Current safety and quality tests are often not sensitive enough to detect rare species, and because they first require the...
• milliDelta: Millimeter-Scale Delta Robot
  Delta robots are deployed in many industrial processes, including pick-and-place assemblies, machining, welding, and food packaging. Three individually controlled lightweight arms enable fast and accurate motion of an output platform in three directions. Roboticists have reduced the size of Delta robots for tasks in limited workspaces, but so far, using conventional manufacturing techniques and components,...
• HAMR: Versatile Crawling Microrobot
  Small or difficult-to-access spaces such as areas covered with rubble, or narrow pipes and engines can pose obstacles to search-and-rescue missions, repair works, or environmental and industrial monitoring. One solution for these problems could be small-sized robots that are able to navigate such spaces, transport payload, sense, and communicate. Wyss Institute researchers have developed a...

News 30

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• Research Spotlights
  
  Robotic swarm swims like a school of fish
  January 13, 2021
• Awards
  
  A Year in Review: 2020
  December 17, 2020
• Research Spotlights
  
  Marine sponges inspire the next generation of skyscrapers and bridges
  September 21, 2020

Events 1

• Oct 24, 2016,
  2:00pm - 3:00pm
  Wyss Event
  
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  Bioinspired Robots and Mechanisms: Embracing the Environment
  As we bring robots out of the laboratory and into the world at large, one of the most important lessons we learn from nature goes beyond how to tolerate, to also include how to exploit interactions with materials and surfaces in the environment.  Nature offers many examples of structures and functional materials that help to... Free and open to public

Multimedia 15

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  Video/Animation
  Circe: Using Microbes to Make Biodegradable Products
  Current manufacturing methods release harmful greenhouse gases and pollution, and many of the products produced do not biodegrade, damaging our ecosystems even further. What if we could turn greenhouse gases into biodegradable products? Researchers at the Wyss Institute are using synthetic biology to make this a reality. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University

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  Video/Animation
  Soft Robotic Gripper for Jellyfish 2.0
  Scientists from the Wyss Institute at Harvard University and CUNY have created ultra-soft robotic grippers that resemble fettuccini noodles to safely catch and release delicate underwater creatures like jellyfish without harm. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University

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  Video/Animation
  Romu: A Robot for Environmental Protection
  Researchers at the Wyss Institute have developed a robot designed to drive interlocking sheet piles into the ground to help stabilize soil. Teams of such robots could help combat erosion, restore damaged landscapes, and facilitate sustainable land management in a variety of settings. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard

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  Video/Animation
  Soft Robotic Arms: Giving Biologists a Delicate, Deep-sea Reach
  What good is a soft robotic hand without a soft robotic arm to move it? Wyss researchers have now created a soft, modular underwater arm that can help marine biologists study hard-to-reach organisms in the deep sea. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University

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  Audio/Podcast
  Disruptive: Soft Robotics for Deep Sea Exploration
  The deep ocean is the least explored environment on Earth, and scientists estimate that many thousands of species are yet to be encountered. Marine researchers depend on tools primarily developed for the military or the oil and gas industry to study and capture undersea organisms. Many of them are extremely fragile, some thousands of years...

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  Video/Animation
  3D-Printed Soft Grippers
  What’s the easiest way to pick up soft-bodied sea creatures? 3D-printed soft robots. Watch as an interdisciplinary team of marine biologists, engineers, and roboticists create custom-made soft grippers on-board the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s R/V Falkor, allowing them to safely sample many types of delicate sea life in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA). Credit: Wyss Institute...