Mechanical engineering

Researchers engineer light-activated skeletal muscleTechnique may enable robotic animals that move with the strength and flexibility of their living counterparts.

Graves named Engineering Systems Division interim directorSloan, ESD and mechanical engineering professor succeeds Sussman.

Soft autonomous robot inches along like an earthwormFlexible design enables body-morphing capability.

Bringing power to the people — and heat as wellSun-powered system developed by MIT students could provide electricity, heat and cooling to rural schools and clinics.

3 Questions: Anette Hosoi on engineering and the OlympicsGot Olympic fever? Dive into the mechanics of a fast pool

Wrinkled surfaces could have widespread applicationsMIT team discovers way of making perfectly ordered and repeatable surfaces with patterns of microscale wrinkles.

New aircraft capable of fast, accurate and repeatable flightCSAIL's Robot Locomotion Group unveils new computer-controlled aircraft that can perform knife-edge turns.

Autonomous robot scans ship hulls for minesAlgorithms enable robot to navigate and view propellers and other complex structures.

Mechanical engineers develop an ‘intelligent co-pilot’ for carsSemiautonomous system takes the wheel to keep drivers safe.

Better surfaces could help dissipate heatHeat transfer in everything from computer chips to powerplants could be improved through new analysis of surface textures.

Sharper ultrasound images could improve diagnosticsNew system developed at MIT allows precise measurements and tracking of disease progression.

Textured surface may boost power output of thin silicon solar cellsMIT team finds new approach to trapping light efficiently in thin-film silicon solar cells.

Teaching self-assembling structures a new trickMIT researchers produce 3-D configurations that could lead to new microchips and other devices.

Mechanical engineering’s condiment-bottle coating gives waste the slipMIT $100K competition runner-up LiquiGlide developed out of Varanasi group

In the World: MIT-designed cooler preserves tuberculosis drugs, records dosesA simple cooler could help patients battle antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis.

Crowding causes cells to produce an orderly matrix of moleculesMaking proteins stand in line could lead to more lifelike lab tests.

Device may inject a variety of drugs without using needlesJet-injected drugs could improve patient compliance, reduce accidental needle sticks.

Oxygen-separation membranes could aid in CO2 reductionCeramic membranes may reduce carbon dioxide emissions from gas and coal-fired powerplants.

Department of Mechanical Engineering's Toy Lab 'PLAYsents' student-built prototypesIn 2.00b, students focus on their inner child.

Entrepreneurial students dive into product design and developmentJoint MIT-RISD course yields concepts from iPad-friendly backpacks to waste-free sugar.

Whirr, click, hum: Robots go at it in 2.007 finaleCompetition concludes mechanical design class, unleashing a wide variety of spinning, pumping and striking robots.

Woodie Flowers, a pioneer of hands-on engineering educationFlowers and his former student, David Wallace, have created a fun, teamwork-based approach to learning the art of mechanical design.

New technique predictably generates complex, wavy shapesMay help improve drug delivery and explain natural patterns from brain folds to bell peppers.

Through a glass, clearlyMIT researchers find a way to make glass that’s anti-fogging, self-cleaning and free of glare.

New method to prevent undersea ice clogsSurface coatings developed by MIT researchers could inhibit buildup of methane hydrates that can block deep-sea oil and gas wells.