Robots, soccer and the staying power of Short Circuit - Scientists & Engineers on Sofas

Soccer aficionado and RoboCup champion DARwin-OP and robotics expert Alex Leonessa recently sat down with Thi Le in the NSF library to talk about robots of all kinds, and discuss how research in robotics could help do much more than just build better robots.

DARwIn-OP, which stands for Dynamic Anthropomorphic Robot with IntelligenceOpen Platform, and Leonessa, NSF program director for General & Age-Related Disabilities Engineering, both participated in local National Robotics Week events, which are designed to celebrate and spread awareness of robotics technology.

Created at Virginia Tech with NSF funding, DARwIn-OP is an 18-inch-tall humanoid robot designed to help roboticists experiment with new software and hardware approaches.

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Caltech Engineers Build Smart Petri Dish

Caltech engineers have built an ePetri dish - a compact, small, lens-free microscopy imaging platform. It can directly track the cell culture or bacteria culture within the incubator. The data from the ePetri dish automatically transfers to a computer outside the incubator by a cable connection. This technology can significantly streamline and improve cell culture experiments by cutting down on human labor and contamination risks.

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