Harvard College

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Other

Children's Medical Center Corporation

Princeton University

Firmenich Sa

Genzyme Corporation

University of Toronto

The General Hospital Corporation

Northwestern University

University of California

Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc.

Merck Patent Gmbh

The Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc.

Canon U.s.a., Inc.

George M Whitesides

Robert F Shepherd

Rebecca Jane Jackman

Vincent Linder

Amit Kumar

Bobak Mosadegh

Stephen A Morin

Donald Elliot Ingber

Samuel K Sia

Milan Mrksich

Daniel T Chiu

Stephen Randall Holmes-Farley

Younan Xia

Enoch Kim

Adam Carlyn Siegel

Ramses V Martinez

Andres W Martinez

W Harry Mandeville, Iii

Katherine Andrea Mirica

Scott T Phillips

Allen J Bard

Charles R Mace

Mara G Prentiss

Joshua Aaron Lessing

Gregory N Stephanopoulos

Gabriel P Lopez

Tao Deng

Rahul Singhvi

George B Sigal

Rustem F Ismagilov

Jack L Strominger

David C Duffy

Xin Chen

Emanuele Ostuni

Howard A Stone

Paul J A Kenis

Sergey S Shevkoplyas

Cynthia C Bamdad

Manish J Butte

Ilhan A Aksay

John A Rogers

Stephen P Smith

Christian Marzolin

Darren Roy Link

David A Weitz

Peidong Yang

Galen D Stucky

Lin Yan

James L Wilbur

Karl Kimon Berggren

Hans Biebuyck

Thomas X Neenan

Eugenia Kumacheva

Xiujun Li

Irina Gitlin

Zhigang Suo

Bradley F Chmelka

Willow Ruth Diluzio

David J Pine

Guillermo J Tearney

David H Gracias

Kevin Kit Parker

Adam Walter Feinberg

Dongkyun Kang

Douglas Benjamin Weibel

Ferdinand Naef

Vincent Semetey

Insung Choi

Jeffrey D Carbeck

Daniel I Wang

Rene Decorzant

Chi-Huey Wong

Chad A Mirkin

Brett Eugene Bouma

Klavs F Jensen

Mitsuhiro Ikuta

Ralph G Nuzzo

Daniela Rus

Dennis Stein Everhart

Shuguang Zhang

Olivier Schueller

Robert J Wood

Kathleen M Vaeth

James J Hickman

Carlo Brugnara

Alexander Rich

Thomas P Stossel

Kevin Galloway

Shuichi Takayama

Philip LeDuc

Jerome M Lewis

Yu Sun

Mark S Wrighton

Paul Gilbert Clem

Tricia Lynn Breen

Babak Parviz

Christopher S Chen

Kevin R Hrebenar

Pirmin Hidber

In one aspect, a kit includes a sleeve including an outer lining and an inner lining; a pouch arranged within the sleeve and including one or more polymer sheets, a plurality of channels, and a plurality of vents; and a foam precursor capable of forming a foam within the pouch. In one aspect, a method of stabilizing a body part includes providing a sleeve including an outer lining and an inner lining around a body part; providing a pouch arranged within the sleeve and including one or more polymer sheets, a plurality of channels, and a plurality of vents; providing a foam precursor in the pouch; and forming a foam within the pouch.

Expanding foam-fabric orthopedic limb stabilization device

A device is disclosed, including: a plate including a sample deposition tube adapted to receive a sample comprising one or more analytes, the sample deposition tube defining a vertical axis substantially perpendicular to a main surface of the plate; and a mirror positioned to project, substantially parallel to the main surface of the plate, an image of the sample deposition tube along its vertical axis, so as to allow determination of the vertical location of the one or more analytes inside the sample deposition tube. Methods for determining the density of one or more analytes using various embodiments of the device are also described.

Sample analysis with mirrors

A machine-readable medium and methods of reading and writing same are disclosed. The machine-readable medium comprises a substrate having an array of addressable locations thereon, each addressable location adapted to be physically associated with a collection of non-polymeric molecules. The molecules in each collection are selected from a set of unambiguously identifiable molecules, each molecule uniquely associated with a predetermined position in a numerical value, wherein the presence of the molecule in the collection indicates a predetermined digit at the associated position and the absence of said molecule in the collection indicates a zero at said associated position.

Storage of information using mixtures of molecules

Fabrication of a low-cost and miniaturized solid-contact thread-based ion sensing electrode (ISE) that is suitable for point-of-care applications is described. The fabrication process is simple and scalable. Different types of threads and a variety of different conductive ion-to-electron transducer inks can be used to fabricate the thread-based ISEs with Nernstian responses. Multiple thread-based sensors can be easily bundled with the reference electrode to fabricate a customized sensor for multiplexed ion-sensing in small sample volumes. The thread-based electrodes can be used in both single-use and reusable fashion. The thread-based multiplexed ion-sensor is used for detection of a wide array of ions in many different types of aqueous solutions.

Thread-based potentiometric ion-sensing

Storage media are provided. A substrate has an array of addressable locations thereon, each addressable location adapted to be physically associated with a collection of molecules, each collection comprising at least a first subcollection of molecules and a second subcollection of molecules. The molecules in the collection are selected from a set of unambiguously identifiable molecules, the set comprising at least a first subset of molecules and a second subset of molecules. Each molecule in the first subset is identifiable by a first physical property, and each molecule in the second subset is identifiable by a second physical property, different from the first physical property. Each molecule in the set is uniquely associated with a predetermined position in a numerical value, wherein the presence of the molecule in the collection indicates a predetermined digit at the associated position and the absence of said molecule in the collection indicates a zero at said associated position.

