A wonderful machine to lift marbles up and then let them down again.

A robot capable of automatically sorting rubbish into six categories of recycled waste using laser detectors has been developed by scientists in Japan.

The device, created by Mitsubishi Electric Engineering Corp and Osaka University researchers, identifies different plastic materials among rubbish and sorts them into piles.

Consisting of a robotic arm, the robot measures 5ft 6ins (1.7m) by 6ft 9ins (2.1m) and uses five laser beams and sensors to detect a range of different plastics for recycling purposes. Continue reading »

NASA’s Deep Space Network is building new antennas to improve communications and the first phase will take place at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex in Australia. This image of the Canberra complex shows four Deep Space Network antennas. The Deep Space Network is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Image credit: NASA/JPL/CDSCC Continue reading »

Imagine having clothes made out of this stuff, this should be interesting when it makes it to market.  Put me down for a couple of yards.

A Tokyo-based venture called ideal Star [JP] has developed a new method that makes it possible to produce solar cells in the form of flexible and thin threads. The company is supported by a total of six Japanese universities and the government.

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Microelectromechanical devices gave us the Wii and the digital movie projector. MIT researchers have found a new way to make them.
Microelectromechanical devices — tiny machines with moving parts — are everywhere these days: they monitor air pressure in car tires, register the gestures of video game players, and reflect light onto screens in movie theaters. But they’re manufactured the same way computer chips are, in facilities that can cost billions of dollars, and their rigidity makes them hard to wrap around curved surfaces. Continue reading »