Animal shaped morphing robots can deliver cancer drugs precisely where they’re needed
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Cancer is notoriously hard to target and kill, and often the drugs used to treat it simply flood peoples bodies and create awful side effects. Targeted drugs are not only better but they’re more effective and safer too. Love the Exponential Future? Join our...
This new shape shifting material responds to light
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Materials form the foundation of every product and thing in the universe, so the more kinds of materials we have the more possibilities we have. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. The...
Uber’s breakthrough problem solving AI learns by creating then solving its own problems
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Solving problems is hard and requires a different set of skills – human skills. Now Uber’s AI is getting those same skills, but in an exponential way. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Imagine an Artificial Intelligence (AI)...
Harvard’s new multi-material 3D printer makes printing soft robots faster and easier
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Many 3D printers still only print one material, or at best switch between different materials very slowly, this new printer therefore opens up a host of new use cases. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. 3D printers are...
Gallium “heartbeat” discovery gives re-configurable electronics a boost
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today’s electronics are static, but tomorrow’s electronics will be able to re-configure themselves automatically as needed. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. A drop of liquid gallium will oscillate like a beating heart when placed inside a ring-shaped...
Revolutionary polymorphic liquid metal paves the way for shape shifting robots
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Our ability to create robots that can shape shift and change their shape is a matter of when, not if, and we’re getting closer. Between the US Pentagon’s use of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) to defend its critical systems from attack, DARPA’s proposal to...
BMW and MIT create the world’s first 3D printed inflatable material
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to 3D print materials with different and unique properties opens up a whole new range of use cases and applications, from car design to implanted medical devices, to soft robots and beyond. A two year collaboration between BMW and MIT has produced...
Fantastic self-healing material regenerates after suffering “catastrophic damage”
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are lots of dangerous industrial applications, and other use cases, where equipment of all kinds suffer extreme wear and tear, this new material could extend the life of products by multiples of time. The idea of creating self-repairing machines has been a popular...
Stab these soft robots and they’ll self-heal instantly
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Materials are an integral part of many products, and ones that can self-heal will help extend the life and usefulness of the products they’re used to make. Robots already seem to have a great bag of tricks to draw on. They can balance, run,...
New synthetic muscle breakthrough will create better, nimbler robots
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF We know robots are strong, but now a new synthetic muscle breakthrough means that one day they’ll be dexterous too, and that means another set of jobs could be automated. This week a group of researchers from the Columbia University announced that they’ve managed to...