Modifying messages stored in mixtures of molecules using thin-layer chromatography

A magnetic levitation system is described, including a first cylinder-shaped magnet; a second cylinder-shaped magnet coaxially aligned with the first cylinder-shaped magnet; and a first cavity coaxially aligned with the first cylinder-shaped magnet; wherein the surfaces of the like-poles of the first and second cylinder-shaped magnets are parallel to each other and face each other to result in a linear magnetic field between the first and the second magnets. Methods of using a magnetic levitation system for analyzing a diamagnetic or paramagnetic sample are also described.

Magnetic levitation

A shear force actuator is described, including: two substantially parallel first structural components disposed along a first axis; a plurality of substantially parallel second structural components disposed between and bridging the two first structural components; a plurality of joint sections each joining the second structural component with the first structural components at an oblique angle of between 0 and 90 degrees to define a plurality of cells, each capable of being connected with a fluid inflation or deflation source; an elastic surface covering the remaining surfaces of the cells in a fluid-tight manner, wherein at least one of the joint section, the first structural components, and the second structural components is elastic so that cell collapses upon removal of fluid from the cell to generate a linear force along the first axis.

Actuators

Systems and methods for providing flexible robotic actuators are disclosed. Some embodiments of the disclosed subject matter include a soft robot capable of providing a radial deflection motions; a soft tentacle actuator capable of providing a variety of motions and providing transportation means for various types of materials; and a hybrid robotic system that retains desirable characteristics of both soft robots and hard robots. Some embodiments of the disclosed subject matter also include methods for operating the disclosed robotic systems.

Flexible robotic actuators

Reconfigurable soft robotic actuators with hard components are described. Magnetic attraction is used to couple flexible molded bodies capable of actuation upon pressurization with other flexible molded bodies and/or with hard components (e.g., frames and connectors) to form a seal for fluidic communication and cooperative actuation. Pneumatic de-coupling chambers built into the hard components to de-couple the hard components from the magnetically-coupled soft molded bodies are described. The use of magnetic self-alignment coupling and pneumatic de-coupling allows for the remote assembly and disassembly of complex structures involving hard and soft components. The magnetic coupling allows for rapid, reversible reconfiguration of hybrid soft-hard robots for repair, testing new designs, and carrying out new tasks.

Magnetic assembly of soft robots with hard components

A soft robot is described, including: a flexible and/or stretchable body; a common fluid pressurization unit; and a plurality of fluid chambers each embedded in the flexible and/or stretchable body and capable of fluidic connection with the common fluid pressurization unit through a pressurizing valve; wherein the pressurizing valve is capable of being activated to allow the pressurized fluid to flow from the common fluid pressurization unit into the fluid chamber to result in actuation. Methods of using the soft robot are also described.

Distributed pressurization and exhaust systems for soft robots

A soft robot having an integrated electrical component includes an expandable or collapsible body, the body comprising an inlet that is configured to communicate with a fluid source and a flexible strain limited layer secured to a portion of the expandable or collapsible body, wherein the strain limited layer includes at least one electrical component.

Flexible and stretchable electronic strain-limited layer for soft actuators

A multi-phase system includes a phase-separated solution comprising at least two phases, each phase having a phase component selected from the group consisting of a polymer, a surfactant and combinations thereof, wherein at least one phase comprises a polymer, wherein the phases, taken together, represent a density gradient. Novel two-phase, three-phase, four-phase, five-phase, or six-phase systems are disclosed. Using the disclosed multi-phase polymer systems, particles, or other analyte of interest can be separated based on their different densities or affinities.

Multiphase systems and uses thereof

A method of and system for detecting a gas or vapor includes providing a sensor comprising an electrode pair in electrical contact with a layer of porous material, the porous material layer having water adsorbed on its surface; contacting the sensor with a gas or vapor sample to be analysed; applying a voltage across the electrode pair of the sensor; and measuring a response, the response correlating to the presence of a target gas or vapor.

Detecting gases and respiration by the conductivity of water within a porous substrate sensor

A soft robot device includes at least a first thermoplastic layer and a second thermoplastic layer, wherein at least one layer is comprised of an extensible thermoplastic material; at least one layer is an inextensible layer; and at least one layer comprises a pneumatic network, wherein the pneumatic network is configured to be in fluidic contact with a pressurizing source, wherein the first and second thermoplastic layers are thermally bonded to each other.

High throughput fabrication of soft machines

A pneumatically powered, fully untethered mobile soft robot is described. Composites consisting of silicone elastomer, polyaramid fabric, and hollow glass microspheres were used to fabricate a sufficiently large soft robot to carry the miniature air compressors, battery, valves, and controller needed for autonomous operation. Fabrication techniques were developed to mold a 0.65 meter long soft body with modified Pneumatic network actuators capable of operating at the elevated pressures (up to 138 kPa) required to actuate the legs of the robot and hold payloads of up to 8 kg. The soft robot is safe to handle, and its silicone body is innately resilient to a variety of adverse environmental conditions including snow, puddles of water, direct (albeit limited) exposure to flames, and the crushing force of being run over by an automobile.

Resilient, untethered soft robot

Growing community of inventors

Newton, MA, United States of America

George M Whitesides