Process Engineering

The Robosoft company in Bidart (Lapurdi/Labourd) makes and markets robots that are programmed according to the requirements of the customer. These customised devices – robots – carry out numerous tasks that, in general, are laborious for us – lugging heavy loads around, cleaning chores, handling very small objects, and so on. The size and shape of each robot is distinct, according to the task(s) assigned it.

What is manufactured is a robot that is something like a train – it serves as a mean

The main objective of the Dressman robot is to dry and press shirts. On placing a damp shirt on the ironing figure, this dummy inflates with hot air in its interior, and thus puffs the shirt up, removing creases drying the garment (it has to be previously wet and undergone a spin-dry in a washing machine).

The device has a heater box inside with a number of different resistance elements. While we are placing the shirt on it, this box stores up heat in such a way that, when the garment is pos

Microarrays, sometimes called “gene chip” devices, enable researchers to monitor the activities of thousands of genes from a single tissue sample simultaneously, identifying patterns that may be novel indicators of disease status. But generating consistent, verifiable results is difficult because of a lack of standards to validate these analyses, scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and collaborators warn in the May 20 online issue of Clinical Chemistry.

An improved method for correcting nano- and micro-scale friction measurements has been developed by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The new technique should help designers produce more durable micro- and nano-devices with moving parts, such as tiny motors, positioning devices or encoders.

Friction measurements made at the micro- and nano-scale can differ substantially due to changes in applied load. In a series of experiments described by nanotribol

The Department of Homeland Security is backing research on lab-on-a-chip sensors that might guard the nation’s food supply better than the current system of tamper-resistant lids and freshness dates.

Whitaker investigator David Beebe, Ph.D., of the University of Wisconsin-Madison has developed a process to make on-demand, miniature sensors for a wide variety of poisons, including naturally occurring contaminants and intentionally introduced toxins.

The sensors can be constructe

Devin Balkcom, a student in Carnegie Mellon University’s doctoral program in robotics, was looking for a challenge when he decided to develop the world’s first origami-folding robot as the subject of his thesis. Origami, the ancient Japanese art of paper sculpture, looks deceptively simple at first glance.

“It’s something we humans can do well, but we don’t understand the mechanical details,” said Balkcom. “Because a five-year-old child can learn to fold origami, we assu