Web sites

Web sites

Article Type: Web sites From: Industrial Robot: An International Journal, Volume 39, Issue 6

The BioRobotics Institute

www.sssup.it/ist_home.jsp?ID_LINK=10458&area=199

The BioRobotics Institute of Italy’s Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna covers the following areas of robotics, engineering, and mechatronics: Future and Emerging BioRobotics, Humanoid Robotics, Neuro-Robotics, Surgical Robotics, Soft Robotics, Neural Engineering, Creative Design, and Biomedical Signal Processing.

BioRobotics’ web site provides an introduction to this unique institute which promotes avant-garde studies and applied research leading to patents and the creation of spin offs. Governance, people, research, and education are some of the links featured in this developing site. The visitors look forward to seeing further details on some of the more than 30 projects.

Bio-Inspired Materials and Devices Laboratory

http://emdl.mse.vt.edu/index.html

The homepage for the Bio-Inspired Materials and Devices Laboratory (BMDL) at Virginia Polytechnica Institute and State University offers: an overview of its Lab which develops novel materials for unique applications, latest news, and nearly 20 related links.

The Research tab presents 20 different member research projects, including Humanlike skin and artificial muscles and Biomimetic jellyfish robotic, as well as research videos.

The rest of this interesting site contains pages on the Lab’s: people, international collaborations, and outreach activities.

Mechanics of Soft Materials Laboratory

http://ase.tufts.edu/msml/default.asp

The Mechanics of Soft Materials Laboratory (MSML) at Tufts University in Boston, MA, USA assesses the mechanical properties of a variety of soft materials using state-of-the-art testing equipment and expertise.

The lab hosts a dynamic homepage and provides further details on its seven current Research projects: the Inchworm Robotics Project; Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA), Muscle Performance in a Soft-Bodied Terrestrial Crawler, The Pseudo-Elastic Response of Rubberlike Solids, Mechanical Properties of Hydrogel Biopolymers, Nonlinear Magnetoelastic Deformations, and Nonlinear Electroelastic Deformations.

This well-designed site also contains links on the Lab’s: collaborators; publications; resources; funding sources; and news.

SynTouch

www.syntouchllc.com/

SynTouch LLC is a start-up technology business located in California, USA, that develops and manufactures tactile sensors for cutting-edge mechatronic systems.

SynTouch’s excellent and highly informative web site highlights its flagship product, the BioTac^®, a unique tactile sensor capable of acquiring information unavailable from any other commercially available tactile sensors. Other Products include the Barretthand and the Shadow Hand integration Kits.

The Technology Overview tab offers the user an interactive simulation of the BioTac biomimetic tactile sensor array’s three modalities in action: force, vibration, and temperature. Other areas covered under Technology are: sensing touch, force sensing, vibration sensing, thermal sensing, and publications.

The Research link consists of two projects funded by the US Government – Advanced Prosthetics and Tactile Object Discrimination. There is additional data on SynTouch’s clients, distributors, support, along with a helpful FAQ.

Artificial Muscle Research Initiative

www.artificialmuscles.org/

The Artificial Muscle Research Initiative (AMRI) was established by Regents Professor Mohsen Shahinpoor in 1996 and AMRI now resides at the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Maine, USA. The goals of the institute are to develop, design, fabricate, test, and commercialize medical and industrial and domestic products based on biomimetic electrically and/or chemically controllable polymeric artificial muscles, to be used in applications relating to industrial, medical, and domestic problems.

The web site is setup as one long page, but is a wealth of information. There are 40 videoclips of different artificial muscle applications, a list of milestone papers and patents on artificial muscles, and links to affiliated scientists and other collaborators, as well as a link to publications. The visitor can request complimentary samples of polymeric artificial muscles directly from Professor Shahinpoor.

Associations and OrganizationsEuropean Scientific Network for Artificial Muscles (ESNAM)

www.esnam.eu/