Wearable sensors are often used by researchers to gather medical data from patients over extended periods of time. They range from adhesive bandages on skin to stretchable implants on organs, and they harness sophisticated sensors to monitor health or diagnose illnesses. In the past, researchers have built systems for these devices using photolithography, a multistep …
Slicing the way to wearable sensor prototypes
Engineers at UC Berkeley have developed a new technique for making wearable sensors that enables medical researchers to prototype test new designs much faster and at a far lower cost than existing methods. The new technique replaces photolithography — a multistep process used to make computer chips in clean rooms — with a $200 vinyl …
With a damp TV, Berkeley engineers demonstrate the potential of a green energy harvester
Watching television in the shower might not rank terribly high on the scale of today’s available personal-tech indulgences. But imagine if the TV — or other small electronic device — was powered by water vapor billowing up from the marble floor tiles. Such moisture-induced energy harvesting is what UC Berkeley researchers, led by mechanical engineering …
Insect-sized robot navigates mazes with the agility of a cheetah
Many insects and spiders get their uncanny ability to scurry up walls and walk upside down on ceilings with the help of specialized sticky footpads that allow them to adhere to surfaces in places where no human would dare to go. Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have used the principle behind these some …
You Can’t Squash This Roach-Inspired Robot
If the sight of a skittering bug makes you squirm, you may want to look away — a new insect-sized robot created by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, can scurry across the floor at nearly the speed of a darting cockroach.
VR/AR Designs Could Gain Touch Capability
Today’s augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) technologies simulate a vivid interactive experience by altering the scene users see and the sounds they hear. But what if users could also feel their way through an experience?
Adding Touch to Virtual and Augmented Reality
Today’s augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) technologies simulate a vivid interactive experience by altering the scene users see and the sounds they hear. But what if users could also feel their way through an experience?
New hydrogen fuel catalyst
A powerful new hydrogen fuel catalyst developed by Berkeley engineers relies on a surprising ingredient: gelatin, the same material that makes Jell-O desserts jiggle. Composed of nanometer-thin sheets of metal carbide, this catalyst works just as efficiently as platinum to generate hydrogen fuel from water, but at a much lower cost than the rare and …
Researchers use jiggly Jell-O to make powerful new hydrogen fuel catalyst
A cheap and effective new catalyst developed by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, can generate hydrogen fuel from water just as efficiently as platinum, currently the best — but also most expensive — water-splitting catalyst out there.
Lin Lab Engineers Develop Origami Electronics Using Cheap, Foldable Paper
Originally published in Berkeley ENGINEERING on 6/18/18 by Wallace Ravven, Image by Xining Zang UC Berkeley engineers have given new meaning to the term “working paper.” Using inexpensive materials, they have fabricated foldable electronic switches and sensors directly onto paper, along with prototype generators, supercapacitors and other electronic devices for a range of applications. Research …
The Lin Lab’s New Hybrid Supercapacitor is Super-Charged
Originally published in Berkeley Lab News on December 2017. In research that could lead to next-generation energy storage systems, a team of Foundry scientists and users have developed a way to make a new kind of supercapacitor. By coating carbon nanotube electrodes with titanium disulfide, the researchers developed a method to create a supercapacitor with the highest …
ME PhD Student Yumeng Liu Wins Outstanding Paper Award at Transducers 2017
ME PhD student Yumeng Liu, along with his fellow Lin Lab members Huiliang Liu, Yong Cui and Takeshi Hayasaka, have won the Outstanding Paper Award at the 19th IEEE International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems Transducers 2017 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. In the winning paper, Lin Lab members demonstrated “a new AC sensing scheme based on …
Lin Lab Members Win Best Student Paper Award at MEMS 2017
ME graduate students Eric Sweet and Ilbey Karakurt, along with their fellow Lin Lab members Joshua Chen and Alison Long, have won the Best Student Paper Award at the 30th IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems MEMS 2017 in Las Vegas, NV. Their winning paper demonstrates “a fully-3D printed multi-input microfluidic concentration gradient generator, …
ME Students in the Lin Lab Featured on ABC7 News
Students in ME Professor Liwei Lin’s Lin Lab were featured this week on ABC7 KGO, talking about their work on the “”Smart Cap.”” The 3-D printed cap uses electronics to sense spoiled food, for instance, in that carton of milk that’s been sitting in your refrigerator for too long… or is that just us?!   To view the …
ME Professor Liwei Lin’s 3D-Printed Smart Cap in the News
ME Professor Liwei Lin, and fellow UC Berkeley engineers, have developed a 3D-printed “smart cap” to help you keep track of spoiling foods. Berkeley News quotes Professor Lin as saying, “Our paper describes the first demonstration of 3D printing for working basic electrical components, as well as a working wireless sensor. One day, people may …