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Technologies 7

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• 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...
• Millimeter-scale Delta robot (milliDelta)
  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,...
• Versatile Ambulatory Microrobots
  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...
• Nanoarchitectures for air purification
  Illnesses caused by air pollution are the third-leading cause of death in developing nations, and over 5 million people worldwide die every year from air pollution exposure. Catalytic converters, the most widely used air purification devices, convert the toxic gases and pollutants produced by fuel combustion into benign chemicals before the exhaust is released into...
• Shrilk Biodegradable Plastic
  Wyss Institute researchers have developed a fully degradable bioplastic by isolating a material called chitosan found in shrimp shells and forming a laminate with silk fibroin protein that mimics the microarchitecture of natural insect cuticle. The new material, called “Shrilk”, can be used to manufacture objects without the environmental threat posed by conventional synthetic plastics,...
• Programmable Robot Swarms
  Collective behaviors enable animals like ants to achieve remarkable, colony-level feats through the distributed actions of millions of independent agents. These collective behaviors are inspiring engineers at the Wyss Institute to build simple mobile robots that harness the demonstrated power of the swarm, performing collective tasks like transporting large objects or autonomously building human-scale structures....

News 18

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• Awards Joanna Aizenberg elected member of National Academy of Engineering
  February 12, 2019
• Press Release Microscopic “sunflowers” for better solar panels
  December 4, 2018
• Press Release No more Iron Man: submarines now have soft, robotic arms
  October 3, 2018

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 12

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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...

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  Video/Animation
  HAMR: Robotic Cockroach for Underwater Explorations
  This video shows how the HAMR can transition from land to water, paddle on the surface of water, or sink to the ground to start walking again just as it would on dry land. Credit: Yufeng Chen, Neel Doshi, and Benjamin Goldberg/Harvard University

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  Video/Animation
  Catalytic Nanoarchitectures for Clean Air
  The Wyss Institute is developing a new type of coating for catalytic converters that, inspired by the nanoscale structure of a butterfly’s wing, can dramatically reduce the cost and improve the performance of air purification technologies, making them more accessible to all.  Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University  

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  Video/Animation
  Fouling Marine Fouling
  Marine fouling occurs when organisms attach themselves to underwater objects like boats, rope, pipes and building structures. Mussels are one of the biggest culprits. Once attached, they are difficult to remove, leading to operational downtime, increased energy use and damage. Paints and coatings are currently used to prevent marine fouling, but are frequently toxin-based and not...