Machine

Using biowaste from cassava plants, scientists have created a coating that virtually eliminates friction in metal parts. The breakthrough has the potential to deliver better fuel economy and deliver enormous savings in myriad industries.

From dog sleds to horse-drawn carts, animals have been pulling vehicles for thousands of years. Now, scientists in Tokyo have made what might be the smallest version ever, designing microscopic vehicles that can be pulled by single-celled algae.

A fruit fly's pinhead-sized brain is not the place you'd expect find inspiration for new robotics. But in a bold move, researchers have built a speedy robot with a 'brain' based on the insect's low-energy, highly efficient navigational neural network.

These little-known machines have to rank as some of the greatest sandpit toys in history. Walking spider excavators offer an extraordinary range of capabilities through their articulating, extending legs, stabilizers, tilting wheels, and buckets.

In many fields of technology, smaller is better, and machinery is now getting so tiny it’s measured in mere atoms. Researchers at the University of Erlangen–Nuremberg in Germany have now developed the world’s smallest working gear wheels.

Visitors to The Dali Museum will now be greeted by a digitally resurrected simulation of Salvador Dali. Created using machine learning and deepfake technologies, this digital Dali is programmed to communicate in novel ways from commenting on the day’s weather to taking a selfie with museum patrons.

Paper engineer Robert Sabuda has teamed up with the Leonardo da Vinci Robot Society to create the Drawmaton drawing machine that's based on a rumor, that da Vinci's so-called Robot Knight coudl not only sit, stand and hug guests at parties, but could also draw.

​A collective of human right groups have called for ethical frameworks to be established that can guide the development of machine learning algorithms to ensure discrimination does not become embedded into new artificial intelligence technologies.

For his entry in a cake decorating, sugarcraft and baking competition, Martin Raynsford decided to make an edible version of his laser cut marble machine kit. The Edible Marble Machine worked well and managed to attract the judges' attention to take home a prize.

Neil Mendoza's Rock Band is a set of electromechanical instruments that make sounds when genuine rocks are thrown at the them.​ For its first public outing, the machine was set up to play The Beatles "Here Comes the Sun" - but maybe Rollin' Stone by Muddy Waters would have been more appropriate.

Few of us these days have the time to break out the teapot and make a proper brew, so we resort to tea bags plonked in a mug of hot water. But who wants to waste energy on dunking when a machine can do it for you? That's precisely what Dorian Damon's Tea Dunker does ... rather loudly.

A team of Philadelphia University freshmen were recently tasked with creating a visual showpiece machine based on a painting which incorporated da Vincian thought processes. They built a cranked machine where sections of a topographical map are slowly raised when the handle is turned.