Category: Mechanical Engineering
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Cracking the cochlea: U-M team creates mathematical model of ear’s speech center
New research paves the way for modeling the transduction of speech and music at the cochlear level.
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Open-source bionic leg: First-of-its-kind platform aims to rapidly advance prosthetics
‘This represents the future of research—rapid prototyping of open source robotic hardware and embedded systems with shared code.’
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Ice-proofing big structures with a “beautiful demonstration of mechanics”
‘You’re missing a trick,’ mechanical engineer tells materials scientist.
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U-M’s Automotive Research Center funded with $50M through 2024
With a focus on autonomy, ARC’s research will reduce the number of soldiers in harm’s way, changing the military paradigm.
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Toward brain-like computing: New memristor better mimics synapses
Competition and cooperation, which regulate the strengthening and weakening of connections in the brain, can now be modeled directly.
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Unlocking new soundwaves for better sonar and echolocation
“Acoustic fields are unexpectedly richer in information than is typically thought.”
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On-Ramp to a driverless future
Michigan’s New Motor City. That’s what The New York Times called Ann Arbor last year. The city is home to some central pieces of an expanding autonomous vehicle R&D ecosystem that rivals Detroit’s storied leadership in advancing the automobile. Established firms and startups alike have set up shop in southeast Michigan, lured by a mix
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From ponds to power: $2M to perfect algae as a diesel fuel
University of Michigan becomes one of the few institutes in the world working on the problem end-to-end.
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Battery breakthrough: Doubling performance with lithium metal that doesn’t catch fire
Longer-lasting drop-in replacements for lithium ion could be on the horizon.
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‘Carbon negative, dollar positive’
A new initiative aspires to turn a greenhouse gas into profitable products.
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No sponge left behind: tags for surgical equipment
A simple, easy-to-implement technology could prevent the debilitating injuries that can occur when organs are damaged by surgical tools left in the body.
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Origami sonic barrier could reduce traffic noise
The ancient paper folding art was combined with wave propagation physics to create a new traffic noise barrier.