How to 3D print fully-formed robots

In this episode:00:46 Machine vision enables multi-material 3D printing3D printers are capable of producing complex shapes, but making functioning objects from multiple materials in a single print-run has proved challenging. To overcome this, a team has combined inkjet printing with an error-correction system guided by machine vision, to allow them to print sophisticated multi-material objects. They used this method to make a bio-inspired robotic hand that combines soft and rigid plastics to make mechanical bones, ligaments, and tendons, as well as a pump based on a mammalian heart.Research article: Buchner et al.News & Views: Multi-material 3D printing guided by machine visionVideo: The 3D printer that crafts complex robotic organs in a single run07:49 Research HighlightsCitizen-scientists help identify an astronomical object that blurs the line between asteroid and comet, and how a Seinfeld episode helped scientists to distinguish the brain regions involved in understanding and appreciating humour.Research Highlight: Citizen scientists find a rarity: an asteroid trying to be a cometResearch Highlight: One brain area helps you to enjoy a joke — but another helps you to get it10:31 Assessing the effectiveness of lifestyle interventions for diabetesType 2 diabetes affects hundreds of millions of people around the world and represents a significant burden on healthcare systems. But behaviour change programmes — also known as lifestyle interventions — could potentially play a large role in preventing people from developing type 2 diabetes. This week in Nature a new paper assesses how effective this kind of intervention might be. Looking at a huge amount of data from the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme, the paper concludes that these interventions represent a viable diabetes prevention strategy.Research article: Lemp et al.News & Views: Diabetes prevention programme put to the test17:35 Briefing ChatHow marine heatwaves revved up crabs’ metabolisms until they starved, and the AI-powered, robot chemist that could extract oxygen from water on Mars.Wired: The Surprising Reason Sea Creatures Are Getting HungrierNature News: This AI robot chemist could make oxygen on Mars Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.