Mark Yim, Asa Whitney Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, has seen any number of innovative robots walk, fly, hop, roll and otherwise propel themselves about the GRASP Lab, where he serves as Ruzena Bajcsy Director. But the lab’s latest creation is, quite literally, its coolest yet: it’s made out of ice.
IceBot’s structural components are made out of ice, which could be cut and shaped to specification in remote environments. (Image: Penn Engineering Today)
ModLab, Yim’s own group within the GRASP Lab, focuses on modular robotic systems. These robots can reconfigure themselves on the fly to adapt to new environments or tasks. Some are composed of identical units that can link up in different ways, such as the flying ModQuads or rolling SMORES-EP, but what happens when those units are themselves not suited to a given job?
Working alongside Yim, graduate student and ModLab member Devin Carroll recently proposed an innovative solution: making those units out of blocks of ice. Such a robot could be deployed to the antarctic or even an icy extraterrestrial planet, two places where custom parts or repairs would be especially hard to come by.
When the Schuylkill swallowed the city: Lessons from Hurricane Ida’s historic flood
New Penn research shows that Hurricane Ida wasn’t a once-in-a-century anomaly but a preview of how climate change, urbanization, and aging infrastructure are rewriting flood risk.
The Fed explained: What it does and why it matters
Former Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker and financial historian Peter Conti-Brown, both Wharton professors, unpack the central bank’s origins, its unusual structure, and the quiet ways it shapes the economy
How population changes are impacting primary education worldwide
Research from Penn sociologist Emily Hannum and colleagues reveals regional trends in whether school-age populations are increasing, plateauing, or decreasing—and shows how different countries are responding.
A bioengineered bean gum from the lab of Penn Dental’s Henry Daniell is found to reduce the levels of three microbes associated with head and neck squamous cell cancer to almost zero, without affecting the beneficial bacteria normally found in the mouth.
Fighting oral cancer with bioengineered chewing gum
Research led by Penn Dental’s Henry Daniell shows that antiviral and antibacterial chewing gums reduce the levels of three microbes linked to worse outcomes in oral cancers, paving the way for more effective and affordable therapies.
