Collaborate Disseminate
Flexible robotic surgical devices show a lot of promise, as they’re able to move through delicate parts of the body without causing damage. And thanks to a new system, it could soon be cheaper, safer and easier to track where they are within the patien… Continue reading Low-cost tech uses magnets to track surgical robots
In early November 2018, while many of the big players in the smartphone world were still feeding the rumor mill about a new generation of folding phones, little known Chinese company Royole launched one called the FlexPai. Now Royole has announced its … Continue reading Royole improves folding display for next generation FlexPai smartphone
When it comes to locking your bike securely, a U-lock is pretty much the best way to go. The things are heavy, though, plus their rigid shackles can’t be bent to pass around thick poles or other obstacles. That’s where the Litelok Flexi-U Silver is des… Continue reading Litelok brings the bendiness with Flexi-U lock
Concrete is the world’s most widely-used building material thanks to its incredible strength – but it doesn’t stand up well against bending. Now, researchers at Swinburne University have developed a new type of concrete that can not only bend better, b… Continue reading Bendable concrete goes cement-free to cut environmental footprint
Robots move along in all kinds of different ways. Some walk on legs, others roll on wheels, and some crawl on tracks. At some point though, they’ll encounter an obstacle and the RCTR from Israel’s Ben Gurion University tackles this by rising up and tru… Continue reading Tracked robot rises up to tackle obstacles
Back in March, the call went out: take your wiggliest, floppiest, most dimensionally compliant idea, and show us how it would be better if only you could design it around a flexible PCB. We weren’t even looking for a prototype; all we needed was an idea with perhaps a sketch, …read more
Continue reading These Projects Bent Over Backward to Win the Flexible PCB Contest
German researchers have a line on 3D printed circuitry, but with a twist. Using silver nanowires and a polymer, they’ve created flexible and transparent circuits. Nanowires in this context are only 20 nanometers long and only a few nanometers thick. The research hopes to print things like LEDs and solar …read more
[Ran D. St. Clair] has created a unique flying machine in the Flex 9. It’s not every day that you see a completely new and unusual aircraft, but the Flex 9 definitely fits the bill. [Ran] took 9 radio controlled planes, connected them together, and made one giant plane — and with an 18-foot wingspan, giant isn’t a misnomer.
The planes that make up the Flex 9 are simple aircraft – foamboard wings, a boom, and a basic tail. The individual planes only have elevator control – no rudder, no ailerons. Power comes from a standard LiPo battery, ESC and …read more
Continue reading 9 Planes Combine To Make One Giant Flexible Flier
A lithium-ion battery tester seems like a simple project, at least electrically. But when you start thinking about the physical problem of dealing with a huge range of battery sizes, things get a little more complicated. Sure, you can 3D-print adapters and jigs to accommodate the different batteries, or you can cheat a bit and put the charger and tester circuit on a flexible PCB.
Maybe it’s the Kapton talking, but we really like the look of [Androkavo]’s project. The idea is simple – rather than use a rigid FR4 printed circuit board, a flexible polyimide film PCB a little …read more
Continue reading Flexible Battery Meter Bends Over Backward to Work
We love a little outside-the-box thinking around here, and anytime we see robots that don’t use wheels and motors to do the moving, we take notice. So when a project touting robotic fish using soft-actuator fins crossed the tip line, we had to take a look.
It turns out that this robofish comes from the fertile mind of [Carl Bugeja], whose PCB motors and flexible actuators have been covered here before. The basic concept of these fish fins is derived from the latter project, which uses coils printed onto both sides of a flexible Kapton substrate. Positioned near a magnet, …read more
Continue reading Flexible PCBs Make The Fins Of This Robotic Fish