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The most impactful advances in engineering come from rethinking the most common of objects. And, while most of the world is still wrapping its collective heads around the idea of self-driving electric cars, mechanical engineers are thinking a step ahead and developing a radical new form of infrastructure: smart roads.
Self-driving cars are smart, but not as smart as we’d like them to be. And the roads they drive on today are as dumb as the asphalt they’re made out of. Smart roads change all of that. By installing digitally upgradable concrete slabs that come replete with a host of sensors, roads can be upgraded to communicate in real time with the cars that drive on them. Through the collection of all that data, smart roads could melt ice and snow, glow in the dark, store solar energy, and efficiently flip lights on and off at night depending on whether or not a particular section of road is being used.
Powered by 5G wireless, solar energy, and the Internet of Things, smart roads could ease traffic congestion, reduce accidents, and save money on energy allocation. China looks to take the lead on smart roads, while Dubai and the US have stated their own intent to start pilot programs. The World Economic Forum has taken note. In the not-too-distant future, humans may be the least intelligent things on the road.
Put away those images of a bleeping metal humanoid. Tomorrow’s robots are much more likely to mimic nature and squiggle instead of clunk. It starts with a simple principle: things which are soft are more flexible than things which are hard. Say hello to soft robotics.
In soft robotics, mechanical engineers manipulate highly flexible and compliant materials to create robots that can more effectively mimic living organisms. A major breakthrough came in 2016 with the unveiling of the Octobot: a palm-sized robot with a silicone exterior, powered by 3D-printed pneumatic chambers. But the wider applications are as flexible as the technology itself. Mechanical engineers have developed soft robotic muscles that can lift 200 times their weight, while others are exploring the soft revolution in prosthetics, construction, wearable tech, and even gelatin-based edible robots with health benefits.
While much of the mainstream attention in robotics remains on those which mimic humans, the most intriguing advances may exist in approaches that seek to mimic other forms of life. Stanford’s StickyBot imagines robots climbing vertical surfaces in a gecko-like fashion. Harvard sees soft robotics being used to help automated devices squeeze through tight spaces or absorb enormous impacts. What about a robot that flaps its wings like a bat or one that rolls up like an armadillo? Thanks to mechanical engineering, your soon-to-be robot overlords will likely look much more like the natural world than expected.
If the idea of soft robotics has you longing for the rigid science fiction future you were promised, fear not! Exoskeletons have you covered. By fitting a robotic exoskeleton to the human body, mechanical engineers hope to fuse the potential of both human and robotic elements. Think of an exoskeleton as an extremely powerful and capable wheelchair. Exoskeletons got their start in healthcare, where they helped restore functionality and mobility to people who had lost it. But today’s exoskeletons are taking it a step further, and not just restoring functionality, but enhancing it.
Exoskeletons have major applications in manufacturing, where workers outfitted with these devices can act as force multipliers: lifting more and working longer more safely. According to a report featured on MarketWatch, global exoskeleton market revenue is projected to grow by a factor of nine from 2020 to 2024. Ford Motors has already rolled out EksoVest exoskeletons at 15 of its factories. General Motors has introduced a robotic glove that gives a measurably better grip. Hyundai’s new Vex exoskeleton is worn like a backpack and it mimics the human shoulder joint in multiple places to provide extra leverage. At only 5.5 pounds and containing no battery, it’s cheaper than competing exoskeletons and less intrusive.
On the other end of the spectrum, Sarcos Robotics has unveiled a full-body industrial exoskeleton system that amplifies strength by 200 to one and runs on eight-hour “hot swappable” batteries. Sarcos aims to have it commercially available by early 2020. The US military, who is also in talks with Lockheed Martin over exoskeletons, has expressed interest. We may get our long-imagined cyborg armies after all.
Subtle differences in materials science, a subdiscipline of mechanical engineering, can have an enormous impact. For example, hundreds of millions of shoes get dumped into landfills every year—but what if those shoes could be made out of a biodegradable material?
That’s the question being asked in a collaboration between MIT, the Fashion Institute of Technology, and New Balance. Their research found that by employing natural material alternatives like mycelium and by eschewing chemical dyes, they were able to create a running shoe that was both sustainable and aesthetically pleasing.
On the frontier of materials science, engineers are creating entirely new substances. Researchers at MIT have created a material that can be injected as a liquid, and then, once inside the body, turned into a gel. The initial application of such a substance is in aiding the removal of colon polyps, a possibly life-saving procedure. But by controlling the viscosity of the substance, researchers are eyeing use cases in weight loss, drug delivery, and even the prevention of acid reflux.
Discovering new materials isn’t even something that materials science engineers have to do on their own anymore. At Lehigh University, data analytics has yielded the discovery of a new class of super hard alloys. Meanwhile, Researchers at the University of Missouri have leveraged artificial intelligence and deep learning to run simulations on billions of possible material structures. If flesh-and-blood engineers have already found ice-repelling materials and the equivalent of Star Trek IV’s transparent aluminum, what can they find with AI?
We were told that 3D printing would change everything. It still might. A large beneficiary of the convergence of multiple advances across engineering, 3D printing has gotten increasingly cheaper, faster, and more efficient. New methods in stereolithography have succeeded in creating complex shapes at up to 100 times the speed of traditional 3D printers, and the number of possible component materials continues to grow at a rapid rate. The implications for industry are massive and these developments have spawned their own offshoot name: additive manufacturing.
Consider housing. Last year, a nonprofit (New Story) and a tech startup (ICON) 3D printed a 650-square-foot house that included a bedroom, bathroom, living room, kitchen, and covered porch. The process was designed to a specific set of needs, and it resulted in zero waste. Two more factors signal a coming revolution: the house cost $10,000 to make and it took less than 24 hours to print. New Story estimates that the total cost in developing countries could be dropped to as low as $4,000.
This isn’t just about delivering a saleable product with a thick profit margin; it could be a major weapon in the fight against homelessness. New Story is currently working on printing an entire neighborhood for low-income families in El Salvador. If successful, it could pave the way (or print the way) for safe and affordable housing in slums across the developing world.
On the other side of the spectrum, how would you like to try a 3D printed burger? It might sound like a gimmick, but when agricultural livestock accounts for almost a fifth of all greenhouse gasses, a less wasteful alternative starts to sound appetizing. 3D printing with plant-based proteins could soon yield that alternative. Chef-It, a food tech startup in Israel, currently 3D prints plant-based burgers that take around ten minutes to make. In the future, they hope to use cellulose as a malleable binder and print practically any form of food. Spanish startup Novameat already has a wide array of printable plant-based meats.
While success may come down to a matter of taste, printing food would certainly take a big bite out of harmful emissions—and could help combat global hunger at the same time.
Matt Zbrog is a writer and researcher from Southern California. Since 2018, he’s written extensively about a wide range of engineering disciplines, with a particular focus on the potential impacts of major technological breakthroughs. His work largely centers around conversations with engineering faculty at top universities, highlighting their research in areas such as nuclear power, artificial intelligence, soft robotics, and semiconductor design. He’s also worked with leaders and subject matter experts at the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), and the Society of Women Engineers (SWE).
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