GRASP Lab’s ModQuad Robots on Discovery Canada’s Daily Planet

Imagine if you had construction materials that could move on their own. You could assemble a bridge to a nearby island without ever touching the water, or build a structure on top of a mountain without having to climb it. Engineers in the GRASP Lab are working toward this vision.

Penn-developed Robots Cameo on The Daily Show

If you caught The Daily Show on March 7, you might have spotted a familiar four-legged robot taking part in a futuristic court case. The robot’s name is Minitaur, and as noted in Technically Philly it is the product of Penn spin-off Ghost Robotics. Minitaur, Ghost Robotics’ flagship robot, is designed to deal with unpredictable […]

Mark Yim is featured in Discovery’s “These Flying Robots Stick Together”

Penn Electric Racing is featured in Philly.com’s “Penn’s electric race car team seeks fourth title in four years”

Vivek Shenoy: Mathematical Models for the Mechanical Body

While they can seem imperfect on the surface, our bodies are in fact finely tuned machines. Joint surfaces glide effortlessly across one another. Tendons and muscles work together to control our movements, letting us run laps, hold conversations, scarf down cheesesteaks and play piano. This complex collection of biological levers, springs and pulleys is enough […]

Cellview Sciences Wins Y-Prize 2018

Each year, groups of students at the University of Pennsylvania pitch competing ideas on how to turn technology developed by Penn engineers into the next big thing. The winning team receives $10,000.

GRASP’s VIO-Swarm Flies on its Own

GRASP researchers Giuseppe Loianno, Aaron Weinstein and Adam Cho invited Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Tom Avril and photographer Tim Tai to check out their latest quadrotors. Dubbed VIO-Swarm, these flying robots use stereoscopic vision instead of GPS or external cameras to figure out where they are and where they’re going, opening up the possibility of using […]

Celia Reina Receives Eshelby Mechanics Award for Young Faculty

Celia Reina, William K. Gemmill Term Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, has been selected to receive the Eshelby Mechanics Award for Young Faculty. This award is given annually to emerging junior faculty who exemplify the creative use and development of mechanics. It includes a $1,500 cash prize and a […]

Adding a Twist Makes 3D-Printed Structures Tougher

Some mantis shrimp kill their prey with a hammer-like appendage called a dactyl club. Despite being an organism only a few inches long and weighing about as much as a deck of playing cards, the shrimp can throw shell-shattering punches at more than 50 miles per hour. If human engineers were to design a hammer […]

IEEE Spectrum: ‘Microdrones That Cooperate to Transport Objects Could Be Future of Warehouse Automation’

Following up on an earlier story about the GRASP lab’s new swarming technology that uses only onboard cameras and sensors, IEEE Spectrum’s Evan Ackerman checks back in with GRASP research scientist Giuseppe Loianno to talk about another advance.