MIT Media Labの研究者であるManisha Mohanさんが開発したのは、女性のブラ（下着）などの衣服に貼り付けることで防犯アラームの役割を持ち、女性に対する性犯罪・性的暴行を防ぐステッカー「Intrepid（「勇敢な」という意味）」です。
ステッカーには、ブラを外すときの動作と連絡先（5件まで）をインプットすることができ、強引に下着が外されるような動きを感知すると、スマホに「Do you concent?（同意しますか？合意の上ですか？）」というメッセージが届き、30秒以内に返信がないと、警報が鳴り、また、連絡先のスマホに位置情報が送られ、
そのあとは、スマホでは音声の録音がスタートする、という仕組みになっています。
Researchers at North Carolina State University and Duke University have developed a way to assemble and pre-program tiny structures made from microscopic cubes – “microbot origami” – to change their shape when actuated by a magnetic field and then, using the magnetic energy from their environment, perform a variety of tasks – including capturing and transporting single cells.
“Previously reported microrobotic structures have been limited to performing simple tasks such as pushing and penetrating objects due to their rigid bodies. The ability to remotely control the dynamic reconfiguration of our microbot creates a new ‘toolbox’ for manipulating microscale objects and interacting with its microenvironment,” said Koohee Han, a Ph.D. candidate at NC State and first author of the paper.
We report a class of soft pneumatic robot that is capable of a basic form of this behavior, growing substantially in length from the tip while actively controlling direction using onboard sensing of environmental stimuli; further, the peak rate of lengthening is comparable to rates of animal and robot locomotion.
The components of such edible robots could be mixed with nutrient or pharmaceutical components for digestion and metabolization. Potential applications are disposable robots for exploration, digestible robots for medical purposes in humans and animals, and food transportation where the robot does not require additional payload because the robot is the food.
This “near-zero-power” temperature sensor could extend the battery life of wearable or implantable devices that monitor body temperature, smart home monitoring systems, Internet of Things devices and environmental monitoring systems.
