A small robot that can change its shape and produce heat shows potential in targeting cancer cells and preventing internal bleeding. It can also be used for delivering drugs directly to tumors (肿瘤) or inaccessible areas within the human body.

Researchers, led by Ren Hao Soon at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany, developed a centimeter-sized robot inspired by pangolins (穿山甲). It is constructed with soft and magnetic (磁性的) materials, allowing the robot to change its shape. To enable movement, shape shifting, and heat generation, the researchers applied magnetic fields to the robot’s metal parts. By adjusting the frequency of these fields, the robot was able to heat up and give out heat into its surroundings. The team observed that the robot’s body temperature could be over 70℃.

In addition, the researchers used the robot’s heat to deliver substances within a simulated (模拟的) stomach environment. They attached something simulating medicine capsules onto the robot, which dissolved upon heating, thereby releasing the goods. This technique holds promise for targeted drug delivery inside the body.

Soon, his team also tested the robot’s ability to halt bleeding. They created wounds using a dead pig’s stomach. By pumping blood through a small incision using a syringe, they simulated bleeding. Subsequently, the robot extended and covered the area, giving out heat to help stop bleeding.

According to Jake Abbott from the University of Utah, the robot could potentially be employed for targeted destruction of tumor cells, reducing the need for exposing large amounts of tissue to radiation or chemicals. By raising the robot’s temperature to a level unsafe for normal cells and keeping it in place for a few minutes, cancer cells can be killed.

Before the end of the year, employees at Ubiquitous Energy, a company in Redwood City, Calif, will gather in a window-lined conference room to stare toward the future. That’s because their new glass windows will offer more than an amazing view of the North California landscape. They will also be able to power the company’s lights, computers and air conditioners.

Several years in the making, Ubiquitous’ energy-producing glass is a remarkable technological achievement. Its power lies in the layers of organic polymers (聚合物) between sheets of glass. As light enters the window,the flow of electrons between the polymer layers creates an electric current, which is then collected by tiny wires in the glass.

“It’s sort of like a transparent computer display run in reverse (反过来),” says Veeral Hardev, director of business development at Ubiquitous Energy. “Instead of electricity being shuttled to different points in a display to light them up, light is producing electricity to be shuttled out of different points in the window.”

Right now the windows produce about a third as much electricity from a given amount of sunlight as the typical solar cells used in roof panels (板). These windows, about half as transparent as ordinary glass, don’t work as well as transparent ones. Hardev says the company is likely to improve the transparency significantly. As for the lower output of electricity, he notes that windows can cover a much greater surface area than a roof, so numerous windows will produce a surprisingly larger amount of electricity than the production from a rooftop full of higher-efficiency solar panels. “You could do both.” says Hardev. “But you’ll get more from the windows. The biggest challenge, he adds, is increasing the windows from less than two square feet currently to about 50 square feet.”

Canes (手杖) for navigation have been used for centuries by some visually impaired and blind people. By the early 20th century the white cane – the white is meant to make the cane most easily noticeable to others – became  a visual assistance. But they’re not a perfect solution to detecting obstacles (障碍物) while walking, even after the extensive training needed to use them.

Engineers at Stanford University have attempted to improve the standard white cane. Their design, simply named the Augmented Cane, which is described in a new study published in Science Robotics, has two major differences from a typical white cane. Near the top, there’s a device filled with various sensors, including a camera, that collect information about the environment around the person, including GPS and LIDAR data. At the foot of the cane, there’s an omnidirectional (全方向的) wheel that comes with settings to adjust for a person’s walking speed and touch feedback to remind the user to steer left or right as needed. In theory, the device should pick up on potential obstacles ahead and assist in navigating unfamiliar places.

To test out their cane, Patrick Slade, a PhD student in robotics at Stanford, and his team had visually impaired and sighted people (24 in total) complete a series of navigation challenges in both outdoor and indoor environments. Sighted people were novices at using a cane, while those visually impaired had at least a few years of experience; all of them were blindfolded before -hand.

“Our experimental findings showed that across a range of indoor and outdoor tasks people with impaired vision chose to walk faster when using the Augmented Cane compared to a standard cane. This means our device provides some mobility benefits,” Slade said. “In addition, we did some experiments to show our device could provide assistance that a normal cane could not, for example, routing to a specific room or object in an indoor setting like going to a coffee shop in a mall.”