Mechanical Engineering

Remembering the past while looking forward

As the nation celebrates the Apollo 11 mission, a look at Penn’s connection to the historic event and how the Moon impacts science, politics, and culture.

‘Robotic blood’ powers and propels synthetic lionfish

Combining different functional components that are normally compartmentalized can lead to both powerful and lightweight future robots. A new paper by James Pikul highlights the success of a robotic lionfish that combines energy storage and movement through the use of a hydraulic liquid referred to as “robotic blood.”

This freaky robotic fish is powered by ‘blood’

James Pikul of the School of Engineering and Applied Science co-authored a study in which researchers developed a soft, robotic lionfish powered by a blood-like compound. “This robot blood is our first demonstration of storing energy in a fluid that is normally only used for actuation,” he said.

A new way to fly, built up from the nanoscale

Super-thin “nanocardboard” can levitate using only the power of light, opening the door to tiny flying machines with no moving parts.

For Philly Tech Week, a showcase for cutting-edge robots

Penn students, faculty, and affiliated entrepreneurs showed off their latest legged robots, drones, automated driving systems, and more at the Pennovation Center as part of the annual celebration of the tech industry in Philadelphia.

At Weiss Tech House, a race from idea to prototype in one semester

The student-run incubator hosted its first hardware accelerator this spring, offering cash, mentoring, and access to specialized equipment to four teams.

The microbots are on their way

Marc Miskin of the School of Engineering and Applied Science spoke about his cell-sized microbots, which may one day be used for a variety of purposes ranging from measuring brain networks to cleaning cellphone batteries.

Applying machine learning to materials science

Machine learning and artificial intelligence are applied to an increasing number of tasks, But using machine learning in materials science, which attempts to design and make materials for use in future technologies, has proven to be more difficult.

Not ‘a snowball’s chance in you-know-where’: The $1.2 billion King of Prussia rail line is a longshot

Vukan Vuchic of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences said the probability of advancing a King of Prussia train line proposal “strongly depends on who controls the U.S. House and Senate. I think elections next year will be drastically important.”

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