University of Tokyo

A remarkable group of drone prototypes from a team at the University of Tokyo takes multirotor complexity to the next level. These hypnotic flying robots are able to change their structural shape mid-air, creating some unprecedented capabilities.

When crossing the road in front of a car, pedestrians should make eye contact with the driver, to make sure they've been seen. However, what if the car has no driver? New research suggests that the vehicle should then have eyes of its own.

We've been hearing a lot about synthetic skins made for robotic hands, which would give the devices human-like qualities. Scientists in Japan have gone a step further, by covering a robotic finger in a self-healing skin made from live human cells.

A new type of desalination membrane uses a series of nanoscale tubes lined with a Teflon-inspired material that repels salts while allowing water to flow through with little friction. The team says it's fast, and requires little pressure and energy.

The movements of the Sun, Moon and stars have long been used to keep track of time, and now engineers from the University of Tokyo have proposed a new way to use the cosmos to precisely track time, using showers of particles from cosmic rays.

Red wine and chocolate are notorious for staining clothes, thanks to the tannic acid that they contain. Scientists at the University of Tokyo have now used that acid in a textile coating which keeps clothes from stinking, and that doesn't wash out.

Concrete is the most widely used building material in the world, but it comes at a huge environmental cost. Engineers in Japan have developed a new technique to make concrete by recycling waste concrete and combining it with captured carbon dioxide.

Widespread wireless charging could one day keep our devices juiced up indefinitely. A new breakthrough has been made in that direction, as researchers in Japan have developed a system that can turn a whole room into a wireless charger.

It sounds like the premise of a comedy sketch, but researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed a way to recycle food scraps into construction materials that are stronger than concrete, yet remain edible and tasty.

Although there are rigs that allow gamers to walk on the spot while their avatar walks in a VR environment, such setups tend to be large and complex. A new system, however, simulates walking simply by buzzing the seated user's feet.

The cement used to make concrete carries quite a carbon footprint. Now, scientists at the University of Tokyo have created a cement-free alternative that directly bonds sand particles together using a reaction between alcohol and a catalyst.

Scientists in Japan have produced a plastic with the highest heat resistance ever reported, and done so by using natural materials as the building blocks, paving the way toward greener production for the omnipresent material.