Soft Math Lab News Today

<p>Harvard researchers combined physics and machine learning to develop a new 3D-printing technique that can quickly create complex physical patterns — including replicating a segment of a Pollock painting — by leveraging the same natural fluid instability that Pollock used in his work.</p>

Credits: Photo courtesy of MIT CSAIL. Previous image Next image With rapidly growing demands on health care systems, nurses typically spend 18 to 40 percent of their time performing direct patient care tasks, oftentimes for many patients and with little time to spare. Personal care robots that brush hair could provide substantial help and relief.  This may seem like a truly radical form of “self-care,” but crafty robots for things like shaving, hair-washi...

To be fair, there is a valid reason to attempt such a heady robotic task, as a personal care ‘bot with RoboWigs brushing skills could be very useful to someone who has a hard time performing physical tasks, for instance eldery or disabled people. According to an MIT CSAIL article, nurses spend somewhere between 18 to 40 percent of their time on “direct patient care tasks,” such as hair brushing. So you can see where such a ‘bot could come in handy.   Obviously, creating a skilled brush...